The group was formed in Harlem, New York in 1964 as a trio
called the Poets, composed of lead singer Donald McPherson, Luther
Simmons, Jr., and Panama-born Tony Silvester. They made their first
recordings for Leiber & Stoller`s Red Bird label, but soon changed
their name to the Insiders and signed with RCA. After a couple of
singles, they changed their name once again in 1966, this time
permanently to the Main Ingredient, taking the name from a Coke bottle.
The Main Ingredient then teamed up with record producer Bert
DeCoteaux, who had a sense of the lush, orchestrated direction soul
music would take in the early 1970s. Under his direction, the Main
Ingredient reached the R&B Top 30 for the first time in 1970 with
«You`ve Been My Inspiration». A cover of The Impressions` «I`m So
Proud» broke the Top 20, and «Spinning Around (I Must Be Falling in
Love)» went into the Top 10. They scored again with the
McPherson-penned black power anthem «Black Seeds Keep on Growing», but
tragedy struck in 1971: McPherson, who had suddenly taken ill with
leukemia, died unexpectedly. Stunned, Silvester and Simmons regrouped
with new lead singer Cuba Gooding, Sr., who had served as a backing
vocalist on some of their previous recordings and had filled in on tour
during McPherson's brief illness.
The Gooding era began auspiciously enough with the million-selling
smash «Everybody Plays the Fool», which hit number two R&B and
number three pop to become the group`s biggest hit. The accompanying
album, Bitter Sweet, became their first to hit the Top 10 on the
R&B album chart; its follow-up, 1973`s Afrodisiac, featured several
songs written or co-written by Stevie Wonder, although it did not
produce any huge successes on the singles charts. They peaked at number
eight on the R&B chart in 1974 with «Just Don`t Want to Be Lonely»,
which sold over a million copies and also reached number ten on the pop
chart, and the disco flavored «Happiness Is Just Around the Bend»,
which did not. In 1975, the group recorded several songs co-written by
Leon Ware, including the R&B Top Ten «Rolling Down a Mountainside».
By this point, however, Silvester was harboring other ambitions; he
released a solo album called Magic Touch that year, and left the group
to form a production team with Bert DeCoteaux.
