Ronald LaPread, the co-founding bassist whose fingerprints are on some of the most recognizable funk and soul records ever pressed, has died at the age of 75. His daughter, music producer Soraya LaPread, announced the loss Saturday on Instagram, and the New Zealand Herald reported he died following a sudden medical event in Auckland, New Zealand, where he had lived for decades.

No official cause of death has been released.

LaPread's passing closes a chapter in American popular music that began in 1970 at Tuskegee Institute, where a handful of college students, LaPread, Lionel Richie, William "WAK" King, Milan Williams, and Thomas McClary, started playing together and built something that would outlast every trend that followed. The Commodores went from campus gigs to Motown Records in two years, and LaPread's bass lines anchored the ride the entire way.

From Tuskegee to Motown

The band's early trajectory was swift. Manager Benny Ashburn spent a summer organizing shows for the Commodores on Martha's Vineyard, test-marketing the group before a wider audience. By 1971, the Commodores were opening for the Jackson 5. A year later, they signed with Motown Records.

Their 1974 debut album, "Machine Gun," reached No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, a strong start for a group that would go on to dominate radio for more than a decade. Over the course of LaPread's tenure, the Commodores released 11 albums, earned nine Grammy nominations, and won a Grammy for "Nightshift."

The hits are the kind that need no introduction: "Easy," "Three Times a Lady," "Still." But the story behind "Brick House", arguably the group's most enduring anthem, belongs to LaPread himself.

"When you hear a hit song, it sends goosebumps all over your body"

In a video recently shared on his personal Instagram, LaPread recounted the internal resistance he faced when he brought "Brick House" to the group. As the Los Angeles Times reported, LaPread recalled his bandmates initially balking at the track:

"They say, 'Oh man, it's too Black.' I said, 'Wait a minute. I tell you what, I will give this song to the group. Just put it on the album.' They say, 'OK,' and they put 'Brick House' on the tape recorder."

What happened next, LaPread said, was unmistakable.

"They went crazy. When you hear a hit song, it sends goosebumps all over your body. Before anything happens, you feel it, and that's the history."

He was right. "Brick House" became one of the defining records of the 1970s funk era, a song that still fills dance floors half a century later. And it almost didn't make the album.

A quiet exit, a life in New Zealand

LaPread left the Commodores in 1986 and moved to New Zealand, stepping away from the spotlight that had defined his twenties and thirties. He lived there for the rest of his life, far from the American music industry but never entirely separated from the band that made his name.

Last October, LaPread joined the Commodores onstage during a tour stop in Auckland. The band called it the "highlight" of their shows across Australia and New Zealand. It was, by all available accounts, the last time he performed with the group he helped build.

Tributes from the band and beyond

The Commodores shared their condolences on Instagram, saying LaPread "will always be a Commodore."

"Ronald was a phenomenal musician, an accomplished songwriter and a vital part of the Commodores' sound and success. His contributions to our music and his friendship enriched our lives beyond measure. We were grateful to perform with him again last fall in New Zealand."

The band added: "His legacy lives on through the music he helped create and the countless people he inspired."

Tuskegee Mayor Chris Lee also paid tribute. As Newsmax reported, Lee wrote: "Ronald LaPread's music and legacy will continue to live on for generations to come."

Soraya LaPread's announcement was brief and raw.

"It is with a very heavy heart that I must announce that my father Ronald LaPread has passed. If you know me you know my dad. I am devastated. A piece of me is gone from this world."

A legacy built on the music itself

LaPread is survived by his wife, Farideh, and children Mark, Ronald Jr., and Soraya. Details surrounding his death remain limited. The New Zealand Herald's reference to a "sudden medical event" is the only public description of what happened.

What is not in question is what he left behind. Eleven albums. Nine Grammy nominations. A Grammy win. And a catalog of songs that have soundtracked American life for more than fifty years, from wedding receptions to Fourth of July barbecues to car radios on summer nights.

LaPread didn't chase fame after he walked away from the Commodores. He moved to the other side of the world and lived quietly. But the bass lines endured. "Easy" still plays. "Three Times a Lady" still plays. And "Brick House", the song he had to fight to get on the album, still plays louder than all of them.

Some legacies don't need a press tour. They just need a turntable.