Cuba Gooding, Sr., singer, and Cuba Gooding, Jr., actor.
Cuba Gooding, Sr., lead singer for the 1970s soul group The Main Ingredient and father to Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., has died. He was 72. According to TMZ, Gooding was found dead in his car on Thursday (April 20) in Woodland Hills, California.
Gooding joined The Main Ingredient in 1971 when the former lead singer Donald McPherson died unexpectedly of leukemia. He had served as a backing vocalist on some of their recordings previously. While he was with the RCA-signed band, the act scored five top 10 hits on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, including their highest-charting effort: 1972’s “Everybody Plays the Fool,” which peaked at No. 2 for three weeks. The track also was their biggest hit on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, climbing to No. 3. The Gooding-led act also notched top 10s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart with “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely,” “Happiness Is Just Around the Bend” and “Rolling Down a Mountainside.”
In 1977, Gooding left the band to pursue a solo career on Motown in 1977, releasing two albums. In 1979, he reunited with his Main Ingredient bandmates they continued to work together through the 1980s. Gooding resumed his solo career in 1993 and did not participate in a 1999 reunion of his old band. Gooding also had a minor acting career.
Gooding himself as a solo artist notched two R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart hits of his own: 1978’s “Mind Pleaser” and 1983’s “Happiness Is Just Around the Bend,” which reached Nos. 91 and 43 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, respectively. More than two decades later, Gooding returned to Billboard’s charts with the top 10-charting Adult Contemporary airplay chart hit “This Christmas” (Richard Kincaid featuring Cuba Gooding Sr.). It climbed to No. 9 in December of 2012.
The singer had four children with his wife Shirley Gooding: actors Cuba Gooding Jr., Omar Gooding, April Gooding and musician Tommy Gooding.
Billboard
https://www.yahoo.com/music/cuba-gooding-sr-everybody-plays-fool-singer-dad-234825398.html
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R.I.P. soul legend Cuba Gooding Sr. of The Main Ingredient
We are sad to report to SoulTrackers that the great Cuba Gooding, Sr., known to a generation as the lead singer of The Main Ingredient, and to the following generation as the father of an Oscar-winning actor, has died at age 72.
The dashing and talented Gooding first came to the attention of music fans in 1971, when he took over as lead singer in The Main Ingredient, replacing Donald McPherson, who died suddenly of leukemia. While coming at a tragic time for the group, Gooding’s addition foreshadowed success, as The Main Ingredient was about to take off as an A-List R&B group. Working with talented producer Bert DeCoteaux for a couple years, the group had had a a string of moderate soul hits, the best of which was the sensitive ballad “Spinning Around.” But with Gooding as the new lead singer, the group scored what would be its signature hit, 1972’s “Everybody Plays a Fool,” a terrific single that shot to the top of the Pop and Soul charts.
The Main Ingredient landed another major crossover hit in 1974 with a remake of Ronnie Dyson’s “Just Don’t Wanna Be Lonely” and hit the Soul top 10 with “Happiness is Just Around the Bend.” But group tensions led to a split in 1977, with Silvester and Gooding recording solo albums. Gooding landed a minor hit with “Mind Pleaser,” before reuniting with the group in 1980 for a couple albums and some moderate Soul hits, including an unusual cover of the classic “I Only Have Eyes For You.” The Main Ingredient came together in several forms and continued to record separately for years to come, but their hitmaking days as an act were over by the mid 80s.
Gooding went solo again, recording on occasion and often landing at the lower end of the R&B charts. But the emergence of his son, Cuba Gooding Jr, as a top actor following his Oscar-winning performance in Jerry MaGuire, gave a boost to the senior Gooding’s touring career, and he certainly delivered, providing his new audience with always tasty old school soul and a voice that sounded terrific. He continued to perform in multi-artist soul acts well into this decade.
Both as part of one of the great R&B groups of the 70s and as a solo artist, Cuba Gooding, Sr. was one of the best. His music will continue to be cherished, even as fans mourn his too early death.
By Chris Rizik
[Article contributed by Terry Minggia of Minggia Entertainment. Thanks, Terry.]