Sunshine pop (originally known as soft pop ) is a subgenre of pop music that originated in Southern California in the mid-1960s. Rooted in easy listening and advertising jingles , sunshine pop acts combined nostalgic or anxious moods with "an appreciation for the beauty of the world". The category largely consists of lesser-known artists who imitated more popular groups such as the Mamas & the Papas and the 5th Dimension . While the Beach Boys are noted as prominent influences, the band's music was rarely representative of the genre.
30-492: The Peppermint Rainbow was an American sunshine pop group from Baltimore, Maryland , known for their song "Will You Be Staying After Sunday". The group formed in 1967 under the name "New York Times" playing to local gigs in the mid-Atlantic states. It was signed to Decca Records in 1968 at the behest of talent agent Alan White at Action Talents in NYC, who brought it to New York and showcased it for producer Paul Leka who saw
60-424: A 1973 special promoting Lost Horizon . The 5th Dimension made appearances on Soul Train , American Bandstand , The Flip Wilson Show , The Mike Douglas Show , The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson , and The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour . In 1975, McCoo and Davis, who had married on July 26, 1969, left the group to do collective and individual projects. The duo had success with "Your Love" and
90-646: A Groovy Thing " went to No. 20 in between. Those four singles kept the group on the Hot 100 for all but four weeks in 1969. By some reckonings, "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" was the biggest hit single for 1969. Later top 20 hits included 1970's "One Less Bell to Answer" (U.S. No. 2), 1971's " Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes " (U.S. No. 19) and " Never My Love " (U.S. No. 12), and 1972's " (Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All " (U.S. No. 8) and " If I Could Reach You " (U.S. No. 10). The group had seven other top 40 hits,
120-469: A breakthrough hit for them. The song was a John Phillips tune and reached No. 16 on the US Hot 100 chart. The group followed this with "Up, Up and Away", which reached No. 7 later that same year and went on to win five Grammy Awards . The following year, the group scored major hit singles with Laura Nyro 's songs " Stoned Soul Picnic " (U.S. No. 3) and " Sweet Blindness " (U.S. No. 13). The group received
150-586: A cover of " Never My Love " (pop no. 12/ Easy Listening no. 1), " (Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All " (no. 8), and " If I Could Reach You " (pop no. 10/ Easy Listening no. 1). Three of their records reached the top ten of Billboard 's Rhythm & Blues/Soul chart. Five of their 19 top 20 hits on the Easy Listening chart reached number one. The five original members were Lamonte McLemore , Marilyn McCoo , Florence LaRue , Ronald Townson , and Billy Davis Jr. Their earliest recordings were on
180-620: A gold record for their album Stoned Soul Picnic . That album included "California Soul", which peaked at No. 25 in February 1969. Weeks later the group's success broke wide open, with " Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In " from the musical Hair topping the Hot 100 for six straight weeks in April and May and another Nyro song, "Wedding Bell Blues", doing the same for the first three full weeks in November. Their cover of Neil Sedaka 's " Workin' On
210-476: A little more track than vocal." Sunshine pop and the California Sound's influence expanded to other countries. In Spain, it initially was pioneered by groups like Pic-Nic , Granada Los Ángeles and Los Iberos in 1968. Between 1969 and the 1970s there was a boom of "soft pop" acts in the country, among them Los Yetis, Solera, Módulos, Nuevos Horizontes and Vainica Doble. After its peak in the 1960s,
240-455: The Soul City record label, which was started by recording artist Johnny Rivers . The group later recorded for Bell / Arista Records , ABC Records , and Motown Records . Some of the songwriters who worked with the 5th Dimension went on to careers of their own, especially Ashford & Simpson , who wrote the song " California Soul ". The group is also notable for having more success with
270-606: The chart topper " You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show) ", which won them their seventh Grammy award as well as their own television variety show, The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. show. Marilyn McCoo served a lengthy 1980s stint as the host of the TV show Solid Gold . As of April 2009 , the group was actively touring as "the 5th Dimension featuring Florence LaRue," led by LaRue, with Willie Williams, Leonard Tucker, Patrice Morris and Floyd Smith. On June 21, 2016,
