"Everybody Plays the Fool" is the title of a popular song written by J.R. Bailey, Rudy Clark

Rudy Clark

Rudy Clark is an American songwriter about whom little biographical information seems to be known. Supposedly a former mail carrier hailing from New York City, he was most active from the early 1960s through the early 1970s...

 and Ken Williams. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 in the category Best R&B Song

Grammy Award for Best R&B Song

The Grammy Award for Best R&B Song has been awarded since 1959. From 1969 to 2000 it was known as the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song, from 1962 to 1968 it was known as Best Rhythm & Blues Recording, and from 1959-1961 as Best Rhythm & Blues Performance...

 at the 1973 ceremony

Grammy Awards of 1973

The 15th Grammy Awards were held on March 3, 1973, and were the first to be broadcast live on CBS, after the first two ceremonies were on ABC. CBS has been the TV home for the Grammy Awards ever since. The awards recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1972...

.

The first recording of the song to reach the Top 40 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 was by the R&B group The Main Ingredient, a trio consisting at the time of Cuba Gooding, Sr.

Cuba Gooding, Sr.

Cuba Gooding, Sr. is the lead singer of the soul group The Main Ingredient, most notable for its two biggest hits, "Everybody Plays the Fool" and "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely" . Gooding also had a brief solo career on Motown Records during the late-1970s and early-1980s...

, Tony Silvester and Luther Simmons, Jr. Their version of "Everybody Plays the Fool" rose to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart in the fall of 1972 and was certified gold by the RIAA. This version also peaked at #2 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

R&B chart

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

 and at #25 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks

The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

. It was the group's highest charting hit single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

.
Singer Aaron Neville

Aaron Neville

Aaron Neville is an American soul and R&B singer and musician. He has had four top-20 hits in the United States along with four platinum-certified albums...

 recorded a cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of "Everybody Plays the Fool" in 1991 which also hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, reaching #8 in the fall of that year. This was Neville's third Top 10 hit on the pop chart, following "Tell It Like It Is

Tell It Like It Is

"Tell It Like It Is" is a song written by George Davis and Lee Diamond. It was first recorded by Aaron Neville, who released the song as a single in 1966. It was issued at the end of the year on the Par-Lo label and became a hit, peaking at number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and at number...

" (1967, #2) and his duet

Duet (music)

A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...

 with Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...

, "Don't Know Much

Don't Know Much

"Don't Know Much" is a song written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Tom Snow and made famous when performed as a duet by Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville on Ronstadt's 1989 album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind...

" (1989, #2). Neville's single also went to #1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart. In addition, it was a #1 single in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

.

The electronic dance music

Electronic dance music

Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...

artist Bassix also recorded a version of "Everybody Plays the Fool" during the late 1980s.

The song also featured in an episode of Everybody Hates Chris entitled Everybody Hates Badboys.

The song also featured in an episode of Supernatural, episode 10 of season 5, "Abandon All Hope".

Charts

End of year chart (1991)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	87