Commodores Co-Founder and Bassist Ronald LaPread Dies at 75
Ronald LaPread, the bassist and co-founder of the legendary funk and soul group the Commodores, has died at the age of 75.
His daughter, Sonya LaPread, announced his death in a message shared on Instagram on Saturday.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must announce that my Father Ronald LaPread has passed,” she wrote.
The family did not immediately disclose the cause of death. However, New Zealand media reported that the musician died following a sudden medical event.
LaPread was a founding member of the Commodores, one of the most successful acts to emerge from the Motown era. He helped establish the group in 1968 alongside fellow students at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, including Lionel Richie, Walter Orange, William King, Milan Williams and Thomas McClary.
The band signed with Motown Records in 1972 and went on to become one of the label’s biggest success stories, producing a string of chart-topping hits that helped define the sound of the 1970s and 1980s.
Among the Commodores’ best-known songs are Three Times a Lady, Brick House and Nightshift.
Over the course of their career, the group sold more than 70 million albums worldwide and earned numerous accolades. In 1986, the Commodores won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for “Nightshift.”
LaPread remained with the band from 1970 until 1986, contributing to many of its most successful recordings and performances.
Following his departure from the group, he relocated to New Zealand, where he spent the last four decades of his life.
Tributes poured in following news of his death, including from Tuskegee city leaders who remembered him as one of the community’s most accomplished sons.
Chris Lee, the Mayor of Tuskegee, praised LaPread’s contributions to music and his enduring connection to the city.
“The City of Tuskegee mourns the passing of Ronald LaPread, legendary bassist of Tuskegee’s very own Commodores and one of our community’s most distinguished native sons,” Lee said in a statement.
He noted that LaPread’s musical journey began while attending Tuskegee Institute High School before continuing at Tuskegee University, where he helped lay the foundation for a career that would influence generations of music fans around the world.