WASHINGTON — Ronald LaPread, the bassist who co-founded the Commodores, has died over the weekend at his home in Auckland, New Zealand. He was 75. His daughter confirmed the news on social media.
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LaPread formed the Commodores alongside his classmates at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute in the late 1960s and was signed to Motown in 1972.
The Commodores, along with LaPread’s basslines, helped bring the funk genre into the mainstream R&B charts. LaPread’s bass licks are among the first sounds heard on the group’s iconic “Brick House” from 1977, whose suggestive lyrics, co-written by LaPread, tantalized American music listeners, bringing the funky song to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“They said, ‘Oh man, it’s too Black,'” LaPread recalled in a video posted to the musician’s Instagram earlier this year about the production of the hit song. “I said, ‘Wait a minute. … Just put it on the album.’ … They went crazy. When you hear a hit song, it sends goosebumps all over your body. Before anything happens, you feel it.”
But it wasn’t until the group transitioned into soulful ballads that the group started truly dominating the pop charts.
Between 1977 and 1978, the Commodores scored two No. 1 hits with “Three Times a Lady” and “Still,” love songs that showcased lead singer Lionel Richie’s tenderness and vocal range.
Richie eventually left the group in 1982, going on to become one of the best-selling solo acts of all time. After working with the Commodores on popular songs like 1985’s “Nightshift,” LaPread followed, leaving the group in 1986 to move to New Zealand.
Richie, 76, widely known to the younger generation as a judge on “American Idol,” remembered LaPread as a “dear brother,” while affectionately referring to the bassist as “Pread.” Richie then wrote out the full lyrics to “Zoom,” a song he co-wrote with LaPread in 1977, posting them for his 2 million followers to read.
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“I may be just a foolish dream / But I don’t care,” the song lyrics read. “Cause I know my happiness is waiting out there, somewhere.”
In a series of emotional Instagram stories, LaPread’s daughter, Soraya, paid tribute to the musician, calling him a kind and loving father.
“We were the best daddy-daughter duo,” Soraya LaPread wrote. “If you know me, you know my Dad. I am devastated. A piece of me is gone from this world. I have never felt a pain so deep in my life. It’s because he loved me so unconditionally and so deeply that the loss is indescribable.”
Also active on social media, Ronald LaPread had been posting on Instagram in the weeks leading up to his death, sharing memories of the Commodores opening for the Jackson 5 as well as photos and videos of himself jamming out with his former bandmates. His bio reads “Stilllllll funky.”
Although not officially part of the Commodores since the 1980s, LaPread had been known to make special appearances with the band during select tour stops.
The Commodores are still an active group and have tour dates scheduled throughout the summer, with original member William King performing alongside two of former co-lead singer Walter Orange’s sons.
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