Last night, our Marilyn & Billy had a delightful, audience-packed concert at the McCallum Theater in Palm Desert. They certainly performed this medley we celebrate today. Our friends at the Wrecking Crew remind:
On this date, April 12, 1969, the single “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)” by The 5th Dimension hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 where it stayed for 6 consecutive weeks. The songs, from the rock musical HAIR, were written by James Rado. Gerome Ragni and Galt Mac Dermot. The medley was produced by Bones Howe, and arranged by Bill Holman, Bob Alcivar, and Howe.





The single was released on March of 1969 on Soul City Records.
The recording won both the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group for the Grammy Awards of 1970.
The instrumental tracks were recorded at Wally Heider‘s Studio 3 in Hollywood by Wrecking Crew members Hal Blaine on drums, Joe Osborn on bass, Larry Knechtel on keyboards, Tommy Tedesco and Dennis Budimir on guitars, and Tony Terran on trumpet. The vocals were recorded in Las Vegas where the group was performing.
Our beloved LaMonte McLemore wrote in his memoir, “From Hobo Flats to The 5th Dimension,” “Our voices were tired from performing onstage and we had to stop the recording when the train right outside the studio came through…but you’d never know it! It turned out to be our biggest hit!”
Forever 5th Dimension by Robert-Allan Arno, a production of The Soul of The Voice, Ltd., copyright 2008-2026, all rights reserved.


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