Luther Ingram, the soul singer and songwriter most famous for his 1972 hit, “(If Loving You is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right”, died yesterday in Belleville, Illinois at age 69. Ingram had suffered from poor health in recent years including kidney disease, diabetes and partial blindness.
Born in Jackson, Tennessee, Ingram’s early career included rooming with Jimi Hendrix while recording in New York, playing shows in East St. Louis with Ike Turner and opening for Isaac Hayes. Originally hooking up with producer, songwriter and controversial businessman Johnny Baylor’s Koko label that was distributed by Stax, Ingram became a familiar face at the Stax Records facilities on East McLemore avenue from the early 1970s until the doors were padlocked shut in 1975.
Though he is most often associated with 1972’s “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right”, a #1 R&B hit, it was actually written by Homer Banks. Ingram did team up with Sir Mack Rice (”Mustang Sally”) to write “Respect Yourself” for the Staple Singers, a massive smash for Stax in 1972. Ingram also earned a songwriting credit for “Ike’s Rap II: Help Me Love” from Hayes’ 1971 album Black Moses. His career endured long after Stax closed its doors, recording and releasing music into the late 1980s.
Word on the street is that Ingram’s surviving son, Eric, already has a script and music rights for a movie about his father and the early-to-mid 1970s Memphis soul scene.
Here are two videos, both from the 1972 documentary Wattstax. One is Ingram performing “Wrong”, while the other is the Staple Singers performing “Respect Yourself”.
Link to Vids on Hip-D