300-534: The 5th Dimension featuring Florence LaRue performed in The Villages, Florida just days after the Orlando nightclub shooting . LaRue took the opportunity to share her thoughts on the shooting: "We will not be terrorized. We know what's happening in the world, but this is a song about good health, love, peace and happiness. We still believe in those things today," she stated before the group performed "Aquarius/Let
330-566: The Beach Boys , the Mamas & the Papas , and the 5th Dimension . In some ways, the genre is similar to baroque pop through being elaborate and melancholic, but it crossed into folk-pop and Brill Building styles. It may be seen as a form of escapism from the turmoil of the times. The A.V. Club ' s Noel Murray writes: "sunshine pop acts expressed an appreciation for the beauty of
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#1732790201920360-577: The Grand Talent award in the annual Miss Bronze beauty pageant. The members began rehearsing as the Versatiles in late 1965 and auditioned for Marc Gordon, who headed Motown 's Los Angeles office. Berry Gordy , the head of Motown Records, declined the group, but Gordon still believed in them and wanted to manage them. Gordon brought them to the attention of Johnny Rivers , who had just started his own label, Soul City Records . Soul City signed
390-539: The Millennium , Sagittarius , and the Yellow Balloon were less successful but gained a cult following years later with albums like Begin (Millennium, 1968) and Present Tense (Sagittarius, 1968) being sought on the collectors’ market. Music identified under the sunshine pop banner initially was called "soft pop". Record collectors coined and popularized the term "sunshine pop" many decades after
420-637: The Sound of Love" and used as an ID jingle for a number of radio stations featuring love songs prominently on their playlist. Sunshine pop Sunshine pop enjoyed mainstream success in the latter half of the decade, with many of its top 40 hits peaking in the spring and summer of 1967, especially just before the Summer of Love . Popular acts include the Turtles and the Association . Other groups, like
450-874: The Sunshine In". In November 2017, the 5th Dimension appeared for 18 performances at the Andy Williams Performing Arts Centre in Branson, Missouri , in the Andy Williams Christmas Extravaganza hosted by Jimmy Osmond . The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002. They have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , inducted August 9, 1991, and the St. Louis Walk of Fame , inducted on March 18, 2010. McCoo and Davis left
480-572: The Top 100 of Billboard ' s albums chart, peaking at No. 106. After recording three more post-album singles which also did not chart, including "Walking in Different Circles" (which had some minor airplay in the UK), and "You're the Sound of Love", the band split up in 1970, after which the chorus of the latter tune would come to be re-arranged and re-recorded in the early 1970s as "We're
510-524: The U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and reached No. 32 on May 3, 1969, selling over one million copies and receiving a gold disc . The song also reached No. 21 on the Cash Box Top 100, and in Canada it peaked at No. 19. The group made an appearance on the 2 May 1969 episode of The Generation Gap television quiz show from which the promotional clip of the song originates. As with most similar clips of
540-741: The United States. Compilations and box-sets by groups such as Spanky and Our Gang , the Association , the Arbors and the Love Generation have been released on CD. Among the record labels which issue sunshine pop re-releases are Revola Records in Britain and the US label Sundazed . The 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. Formed as
570-656: The Versatiles in late 1965, the group changed its name to "the 5th Dimension" by 1966. Between 1967 and 1973 they charted with 20 top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 , two of which – " Up, Up and Away " (no. 7, 1967) and the 1969 number one " Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures) " — won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year . Other big hits include " Stoned Soul Picnic " (no. 3), " Wedding Bell Blues " (no. 1), " One Less Bell to Answer " (no. 2),
600-582: The fact. Sunshine pop originated in California in the mid to late-1960s, beginning as an outgrowth of the California Sound and folk rock movements. Rooted in easy-listening , advertising jingles , and the growing drug culture, the music was characterized by lush vocals and light arrangements similar to samba music. Most of the acts were lesser-known bands named after fruits, colors, or cosmic concepts that imitated popular groups like
