メイン・イングリーディエント (The Main Ingredient)

The Main Ingredient
The Main Ingredient is an American soul and R&B group, most popular during the 1970s. The group was founded in Harlem, New York, in 1964.

The original members of the group were lead singer Donald McPherson, Luther Simmons Jr., and Tony Sylvester, who called their group "The Poets." After recording for a minor local label, they changed their name to "The Insiders" and got a deal with RCA Records. By 1966, they had changed their name a third and final time, to "The Main Ingredient."

The group affiliated itself with producer Bert DeCoteaux, who crafted the singers' first US Top 30 hit, "You've Been My Inspiration." Follow-up hits such as "I'm So Proud" (a cover of an Impressions song), "Spinning Around (I Must Be Falling in Love)," and "Black Seeds Keep on Growing" did even better on the charts.

McPherson died suddenly from leukemia in 1971, and The Main Ingredient recruited Cuba Gooding, Sr., the father of actors Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Omar Gooding, as their new lead singer. Gooding's first single with the group was 1972's "Everybody Plays the Fool", a gold-selling single that hit the Top 5 on both the pop and R&B singles charts (successfully covered by Aaron Neville in 1991). Another gold single, "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely," hit the pop Top 10 in 1974, and the disco-based "Rolling Down A Mountainside" hit the R&B Top 10 in 1976.

Later in 1976, Sylvester quit the group for both a solo career and to start a production company with DeCoteaux, producing Prince's debut album, as well as Ben E. King (Supernatural Thang), Sister Sledge, Ace Spectrum, Brenda Russell and others. He was replaced with Carl Tompkins, but the group disbanded a year later. Gooding garnered a solo deal with Motown, while Simmons became a stockbroker.

Gooding, Simmons, and Sylvester reunited twice, once from 1979 to 1982, and again in 1986, but their subsequent releases were not as successful as were the 1970s hits. Simmons left the group again after 1986 and was replaced with Jerome Jackson.

In the early 1990s, Gooding resumed his solo career, and in 1999, Sylvester and Simmons resurrected The Main Ingredient with Carlton Blount as the new lead singer. In 2001, this group released the CD Pure Magic. Both Gooding and the resurrected group are featured live on DVDs featuring popular R&B artists. Gooding is featured on the DVD '70's Soul Jam, and the resurrected group with Blount as lead is featured on the DVD The Big Show.

Sylvester died on November 27, 2006, at the age of 65...
(Wikipedia: The Main Ingredient)