Cuba Gooding, Sr., lead singer for the 1970s soul group The Main Ingredient and father
to Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., has died at the age of 72, he would have been 73 next week. Gooding was found
dead in his car on Thursday (April 20) in a 2012 silver Jaguar in the 22100 block of Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills, California around 1 p.m..
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. One of
their hit songs was 1972’s “Everybody Plays the Fool,” which peaked at No. 2 for three
weeks.
Police are still investigating the cause of his death, but say there were no immediate indications of homicide at the scene.
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office said there were several bottles of alcohol as well as drug paraphernalia found in the
vehicle, but they would not be more specific. They said it appears he died either of natural causes or a drug overdose and they are awaiting a toxicology report.
The car was seen pulling up to the location around 3:30 a.m. and Gooding was last seen alive around 10:30 a.m. Thursday,
officials said.
Someone noticed an unresponsive body in the car and called 911 around 1 p.m.
Paramedics responded and tried to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
