James Ingram, the soul singer and key member of Quincy Jones’ formidable camp, died Tuesday at age 66. It is reported in American media that he died from brain cancer.

Ingram was popular in Jamaica through a number of songs including I Don’t Have the Heart, One Hundred Ways, Baby Come to Me (with Patti Austin) and Yah Mo B There, which he recorded with Michael McDonald.

He performed twice in Jamaica: 2001 in Kingston and five years later at the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival in Montego Bay.

For his second performance, Ingram stated that it was an “honour” to be in Jamaica again, as it gave him a feel of coming “back home”.

Ingram, who started his career as a keyboardist, was born in Ohio, a state which produced a flood of talented musicians in the late 1960s including the Collins brothers, Catfish and Bootsy; the Ohio Players, the Troutman brothers of Zapp and Slave.

He was a member of Ray Charles’ band when he met Jones in the mid-1970s. Ingram cut several quality sides for Jones including the Grammy-winning One Hundred Ways, Baby Come to Me and The Secret Garden, which he sang with Barry White, El DeBarge and Al B Sure.

Along with Austin, Michael Jackson, songwriter Rod Tempterton, keyboardist Greg Phillinganes and members of the band, Toto, Ingram helped make Jones one of the most successful music producers of the 1980s.

James Ingram is survived by his wife and six children.