Commodores Co-Founder and Former Bassist Ronald LaPread Useless at 75

Ronald LaPread — one of many founding members and bassist for soul band the Commodores — has died.

His daughter, music producer Soraya LaPread, shared the unhappy information on social media Saturday. She didn’t expose any particulars of his passing, however NZ Herald reported he died following a “sudden medical event” in Auckland. Ronald had been dwelling in New Zealand for the reason that Eighties.

TMZ has reached out so Soraya and the Commodores for remark … to this point, no phrase again.

Ronald based the Commodores alongside Lionel Richie, Walter “Clyde” Orange, William “WAK” King, Milan Williams, and Thomas McClary in 1968 whereas they had been college students at Tuskegee Institute. They initially referred to as themselves The Mystics.

The musician, initially from Alabama, performed on 11 of the group’s albums and contributed to hits comparable to “Brick House,” “Three Times a Lady,” and “Easy.” Ronald joined the group for some live shows in New Zealand through the years, and most just lately performed with them on stage throughout their tour in 2025.

The Commodores had been certainly one of Motown’s most profitable acts of the Seventies and Eighties and offered greater than 70 Million albums throughout the globe. However, they skilled quite a lot of turbulence after Lionel departed from the group within the early ’80s.

This week, they introduced they had been certainly one of a number of acts to pull out of Freedom 250’s Nice American State Truthful to rejoice America’s 250th birthday over the occasion’s political ties.

Ronald was 75.