Ronald LaPread, Commodores bassist who saved ‘Brick House’ from the cutting room floor, dies at 75

Ronald LaPread, co-founder and bassist of the Commodores, died at 75. His daughter confirmed the news on social media, asking fans to “do as he did and be kind to each other.” LaPread was a core part of the Tuskegee Institute-formed band that blended hard funk with huge ballads, working alongside Lionel Richie, Walter Orange, and the rest of the classic lineup from the late 1960s onward.

A few weeks ago, LaPread posted a story on Instagram that immediately resurfaced following news of his death. It centered on the bassline to “Brick House,” one of the Commodores’ defining tracks from 1977. When he first played the groove for the group, the reaction was not warm. “They said, ‘oh man, it’s too black,’” LaPread recalled. He didn’t push back on the critique. Instead, he made a practical offer. “I tell you what. I will give this song to the group, just put it on the album.” They said okay. What landed was not a tucked-away deep cut but a single that gave the Commodores a different kind of fire, sitting on the same LP as “Easy” and “Three Times a Lady” but running on an entirely different engine.

LaPread described the moment people heard the finished recording. “They went crazy. When you hear a hit song it sends goosebumps all over your body. Before anything happens, you feel it.” The numbers bear that out. The song has now been played nearly three billion times. Lionel Richie posted a brief tribute: “Pread, you will be missed my dear brother. What a ride!”

LaPread’s instinct, and the calm way he fought for a bassline he knew would connect, turned a near-rejection into one of the era’s most durable grooves.