Music Addikts

“If Loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right…” Man, those are the words of a man in love.  That man was Luther Ingram, an R&B singer and songwriter born in Jackson, Tennessee.  The song written by Homer Banks, Raymond Jackson and Carl Hampton scored Ingram a #1 Billboard hit and 1 million copies sold in the U.S.

As with many great musicians, Ingram started singing and writing music at an early age, but didn’t release his first record until the age of 28. Once he signed with KoKo Records, a small label owned by Ingram’s manager, Luther experienced more “commercial” success.  As the years went on, Ingram maintained a presence on the lower end of the R&B charts and was still a crowd favorite, often opening for Isaac Hayes in the late 70s and into the 80s.

Ingram eventually passed in 2007 from heart failure after suffering with diabetes complications for several years.

Today, we remember Luther Ingram and the love that made us not care if we were right or wrong.

They say the great one start early and for Lyn Collins, this was certainly the case. At the age of 14, this soul singer was rockin’ the mic, hailing from Ailene, Texas via Lexington, Kentucky.  Ms. Collins had the skills to back-up the great James Brown and toured with him, as part of his James Brown Revues.  These revues were some of the most extravagant productions in American pop music.

So, popular in fact that Lyn was able to build her own career, releasing her most popular song Think (About It) in 1972, a hit from her album of the same name. The song has since been sampled by several artists, with a large majority of the song used in Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s club hit “It Takes Two.”

Later in her life, Lyn made a comeback and generated enough interest in her work to re-release her albums, Think (About It) and Check Me Out, If You Don’t Know Me by Now overseas.

At the age of 56, Lyn Collins passed away from a cardia arrhythmia. Get a glimpse of Lyn’s beautiful voice in the video below, “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

700. That’s the number of song accomplished songerwriter and producer Van McCoy has to his credit. Raised in Washington DC, Van, like many other musical greats got his start in the church, playing piano and singing in the choir. At age 12, Van along with his older brother (Norman) and 2 other friends fromed a doo-wop group called the Starlighters. 

Music was a part of him, so much so, he sacrified his relationship with fiance, Kendra Spottswood, to pursue his career with Columbia Records in 1961.  Van was a constant fixture behind the scenes of some of the best known acts of the 60s & 70s. He produced and wrote  for artists such as Gladys Knight, Melba Moore and David Ruffin (of the Temptations). 

Despite his success with other artists, McCoy’s attempt at his own instrumental LP project, Disco Baby, didn’t go over as well.  McCoy did score a big hit with the single, “The Hustle,” still played on dance floors and disco clubs today. 

McCoy died of a heart attached in 1979, but tToday we remember him and do “The Hustle” in his honor.

To learn more about Van McCoy and his music, check out his webpage.

Forget Mariah Carey and octave range. Minnie Ripperton was the original “5 Octave” Diva.  Born and raised on Chicago’s southside, Minnie first began singing with a group known as The Gems when she was only 15.  The famed Chess Records, on which the movie Cadillac Records was based, was Minnie’s home for a while as a back-up singer for Etta James, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and more.

Minnie passed away from breast cancer in 1979 but is fondly remembered as the “piccolo coloratura” for her soprano range that was often mistaken for instrumentation. You can get a taste of her range in the video “Loving You” below.