When 1960s pop vocal group The 5th Dimension takes the Victory Theatre stage on Nov. 2, a familiar voice will be singing along.
Shane Lawrence, a 1994 Reitz Memorial High School graduate, joined the singing group in June and has performed with it around Southern California. Now, the quintet is visiting Evansville, allowing Shane to sing before friends and family.
The youngest child of Philip Sr. and Cheryl Lawrence, Shane, along with his older siblings DeVonna and Philip Jr., grew up singing in a musical family that includes The Browne Sisters, a.k.a. Gina Moore and Joan Moore-Mobley. After years of making music in the Midwest and Nashville, Tennessee area, Shane and his wife LeKenya — another Evansville native — moved to Southern California when their daughter, Ke’Ayra, was accepted to the University of California-Los Angeles. The Lawrences joined DeVonna, Philip Jr., and their parents, who already had moved west.
It was a Southern California birthday party a year ago that connected Shane with The 5th Dimension, a five-piece vocal act assembled in the mid-1960s that scored mainstream success with singles like “Up, Up and Away” and the Grammy-winning “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In.” At a celebration for drummer Miles Robinson, Shane was scheduled to sing one of Robinson’s favorite songs — Seal’s 1994 hit “Kiss from a Rose.” But after listening to friends share stories of how Robinson had inspired them, Shane changed tact and sang “Made a Way” by gospel singer Travis Greene.
“From what Miles tells me, people are still talking about that moment. That left an impression,” Shane says.
Unbeknownst to him, members of The 5th Dimension were there. Later, Robinson recommended his friend when the group was looking for a new member.
“Shane has much more than a good voice. He’s a person to represent The 5th Dimension,” says Florence LaRue, the quintet’s lone remaining original member. “We have a responsibility as entertainers; young people look up to us. I want someone who represents 5th Dimension well: a godly person, family-oriented. We need a team player, someone who is humble but confident.”
(Perhaps a cosmic force played a part, too: LaRue’s birthday is Feb. 4, while Shane’s is Feb. 18 — making them both Aquariuses.)
After rehearsals with LaRue, 81, and current members Patrice Morris, Floyd Armstrong, and Sidney Jacobs to learn his vocal part of the group’s repertoire, Shane first took the stage with The 5th Dimension in June, performing in several shows around Southern California. Saturday’s concert at the Victory Theatre represents a homecoming before the tour continues east to Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina. Shane calls singing with a group he grew up listening to on the radio “an out-of-body experience.”
“Florence taught me a lot about how to sing to people so they feel what you’re saying, how you communicate that through your voice,” says Shane, whose favorite 5th Dimension track to perform is 1967’s “Another Day, Another Heartache.” “I want to honor what she’s coached me on.”
LaRue channeled her own experience into adopting that performance technique.
“Years ago, I was very shy and glad that I was nearsighted because I couldn’t see the audience. Then I got contact lenses, and what a difference it made! I could communicate with them in a way I never could. My favorite shows are where people have made me feel everything from sad to happy, and that comes from communication,” she says.
Despite his relocation to Southern California, Shane stays connected with his family back home. On Sunday mornings, he and sister DeVonna often perform a live-streamed duet for services at Grace & Peace Lutheran Church. They were raised in one-half of the congregation’s predecessor, Grace Lutheran Church, and sang in a children’s choir called Grace Notes.
LaRue hopes those generations of listeners will be in the audience at the Victory Theatre concert and enjoy the group’s wide range of musical influences. LaRue says that in the 1960s, “people didn’t know what to call us. A reporter coined the phrase ‘champagne soul’ because we do a little bit of everything.”
“We sing positive music — music that transcends gender, race, and culture. Anyone can enjoy it,” she adds.
Shane joins an established ensemble that shares the spotlight — “We give the lead to the person whose voice sings that song’s sound the best,” LaRue says. “In the short time Shane has been with us, we’ve gotten many, many compliments.”
When You Go
The 5th Dimension in Concert
7 p.m. Nov. 2
Victory Theatre, 600 Main St.
Tickets start at $22
