The Main Ingredient

The Main Ingredient spent much of the 1960s laboring without recognition before achieving success as a melodic, romantic soul ensemble renowned for its ballad expertise. Led during their peak commercial period by the fervent vocals of Cuba Gooding, Sr., the ensemble is chiefly recalled for the 1972 staple “Everybody Plays the Fool,” yet issued numerous other notable singles, chiefly in the early 1970s. Formed in Harlem in 1964 as the Poets—a trio featuring lead vocalist Donald McPherson alongside Luther Simmons, Jr., and Panama-born Tony Silvester—the members cut their initial sides for Leiber & Stoller’s Red Bird imprint before adopting the name the Insiders and moving to RCA. Following a pair of releases they adopted their enduring moniker, the Main Ingredient, in 1968.

Little progress occurred until the group aligned with producer Bert DeCoteaux, whose grasp of the opulent, string-laden trajectory soul would follow in the early 1970s proved decisive. Under his guidance they first cracked the R&B Top 30 in 1970 via “You’ve Been My Inspiration.” Momentum built steadily: an Impressions cover, “I’m So Proud,” reached the Top 20, while “Spinning Around (I Must Be Falling in Love)” climbed into the Top Ten. Another success arrived with McPherson’s own “Black Seeds Keep on Growing,” a Black-power statement, before leukemia claimed McPherson’s life in 1971. Shaken, Silvester and Simmons recruited Cuba Gooding, Sr.—already a backing vocalist on prior sessions and a temporary tour substitute—as permanent lead.

Gooding’s tenure opened strongly with the million-selling blockbuster “Everybody Plays the Fool,” which peaked at number two R&B and number three pop, becoming their all-time biggest single. Its parent album, Bitter Sweet, became their first to reach the R&B Top Ten. The 1973 follow-up, Afrodisiac, included several tracks written or co-written by Stevie Wonder, though none translated into major single hits. They returned to the R&B Top Ten in 1974 with “Just Don’t Want to Be Lonely,” another million-seller that also entered the pop Top Ten, and the disco-tinged “Happiness Is Just Around the Bend,” which stopped short of similar crossover impact. In 1975 they cut material co-written by Leon Ware, among them the R&B Top Ten entry “Rolling Down a Mountainside.” At that juncture Silvester began pursuing separate goals; he issued the solo album Magic Touch and exited to establish a production partnership with DeCoteaux.

Carl Tompkins stepped in, yet the balance shifted and Gooding departed for a Motown solo career in 1977, yielding two albums. Simmons withdrew from music to become a stockbroker. The original three—Gooding, Silvester, and Simmons—reconvened in 1979, releasing Ready for Love in 1980 and I Only Have Eyes for You in 1981, the latter containing the minor hit “Evening of Love.” A second reunion occurred in 1986, but the Zakia single “Do Me Right” failed to chart, prompting Simmons to resume his brokerage work. Jerome Jackson replaced him for the 1989 Polydor album I Just Wanna Love You. Following Aaron Neville’s Top Ten revival of “Everybody Plays the Fool,” Gooding resumed solo activity and delivered his third album in 1993. Silvester and Simmons revived the Main Ingredient in 1999 with Carlton Blount as lead singer; that configuration issued Pure Magic in 2001. Silvester succumbed to cancer five years later. Gooding steered the group until his own passing in 2017, after which Jerome Jackson assumed leadership.