By AP/KWMU
Belleville, IL – Luther Ingram, the R-and-B soul singer and songwriter, has died.
He was best known for his 1972 hit, "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right)."
Ingram died Monday at a Belleville, Illinois, hospital after suffering for years from diabetes, kidney disease and partial blindness. He was 69.
He and his wife, Jacqui Ingram, had lived in nearby O'Fallon, Illinois for ten years.
Born November 30th, 1937, in Jackson, Tennessee, Ingram wrote and sang music his whole life. He started out in a sibling group, the Midwest Crusaders, after his family moved in 1947 to Alton,
Illinois.
He roomed with Jimi Hendrix in New York, performed with Ike Turner in East St. Louis, and was the opening act for Isaac Hayes.
In 1971, he cowrote "Respect Yourself" for the Staple Singers, the biggest hit Memphis-based Stax Records ever had.