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Cuba Gooding Sr. found dead at 72

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Cuba Gooding Sr., a popular soul singer and actor, was found dead Thursday in the San Fernando Valley … TMZ reported.

The father of actors Cuba Gooding Jr. and Omar was discovered slumped over in his silver Jaguar, parked on Ventura Blvd. in Woodland Hills Thursday afternoon. The fire department responded to the scene at anout 1pm and attempted CPR, but could not resuscitate him. Police claim there were empty containers of alcohol in the vehicle and suspect that the death may have been  drug overdose.

Gooding was the lead singer of the soul group The Main Ingredient, most notable for its two biggest hits, “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 biggest international success was Brian Auger’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 by UK Hardcore Rave group Altern-8 in 1991. In the same year, samples from the song also featured prominently in Bizarre Inc’s single “Playing With Knives”.

He and his wife, Shirley, had two additional children together. They split up in 1974, but remarried in 1995.

Cuba was 72.

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