Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter James Ingram shares his Spiritual light on newest CD release
By Eunice Moseley "People
say this is my first Inspirational but 'Yah-Mo Be There,' which was on my first album in 1983, is a Spiritual," said
legendary award winning singer/songwriter James Ingram about an old song now on his new Inspirational album "Stand (In
the Light)" on the Intering Records/Music One/WEA imprint. "That was to my parents, my father was a deacon...People
say, ‘Hallelujah', they say, ‘Praise Be to God' Yahweh (is Hebrew) it's another way of saying ‘God.'...
Listen to the lyrics, ‘Heavenly Father watchin' us fall. We take from each other and give nothing at all. Well, it's
a doggone shame but never too late for change. So if your luck runs low, just reach out and call His name, His name. Yah mo
be there...whenever you call.'"
The "Stand
(In the Light)" CD is full of Gospel, Inspirational, Traditional and Pop selections that does one thing, guides the listener
to the goodness of God's light (His love). From the title track "Stand," an anthem of victory in God's light; the
old Traditional "Blessed Assurance;" "Don't Let Go," a sweet lullaby; "Everything Must Change,"
a heart-felt ballad that will certainly tag at your heart-strings and then he changes the tempo and uplifts your heart to
fly once again; "For All We know," an old Pop song sung by Dinah Washington in 1962 and then by Nat King Cole, which
he sang at his mother's funeral to, of course, the Grammy Award winning Inspirational "Yah-Mo Be There," the CD
is full of my favorites.
Ingram started in the entertainment business as a background singer that was blessed
to meet the maestro Quincy Jones who took a listen to his demo, which had his hit single "Just One" on it. Quincy
not only included James on his "The Dude" album released in 1980, but included Ingram's' "Just One" and
his "One Hundred Ways" songs.
"The Dude" CD received three Grammy Award nominations
all for Ingram (Best New Artist, Best Pop Male Vocal and Best R&B Vocal for "One Hundred Ways"). He performed
"Just One" at the Grammy Awards that year and also won an award without the release of his own CD.
James' solo release, "It's Your Night," was in 1983 and debuted the "Yah-Mo Be There" single, a collaboration
with Michael McDonald, which garnered him another Grammy Award and became the most played song of that year.
As a songwriter
Ingram wrote "Pretty Young Thing" for Michael Jackson and recently Kanye' West's "Good Life" featuring
T-Pain, which received a Grammy Award nomination. James as a collaborator has performed with Patti Austin on "Baby Come
to Me" and "The Secret Garden," the hit single from Quincy Jones' "Back on the Block" album, which
also featured Al B. Sure, Barry White and El Debarge.
"When I am talking...God is talking. He has his
experiences through us," Ingram points out to me. There's is a war over our souls...Call on God, I have no answers but
I know with God we are gonna ‘Stand!'"
For more on James Ingram and his newest CD release log
onto www.JamesIngramsMusic.com.
