Cuba Gooding Sr.

Cuba Mark Gooding (April 27, 1944 – April 20, 2017) was the lead singer of the soul group The Main Ingredient and actor.

Cuba Gooding Sr.
Gooding at a performance in San Diego, California, September 25, 2008
Born	Cuba Mark Gooding (1944-04-27)April 27, 1944 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	April 20, 2017(2017-04-20) (aged 72) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Drug overdose
Body discovered	Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Singer, actor
Years active	1964–2016
Spouse(s)	Shirley Sullivan (m. 1966–1974) (divorced); (m. 1995–2017) (his death)
Children	4 including Cuba Jr. and Omar
Parent(s)	Dudley MacDonald Gooding Addie Alston
Musical career
Website	cuba-gooding.com

This group is most notable for the songs "Everybody Plays the Fool" (1972) and "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely" (1974). Gooding also had a brief solo career on Motown Records during the late 1970s and early 1980s. His most successful song internationally was "Happiness Is Just Around the Bend" in 1983. In recent times this song been sampled by several R&B artists, as well as hitting the charts again as a remix by UK Hardcore Rave pranksters/genii Altern-8 in 1991.

Gooding was born in New York City. He has four children, including actors Cuba Gooding, Jr. (born 1968) and Omar Gooding (born 1976).

Gooding was found dead in his car on the afternoon of April 20, 2017 in Woodland Hills, California, aged 72.[1][2] Police believe he died from a suspected drug overdose.[3]