Grammy-award winning R&B artist James Ingram has died aged 66.
According to a report from TMZ, the singer had been battling brain cancer.
Ingram won two Grammy awards throughout his career; in 1982, he accepted best male R&B vocal performance for his work on the Quincy Jones‘ ‘One Hundred Ways’.
Three years later he took home a Grammy for best R&B performance by a group or duo with vocals on ‘Yah Mo B There’, a collaboration with the Doobie Brothers’ Michael McDonald.
Ingram also boasted two No 1 singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart: his 1982 collaboration with Patti Austin, ‘Baby, Come to Me’ and his 1990 solo track ‘I Don’t Have the Heart’.
Ohio-born Ingram began his career as a keyboardist for Ray Charles, going on to collaborate with the ilk of Donna Summer, Anita Baker, Nancy Wilson, Natalie Cole, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.
I have lost my dearest friend and creative partner James Ingram to the Celestial Choir. He will always be cherished, loved and remembered for his genius, his love of family and his humanity. I am blessed to have been so close. We will forever speak his name.❤️ pic.twitter.com/TDJfpbbJWa
— Debbie Allen (@msdebbieallen) January 29, 2019
There are no words to convey how much my ❤️ aches with the news of the passing of my baby brother, James Ingram. With that soulful, whisky sounding voice, James was simply magical. He was, & always will be, beyond compare. Rest In Peace my baby bro…You’ll be in my ❤️ forever pic.twitter.com/oZtA9h8uZR
— Quincy Jones (@QuincyDJones) January 29, 2019
RIP the great James Ingram, a vocalist all vocalists looked up to
— josh groban (@joshgroban) January 29, 2019
A frequent collaborator with Jones, Ingram worked on Michael Jackson’s iconic Thriller track, ‘PYT (Pretty Young Thing)’ and sang on the Jones produced Africa charity single, ‘We Are The World’.
Speaking to Jet magazine in 1985, Ingram described how much working with the pair meant to him: “It’s almost like I got the chance to go to Oz, and Quincy was the Wizard of Oz and Michael Jackson was who he was dealing with in his world, Their work ethic is unbelievable.”
In a statement to Billboard about Ingram’s passing, Jones’ wrote: “With that soulful, whiskey-sounding voice, James Ingram was simply magical … Every beautiful note that James sang pierced your essence and comfortably made itself at home. But it was really no surprise, because James was a beautiful human being, with a heart the size of the moon. James Ingram was, and always will be, beyond compare.”