630-593: The genre lingered in near-obscurity, although it enjoyed some interest among collectors of rare vinyl singles and LPs. Select albums would occasionally fetch hefty prices at online auctions or in record stores. A name was eventually given to the music, "sunshine pop", although it was rarely deployed outside of record collecting circles. In the early 1990s, a renewed interest began in Japan, where record companies started publishing compilations of long-forgotten, obscure 1960s music. This revival subsequently spread to Europe and
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#1732790201920660-460: The group play and sing both a medley of the Mamas and the Papas and the 5th Dimension tunes. The group changed its name to "The Peppermint Rainbow" following its signing by Leka. Under Decca the group was produced by Paul Leka ; its first single "Walking in Different Circles" b/w "Pink Lemonade" did not chart . The second single, "Will You Be Staying After Sunday", reached No. 4 on KHJ on April 2, 1969. Nationally, it spent 14 weeks on
690-418: The group, but Rivers insisted on a new name. Townson and his wife came up with "The 5th Dimension," and as Davis recalled later, "We all heard it, we all agreed right away, 'That’s got to be it!’" In November 1966, Soul City released their first single as the 5th Dimension, "I'll Be Lovin' You Forever". However, the song failed to chart. In 1967 the 5th Dimension recorded " Go Where You Wanna Go ," which became
720-842: The last being 1973's " Living Together, Growing Together " (U.S. No. 32) from the film Lost Horizon . The 5th Dimension were the featured act of a July 28, 1969, CBS broadcast of highlights from the Harlem Cultural Festival , the "Black Woodstock" gathering in Mount Morris Park that drew 300,000 festival attendees over six shows. The New York Times reported the 5th Dimension show drew 60,000 alone. On August 18, 1971, their television special, The 5th Dimension Traveling Sunshine Show , first aired. The group also performed in Burt Bacharach in Shangri-La,
750-532: The period, the performance is a lip-and-finger sync , noted mainly by the fact that none of the electric instruments is plugged in. The group's third release, "Don't Wake Me Up in the Morning, Michael", spent nine weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached No. 54 on July 26, 1969, while reaching No. 21 on Billboard ' s Easy Listening chart. The LP , Will You Be Staying After Sunday , barely missed
780-677: The singers' vocal arranger as well as instrumental backing by the Wrecking Crew for their recording sessions. In the early 1960s, Lamonte McLemore and Marilyn McCoo got together with three friends from Los Angeles—Harry Elston, Lawrence Summers, and Fritz Baskett—to form a group called the Hi-Fis, which later became the Vocals. When the Vocals broke up, McLemore and McCoo teamed up with aspiring opera singer Ron Townson, gospel singer Billy Davis Jr., and Florence LaRue, who — like McCoo — had won
810-559: The songs of Laura Nyro than Nyro did herself, particularly with "Stoned Soul Picnic", " Sweet Blindness ", "Wedding Bell Blues", " Blowin' Away " and " Save the Country ". The group also recorded songs by well-known songwriters including Burt Bacharach and Hal David ("One Less Bell to Answer") and Jimmy Webb , who wrote " Up, Up and Away ". The group's 1967 LP The Magic Garden features all but one song composed by Webb. The 5th Dimension's producer Bones Howe used Bob Alcivar as
840-471: The songs reminds me more of soft samba music." Murray says that "John Phillips, on the other hand, practically created the blueprint for sunshine pop, with little of Wilson's uncommercial weirdness." Brian Wilson commented that "you can turn the Beach Boys upside down ... just the track or whatever, and I think they [the Mamas & the Papas] have as much vocal as we do track ... whereas, I think, we emphasize
870-425: The sunshine pop acts that followed, [their] music was rarely in step with the genre." The Suburban ' s Joel Goldenburg believes the closest the group ever came to the genre was the lightly produced album Friends (1968): "the vocals of sunshine pop songs are a little more anonymous and not as lushly featured as that of The Beach Boys. And I don't see the [Phil] Spector connection. The light touch applied to
900-534: The world mixed with a sense of anxiety that the good ol' days were gone for good." Some of the artists who influenced the style include Curt Boettcher , the Mamas & the Papas' John Phillips , and the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson . Concerning the Beach Boys' involvement with sunshine pop, the orchestral style of Pet Sounds (1966) was imitated by many Los Angeles record producers, but The A.V. Club notes: "Though [the Beach Boys] ... were hugely influential on
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