Radio Facts:
Super talented 80’s singer James Ingram has died at 66
Undeniably one of the most powerful singers of his time.
Early on in my industry career, I loved to play various promo records from WUFO in Buffalo that my good friend Melody, who was an intern, would bring home. I remember thinking this one song was a hit but radio didn’t push it, WBLK played it overnight. I’m pretty sure it was on an independent label. The song was by a then-unknown James Ingram who sang the absolute sh out of “Love’s Calling” as the lead singer in a group Zingara (see below). After finding out he died today, I revisited the song on Youtube and it sounds just as good as it did almost 40 years ago.
Ingram went on to have a massively successful career mostly doing pop duets with Patti Austin “Baby Come to Me,” Michael McDonald “Yah Mo B There” and many other hits like Quincy Jones’ smash “Secret Garden.” While it would have been great to have heard a hardcore R&B project from Ingram, he had massive success in the pop arena as well as the R&B charts. His brother Phillip Ingram was a member of the group Switch, back in the day, before James struck it big. Ingram who had been active since the early 70s as a singer never thought he was a great lead singer but more of a background singer.
He won 14 Grammys and then he pretty much disappeared in the 90s, there were rumblings about him having struggles with stardom. Ingram suffered from brain cancer and succumbed today at 66 years of age. He had been ill for a while according to sources. We will keep you posted on services. Originally posted Jan 19, 2019
