Cuba Gooding Sr.

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Cuba Gooding Sr.
Gooding in 2008
Born	Cuba Mark Gooding (1944-04-27)April 27, 1944 New York City, U.S.
Died	April 20, 2017(2017-04-20) (aged 72) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Resting place	Trinity Church Cemetery
Occupation	Singer
Years active	1964–2017
Spouses	Shirley Sullivan ​ ​ (m. 1966; div. 1974)​ ​ ​ (m. 1995)​
Children	4, including Cuba Jr. and Omar
Relatives	Mason Gooding (grandson)

Cuba Mark Gooding Sr. (April 27, 1944 – April 20, 2017) was an American singer. He was the most successful lead singer of the soul group The Main Ingredient, replacing former lead singer Donald McPherson who was diagnosed with leukemia in 1971. According to Billboard, as the lead vocalist he scored five top 10 hits, most notably, "Everybody Plays the Fool" (1972), peaking at No. 2 for three weeks, and peaking at No. 3 on Billboard′s all-genre Hot-100 list. "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely" (1974), "Happiness Is Just Around the Bend" and "Rolling Down a Mountainside" were also top 10 hits on Billboard charts. He also recorded as a solo artist with hits of his own.^[1][2]