Cuba Mark Gooding Sr. (April 27, 1944 – April 20, 2017) was an American singer. He was the most successful lead singer of the
soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
group The Main Ingredient, replacing former lead singer Donald McPherson who was diagnosed with leukemia in 1971. According to ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'', 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
"Just Don't Want to Be Lonely" is a song written by Bobby Eli, John Freeman and Vinnie Barrett, originally recorded in 1973 by Ronnie Dyson and popularized internationally by The Main Ingredient. Dyson's version reached No. 60 in the US Pop cha ...
" (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.
Early life
Born in
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, Gooding was a son of Dudley MacDonald Gooding (1889–1955) and his wife Addie Alston. The elder Gooding was a native of
Barbados
Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...
who fled the island in 1936 to
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
, and met and married a woman there. When she was murdered because of their affiliation with Pan Africanist leader
Marcus Garvey
Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) (commonly known a ...
, Dudley Gooding promised his wife on her deathbed that he would name his first son Cuba. Dudley Gooding was a taxi driver in Manhattan who died when Cuba was 11 years old.
Career
Gooding Sr. was lead singer of The Charades in the 1960s. He joined The Main Ingredient as a back-up vocalist. He became the lead singer after lead singer Donald McPherson died of
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...
in 1971. The 1973 album ''Afrodisiac'' featured several songs co-written by
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
. Gooding left The Main Ingredient in either 1977 or 1978. He had a brief solo career on
Motown Records
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
during the late 1970s and early 1980s making two albums; the first was titled ''The 1st Cuba Gooding Album'', while the second was titled ''Love Dancer''. His biggest international success was
Brian Auger
Brian Albert Gordon Auger (born 18 July 1939) is an English jazz rock and rock keyboardist who specialises in the Hammond organ.
Auger has worked with Rod Stewart, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Sonny Boy Williamson, Eric B ...
's "Happiness Is Just Around the Bend" in 1983, which has in recent times been sampled by several R&B artists, as well as hitting the charts again as a
remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
by UK Hardcore
Rave
A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
group Altern-8 in 1991. In 1980, Gooding returned to The Main Ingredient and made two more albums for
RCA Victor
RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...
. In 1991, samples from the song also featured prominently in
Bizarre Inc
Bizarre Inc were an English techno/house group. Formed in 1989 as a duo between English DJs Dean Meredith and Mark "Aaron" Archer (not to be confused with the film producer of the same name), they later re-formed as a trio consisting of Me ...
's single "Playing With Knives". Gooding released a single called "Politics" in September 2007. He was also developing a film project called ''Everybody Plays the Fool: The Cuba Gooding Story''. The film highlights three generations of the Gooding Family: Dudley "Cuba" Gooding, Cuba Gooding Sr., Cuba Gooding Jr. and Omar Gooding.
On the '' Boat Trip'' DVD trivia track, it was stated that he was going to appear in the 2003 romantic-comedy ''
The Fighting Temptations
''The Fighting Temptations'' is a 2003 American musical comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn, written by Elizabeth Hunter and Saladin K. Patterson, and distributed by Paramount Pictures and MTV Films. Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a man who returns to ...
'', which stars his son Cuba Gooding Jr., but he is not in the movie.
Gooding appeared on the ''Beach Music Super Collaboration'' CD, performing the Charles Wallert composition, "Meant To Be In Love". This led to the duo's project, “Never Give Up” (Bluewater Recordings), which debuted at the 2009 presidential inauguration.
Personal life and death
Gooding moved from the
Bronx
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
to southern
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
in the 1970s. Gooding and his wife, singer Shirley Gooding (née Sullivan) had three children: actors Cuba Gooding Jr.,
Omar Gooding
Omar Miles Gooding (born October 19, 1976), also known by his stage name Big O,Rosarito Beach, Mexico where he performed at least one charity concert. He also had a residence in
Flagler Beach, Florida
Flagler Beach is a city in Flagler County in the U.S. state of Florida. The population was 5,160 at the 2020 census.
Flagler Beach is part of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach, FL metropolitan statistical area. It is named for oil ty ...
.
On April 20, 2017, one week before his 73rd birthday, Gooding was found dead in his vehicle while parked on a street in
Woodland Hills, Los Angeles
Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California, United States.
History
The area was inhabited for around 8,000 years by Native Americans in the United States, ...
.
CPR
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure used during cardiac or respiratory arrest that involves chest compressions, often combined with artificial ventilation, to preserve brain function and maintain circulation until sp ...
was performed by the fire department but they were unable to revive him. An autopsy determined he died of natural causes.
He is interred at the
Trinity Church Cemetery
The parish of Trinity Church (Manhattan), Trinity Church has three separate cemetery, burial grounds associated with it in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The first, Trinity Churchyard, is located in Lower Manhattan at 74 Trinity Place, n ...
in Manhattan.
References
Notes
#
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
gives the year as 1977.
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...