Cain took music lessons as a child, attended
Cathedral High School (Indianapolis) and studied at
Indiana University. From the 1950s he worked as a musician in Indianapolis; In 1954 he founded the jazz trio The 3 Souls with drummer Albert Coleman and bassist Will Scott, which existed until Will Scott's death in 2004. The trio performed successfully in the clubs on
Indiana Avenue in Indianapolis. As a leader of The 3 Souls he recorded number of singles with the Note and
Argo labels. The most successful song was “Night Theme”. He also played in Los Angeles from 1964 with Della Reese (
Like It Like Dat!, 1965),
Howard Roberts, Lorez Alexandria and
Bobby Bryant. In 1968 he recorded the album
The Funk Organization of Henry Cain, produced by
David Axelrod, for which
H.B. Barnum and
Oliver Nelson provided the arrangements. The discographer Tom Lord lists his involvement in 15 recording sessions from 1960 to 1971. In his later years, Cain worked as an accompanist for vocalists such as
Lola Falana,
Nancy Wilson,
Freda Payne and
The Osmonds in Las Vegas, where he died in 2005. ==Discography==