Kenny Lattimore

Kenneth "Kenny" Lattimore (born April 10, 1970) is an American R&B singer.

Biography

Early career

Lattimore first developed his interest for music in the high school band program at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland. He often acknowledges Dr. Barbara Baker for setting him on his current path. Lattimore spoke at the 2005 Eleanor Roosevelt High School Graduation. He is an alumnus of Howard University in Washington, DC.

A stint as session vocalist for R&B group Maniquin led to an official place in the group as lead singer. D'Extra Wiley of the 1990s R&B group II D Extreme was also a member of Maniquin, briefly before signing to MCA records. The group released a lone self-titled album for Epic Records in 1989. Its lead single "I Wanna Ride" was an answer to the hit single "Mercedes Boy" by Pebbles in both sound and lyric. Both artists' singles were produced and co-written by Charlie Wilson of Gap Band fame. Lattimore soon left Maniquin to pursue a solo career, and the group subsequently disbanded.

His own debut album Kenny Lattimore materialized on Columbia Records in 1996 to much fanfare. That set boasted a pair of Top 20 hits: "Never Too Busy" and the Grammy-nominated perennial wedding favorite "For You (Kenny Lattimore song)", written by high school friend Kenny Lerum. The huge success of the album earned Lattimore a win for Best New Artist at the NAACP Image Awards in 1996, and eventually achieved Gold sales status.

He followed up his debut with From the Soul of Man, another critically acclaimed set of classically styled soul music in 1998, yielding the hits "Days Like This" and "If I Lose My Woman" along with a standout cover of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." After a short hiatus, the singer re-emerged on Arista Records when, then president Clive Davis signed him to a new contract. He eventually released a more contemporary R&B album, 2001's Weekend under L.A. Reid's regime as Davis was only allowed to take a small defined number of artists to his next venture, J Records. The title track and first single was anchored by a sample of Blondie's "Rapture" and became a radio favorite on both sides of the Atlantic. Davis may have had a different vision for his career, but, he ended up recording three albums for Arista Records as Reid also had a vision that included a modern-day version of a classic soul duo with his new bride, the Gold level artist, Chante Moore whom he recorded two duet albums that were both critically and commercially acclaimed.

In keeping with the "lover man" image that came to the fore with the hits that launched his career, Lattimore is known for his dramatic stage shows, vocal agility, and romantic ambiance. The New York Times hailed him as a "modern soul man" on stage. The singer has long established in interviews his personal mission to show the "strong, but sensitive and caring side of Black men."

Career as a duo

He married R&B singer Chanté Moore on January 1, 2002. In 2003, he and his wife recorded a duet album entitled Things That Lovers Do consisting of classic soul songs from the 1970s and 1980s plus two new original songs. The standout singles were the smooth and contemporary "Loveable (From Your Head To Your Toes)" and an upbeat funky cover of René & Angela's "You Don't Have To Cry". The music video for the latter featured a very pregnant Chanté Moore shortly before she gave birth to the couple's son Kenny Jr. on April 10, 2003; Lattimore's 33rd birthday. Lattimore and Moore continued promoting the album with a hugely successful touring stage show.

Following the success of Things That Lovers Do, Kenny released another album of duets with his wife. This time, the duo bested the previous effort with a double-CD of gospel and R&B love songs entitled Uncovered/Covered. The set was led by dual singles, a slick Bryan Michael Cox production "Figure It Out", and "Make Me Like The Moon", a stirring gospel ballad co-written by Kenny and Chanté, and produced by Fred Hammond. Uncovered/Covered was released in stores October 10, 2006 on LaFace/Verity/Zomba Music Group and debuted at #10 on the Billboard R&B Charts and #2 on the Billboard Gospel charts its first week in stores. One reviewer called the album a "mood motivator appropriately set to ruffle the covers of the marriage bed."

Lattimore and Chanté Moore recorded a cover version of the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell duet "You're All I Need to Get By". It serves as the theme song for the BET reality series The Family Crews. In a July 27, 2011 statement on Chante's Facebook page confirmed that she and Kenny were officially divorced.

New music as a solo artist

In 2008, Lattimore released a cover album with Verve Records entitled Timeless on September 9, 2008. The lead single "You Are My Starship" was originally performed by Norman Connor featuring Michael Henderson. Kenny was also featured on the uptempo dance song "Another Love" by Brian Culbertson.

Kenny Lattimore began his own record company SincereSoul Records in 2012. He released his album Back 2 Cool on January 22, 2013. The album's first single "Find a Way" produced by Ivan "Orthodox" Barias & Carvin "Ransum" Higgins will hit radio on Valentine's Day 2012. The second single is "Back 2 Cool" featuring Kelly Price.

Discography

Albums

Compilations

Singles

Album appearances and collaborations

Discography References: