Luther Ingram, the man who co-wrote one of pop music's greatest hits, has died at age 69.

Ingram, whose recording of "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right)" was a No. 1 hit in 1973, died Monday in St. Louis.

He'd had a kidney transplant several years ago and fought kidney failure for most of the last decade.

Starting out with his brothers as The Gardenias in Alton, Ill., Ingram went on to a solo career with Koko Records, which was distributed by the famous Stax label.

He co-wrote the Staples Singers hit "Respect Yourself" with Sir Mack Rice.

Ingram's other hits included "Ain't That Loving You (For More Reasons Than One)" and "I'll Be Your Shelter."

Survivors include his wife Jacqueline, sons Luther Jr. (Eric) and Kenneth, a sister and five brothers.

Oh how sad to hear.

I remember singing "If Loving You Is Wrong" with my cousins in the car with my grandfather, and he almost had a heart attack and gave us a speech about how we were all too young to be sing a song like that.

RIP Luther! :( peacesign: :rip:

:eek: :( I didn't know this!!!! How sad. I love that song by him.

I wonder if his five brothers include James Ingram, who had hits in the 1980s including "Just Once", "One Hundred Ways" (with Quincy Jones), "Baby Come To Me" (with Patti Austin), and "Somewhere Out There" (with Linda Ronstadt).