The music industry loses a Motown original with the death of Commodores bassist Ronald LaPread at the age of 75

The music industry is bidding farewell to one of Motown’s architects, Ronald LaPread, whose bass lines helped the Commodores sound like a party and a slow dance at the same time.

LaPread, a veteran bassist and founding member of the Commodores, passed away at the age of 75. While 1News in New Zealand stated that he passed away in Auckland following a “sudden medical event,” his daughter, music producer Soraya LaPread, verified the news on social media. No further information regarding his cause of death has been made public.

LaPread, who was born in Alabama, co-founded the group in 1968 while attending Tuskegee Institute with Lionel Richie, Walter “Clyde” Orange, William “WAK” King, Milan Williams, and Thomas McClary. The musicians got together through student bands before the world knew them as the Commodores, and they created the sound that eventually propelled them from college stages to Motown history.

LaPread’s bass work anchored some of the group’s best-loved albums, including “Brick House,” “Three Times a Lady,” and “Easy.” During the 1970s and 1980s, the Commodores rose to prominence as one of Motown’s trademark bands, fusing pop, funk, soul, and balladry with a sound that is still heard in late-night playlists, cookouts, and wedding receptions.

Later, the bassist relocated to New Zealand, where he spent decades. He maintained his connection to the music by periodically joining the Commodores for performances there, even after leaving the band’s core lineup.

His passing occurred in the same week that the Commodores’ withdrawal from Freedom 250’s Great American State Fair received media attention. The group declared that it would not perform since it did not wish to support any one political party.

LaPread’s legacy is based more on feel than sound, demonstrating that bassists don’t always require the limelight to influence a space.