Billy Davis, Jr.

Growing up singing in gospel choirs from the age of eight, Billy Davis Jr. started out with a band called The Emeralds and bought his own cocktail lounge in St. Louis where he performed until he was drafted into the US Army and stationed in Germany. Returning home in 1965, he initially sought an audition with Motown Records (the big label for young, black artists at the time) but instead joined a five-piece vocal group in Los Angeles, which included his friend Lamonte McLemore and future wife Marilyn McCoo. They became The 5th Dimension and had their big breakthrough hit with the Jimmy Webb-penned bubblegum pop harmony song Up, Up And Away. The song won five Grammy Awards and more hits followed with Stoned Soul Picnic, Sweet Blindness, Wedding Bell Blues and, from the musical Hair, Aquarius/Let The Love Shine In, which topped the US charts for six weeks in 1969. The group were renowned for their smooth, elegant pop tunes and dubbed 'Champagne Soul', but Davis Jr. and McCoo left in 1975 to work as a duo. Together they scored a US number one single with You Don't Have To Be A Star and had success with albums I Hope We Get To Love In Time and The Two Of Us as well as briefly hosting their own television show on CBS. Davis Jr. pursued a solo career in the 1980s, returning to his gospel roots on the album Let Me Have A Dream and also turned his hand to acting with roles in the musicals Blues In The Night and Dreamgirls.

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