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James Ingram (born February 16, 1956) is an American soul musician. Although most famous for his vocal performance, he is also a self-taught musician who plays piano, guitar, bass, drums and synthesizer. Additionally, he is a producer and songwriter.
James Ingram was born in Akron, Ohio. He began his career in the '70s as part of the band Revelation Funk starring Bernard Lawson Sr, also from Akron.
During this time, Ingram developed a reputation in the Los Angeles area as a session vocalist, and came to the attention of ex-Motown songwriter and producer Lamont Dozier. Dozier invited Ingram to contribute vocals to some material; one such song, "Love's Calling," garnered some airplay. The remainder of the material surfaced in 1980 on the album Zingara.
In 1980, Ingram provided the vocals to "Just Once" and "One Hundred Ways" on Quincy Jones's album The Dude. He won a Grammy award for best R&B vocal performance for his work on this album. Ingram's debut album, It’s Your Night, appeared in 1983, including the ballad "There’s No Easy Way." He also worked with other great musical artists such as Ray Charles, Michael McDonald, Patti Austin, Anita Baker, Viktor Lazlo, Nancy Wilson, Natalie Cole, and Kenny Rogers. In 1987 he teamed with American vocalist Linda Ronstadt, and had a US Pop No. 2 Hit with Somewhere Out There, theme from the animated feature film, An American Tail. The song garnered Grammy and Academy Award nominations and was certifed gold (over 500,000 US copies sold) by the RIAA.
Ingram performed two solos on the 1985 recording and video of "We Are the World" and was featured on "Somewhere Out There," a duet with Linda Ronstadt on the soundtrack to the 1986 film An American Tail. He also won a 1985 Grammy Award for "Yah Mo B There," a duet with Michael McDonald. He also co-wrote "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" that was recorded by Michael Jackson on his blockbuster Thriller.
His 1994 composition "The Day I Fell in Love", from the movie Beethoven's Second (on which he dueted with Dolly Parton) was nominated for an Oscar.
During the summer of 2006, James participated in the U.S. television reality show Celebrity Duets as a duet partner. The show combined professional vocalists, of different musical genre, with entertainers of different backgrounds in a weekly elimination competition.
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