“I said, ‘I tell you what. I will give this song to the group – just put it on the album’”: Commodores bassist Ronald LaPread, who has died at the age of 75, said that one of his greatest basslines might never have been heard

UNITED KINGDOM - JANUARY 01: Photo of COMMODORES; L-R Walter Orange and Ronald La Pread performing on stage (Photo by Mike Prior/Redferns).

Roland LaPread, co-founder and bassist for classic funk-soul band the Commodores, has died at the age of 75.

The band was formed in the late ‘60s when all six original members attended Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama. The combining of two groups resulted in the original line-up of Lionel Richie on saxophone, keyboards and vocals, Walter “Clyde” Orange on drums and vocals, Milan Williams on keyboards, William King on trumpet, Thomas McClary on guitar and vocals, and LaPread on bass.