Photo courtesy of Phillip Ingram Facebook page
(August 12, 2020) Soul music fans certainly know the name Phillip Ingram. He is music royalty two times over, first as the brother of the late soul music legend James Ingram, but more importantly as a founding (and still current) member of the Motown R&B group Switch, from whom we last heard a year ago with the very nice comeback hit, “I Love You More.”
What we didn’t know until now is that just a few months after we wrote about that single, Phillip had a heart attack, which created quite a health scare for him. The news wasn’t widely known, but he has now decided to share the full story with the world via a Facebook post.
(August 12, 2020) Soul music fans certainly know the name Phillip Ingram. He is music royalty two times over, first as the brother of the late soul music legend James Ingram, but more importantly as a founding (and still current) member of the Motown R&B group Switch, from whom we last heard a year ago with the very nice comeback hit, “I Love You More.”
What we didn’t know until now is that just a few months after we wrote about that single, Phillip had a heart attack, which created quite a health scare for him. The news wasn’t widely known, but he has now decided to share the full story with the world via a Facebook post.
The good news is that he received immediate care and is now healthier and feeling great. We’re all praying for him to continue to be healthy and bring us his great music -- some of which you can hear on his ReverbNation page.
Here is his full account of the incident and the aftermath:
On Sept 14, 2019 I was in Atlanta, GA, SWITCH had a sold out show that evening. One week prior I was in Santiago, Chile with Sheena Easton, we performed a show on Sept 7.
I felt fine all week, getting home from Chile and traveling to Atlanta until after breakfast on the morning of Sept 14, 2019. The best way I can explain what I was feeling was, I didn’t have a sense of well being. I attributed what I was feeling to what I’d just eaten for breakfast, but the symptoms continued, so much so I called Greg and said, “I’m not going to be able to perform tonight, I’m not sure what’s going on”. Went to an Urgent Care not too far from the hotel and they told me to go to the emergency.
I was at Emory Hospital’s ER, they took my blood presssure and took me in right away, ran tests, etc..it ended up, unbeknownst to me, I was having a ‘heart attack’. I didn’t feel a lot of pain, just nausea, and other symptoms. They called in the cardiologist team and I had a procedure done, where there was no cutting open of the chest, but what they call a ‘non invasive procedure’ through my wrist. I ended up having 1 artery that was 100% blocked and 1 that was 80% blocked. They successfully put stents into the arteries.
The BEST NEWS was the next morning, where a member of the Cardiologist team said, ‘Mr Ingram ‘because you listened to your body, you don’t have ANY PERMANENT DAMAGE to your heart’. So that was great news.
My friends and family that called me were saying, ‘you don’t sound like you had a heart-attack’, and my answer was, ‘well I’m not sure what I’m supposed to sound like, I’d never had one before’. They thought when they called I’d be sounding different.
For the most part I’ve been pretty healthy most of my life, prior to this I hadn’t been in the hospital for over 40 years. I love what one nurse told me at Emory Hospital, she said, “Mr Ingram, every once in a while you need to come in and get a couple of spark plugs so that you can go another 200,000 miles” - I LOVE IT!
So, I’m doing very well. I’ve dropped weight, continuing to exercise, changed how I eat, etc. My last follow up with the Cardiologist, out here in LA said, ‘Mr Ingram you’re doing so well, I’m going to share your example, anonymously, with my patients.’ I told the Dr. ‘I have a BIG WHY, I WANT TO LIVE’ He laughed. But that’s what happened.
One last point, the Cardiologist in Atlanta asked me when was my next performance? This was the day I was admitted, and I told him I’m scheduled for October 12, 2019, his words, ‘you’ll be ok’ if you follow what I tell you to do’. DONE, I do music for a living, this is what he does, and I ended up doing about 11 concerts with Sheena Easton, over the last three months of 2019, and Sheena now calls me Phillip 2.0. They tease me saying I sound better with ‘unclogged arteries’
So that’s the essence of what happened, and like I said I’m doing well ever since. I was released from the hospital on September 17, but I stayed in Atlanta until the 24th because you can’t fly right away due to developing blood clots.
Some of you knew, and others didn’t, but you’re hearing it from the horse’s mouth so to speak, but either way I appreciated those of you who did know and reached out on FB to show your support.
Thank you
Phillip