Barbara Jane Ingram was an American R&B singer-songwriter, who was active throughout the early 1970s until the mid-late 1980s, enjoying modest success a backup singer for almost two decades.

Career

In 1967, Ingram had formed a vocal

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

 trio

Trio (music)

Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...

 with her cousins Carla Benson and Evette Benton, alternating with group names such as: The Sweethearts of Sigma, The Philadelphia Angels, The Sweeties or The Sweethearts. Benton, Benson and Ingram can be heard in many Contemporary R&B

Contemporary R&B

Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

/Disco

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

 albums.

In 1971, she debuted for background vocals alongside in-house background singer Linda Creed

Linda Creed

Linda Creed also known by her married name Linda Epstein, was an American singer-songwriter and lyricist who teamed up with songwriter-producer Thom Bell to produce some of the most successful Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s.-Career:Born in Philadelphia in 1949, Creed was raised in the...

 for R&B

Contemporary R&B

Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

 vocal group, The Stylistics

The Stylistics

The Stylistics are a soul music vocal group, and were one of the best-known Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. They formed in 1968, and were composed of lead Russell Thompkins, Jr., Herbie Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith, and James Dunn. All of their US hits were ballads, graced by the...

 eponymous album, including their successor album, Rockin' Roll Baby in 1973.

In the middle quarter of 1973, and onto early 1974, she appeared on Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

an based soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 singer Dick Jensen on his debut album, Dick Jensen, then appearing on sextet

Sextet

A sextet is a formation containing exactly six members. It is commonly associated with vocal or musical instrument groups, but can be applied to any situation where six similar or related objects are considered a single unit....

 R&B–Soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 vocal band Ecstasy, Passion & Pain

Ecstasy, Passion & Pain

Ecstasy, Passion & Pain was a 1970s disco band. Their most successful songs are "Touch and Go" and "Ask Me".-History:EP&P was founded by Barbara Roy in New York in 1972...

's self-titled debut album.

Through the decade of the 1970s, Ingram and her cousin Carla Benson and friend Evette Benton comprised the in-house backup group for Philadelphia International Records, Thom Bell, as well acts that came through to record in the closely related studio Sigma Sound that was a hit factory as much as Motown's Studio A. The group was dubbed "The Sweethearts of Sigma" or just "The Sweeties" by Patti Labelle whom they often sang for on record and in live performances. They were as integral to the Philly sound as The Andantes were to Motown, and just as in demand in their day.

It was once said that Ingram was going to write songs

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 for Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

, Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...

, Diana Ross

Diana Ross

Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...

, The Temptations

The Temptations

The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...

, Jean Terrell

Jean Terrell

Jean Terrell is an American R&B and jazz singer. She replaced Diana Ross as the lead singer of The Supremes in January 1970.-Early life and career:...

, and other artists, but the projects never came to fruition.

Later life

Barbara Ingram was the female voice on the Spinners' 1975 hit "Games People Play". In 1976 Ingram sang lead vocals on the album The Funk Is In Our Music for the Ingram Kingdom, a family group that included her five brothers James [Jimmy], Norman [Butch], William [Billy], Robert [Timmy] and John [Johnny]. Switching their name to 'Ingram' in 1977, Barbara continued to contribute background vocals to the groups next three albums released 1977-1984, That's All!, Would You Like To Fly and Night Stalkers. Ingram is pictured on the album jackets of their first and fourth albums.

Throughout the years, from 1975 until 1985 she sung backup for The Salsoul Orchestra, Grace Jones

Grace Jones

Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...

, Cat Stevens

Cat Stevens

Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....

, The Spinners, Eddie Kendricks

Eddie Kendricks

Eddie Kendricks was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group The Temptations, and was one of their lead singers from 1960 until 1971. His was the lead voice on such famous songs as "The Way You Do The Things...

, Major Harris

Major Harris (singer)

Major Harris is an American R&B singer, associated with the Philadelphia soul sound.-Career:...

, Cindy Williams

Cindy Williams

Cynthia Jane "Cindy" Williams is an American actress best known for starring in the television situation-comedy series Laverne & Shirley, in the role of "Shirley Feeney", and for her role as Laurie Henderson in the classic film American Graffiti.-Early life:Williams was born in Van Nuys,...

, Phyllis Hyman

Phyllis Hyman

Phyllis Linda Hyman was an American soul singer and actress.-Early years:Phyllis Hyman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in the St. Clair Village, the South Hills section of Pittsburgh...

, Double Exposure

Double Exposure

Double exposure is a photographic technique in which two images are captured and combined into a single image.Double exposure may also refer to:* Double patterning, a technique for improving the resolution of patterning semiconductors...

, Billy Paul

Billy Paul

Billy Paul is a Grammy Award winning American soul singer, most known for his 1972 number-one single, "Me and Mrs. Jones" as well as the 1973 album and single "War of the Gods" which blends his more conventional pop, soul and funk styles with electronic and psychedelic influences...

, Loleatta Holloway

Loleatta Holloway

Loleatta Holloway was an American singer, mainly known for disco songs such as "Hit and Run" and "Love Sensation", both of which have been sampled extensively.-Biography:...

, Evelyn King

Evelyn King (singer)

Evelyn "Champagne" King is an American R&B, disco and post-disco singer. Some of her best-known songs are "Shame", "Love Come Down," and "I'm in Love."-Biography:...

, Philippé Wynne

Philippe Wynne

Philippé Wynne , born Phillip Walker, was an American R&B singer. Best known for his role as the lead singer of The Spinners , Wynne scored notable hits such as "How Could I Let You Get Away", "The Rubberband Man",and "One of a Kind ",...

, Dick Jensen, Claudja Barry

Claudja Barry

Claudja Barry, is a singer and actress who has performed in the European versions of the stage musicals Hair and Catch My Soul.-Early music career:...

, Elkie Brooks

Elkie Brooks

Elkie Brooks is an English singer, formerly a vocalist with Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. Elkie has been nominated twice for Brit Awards' top female singer. She is known for her powerful husky voice...

, John Davis, Lou Rawls

Lou Rawls

Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...

, Brenda Mitchell, The Trammps

The Trammps

The Trammps were an American disco band, who were based in Philadelphia and were one of the first disco bands. The band's first major success was with their 1972 cover version of "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart". The first disco track they released was "Love Epidemic" in 1973...

, Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...

, Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

, Luther Vandross

Luther Vandross

Luther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...

, Sister Sledge

Sister Sledge

Sister Sledge is an American musical group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 1972 and consisting of four sisters: Kim Sledge Debbie Sledge , Joni Sledge , and Kathy Sledge . They are granddaughters of the former opera singer Viola Williams. The sisters used to perform under the name of "Mrs...

, among others for their albums.

Ingram continued to sing live concert shows from 1980 until 1986, then from 1988 until 1992.

Personal life and Death

Ingram was married to songwriter/producer Sherman Marshall, who wrote famous 1970s hits such as "Then Came You

Then Came You (song)

"Then Came You" is a 1974 Grammy-nominated hit for American soul singer Dionne Warwick and American R&B group The Spinners, and credited to Dionne Warwicke and Spinners . The track was written by Sherman Marshall and Phillip T...

" by the Spinners and "Lady Love" by Lou Rawls. Ingram also had a daughter named Denene. Both her husband and daughter preceded her in death. On October 20, 1994, Barbara Ingram died at the age of 46, in Camden, New Jersey

Camden, New Jersey

The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...

. The funeral was held in her hometown of Camden, New Jersey. The cause of Ingram's death is unknown; it has been speculated that her death was due to complications from lupus

Lupus

Lupus most commonly refers to the disease systemic lupus erythematosus.Lupus may also refer to:-Medicine:* Lupus erythematosus, a chronic autoimmune disease with several different forms...

, but this is unconfirmed.