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[Read Mark Chappelle’s tribute to Kenny Lattimore’s eponymous debut album Kenny Lattimore (1996) here.]
If you’ve never heard a Kenny Lattimore album, don’t stress out. There’s time. They’re rather built for you to catch up to. Lattimore has been making “second marriage” music for most of his career. That is to say, he creates soundtracks for making better decisions in life.
Maybe your bad boy lothario boyfriend in high school was cute, but his ego was too big and he couldn’t communicate like an adult. There’s a Kenny song for that. Maybe you thought you found a good one in college, but then your heart got broken harder than any heart was ever broke, and now you just don’t want to feel anything anymore. There’s a Kenny song for that too.
Maybe you were either of those boyfriends in high school or college, and now you’re trying not to leave a trail of damaged women in your wake. In all above cases, you’ve come to the right place. The doors of the church are open. Lattimore is an R&B medic. His mission is to speak to the hearts of women and the minds of men. He recently sat down with me to discuss the process behind making his first album Kenny Lattimore, released 25 years ago on May 14, 1996.
How old were you when you did Kenny Lattimore?
I was 28 actually…which was old. [Laughs]
How is that old?
For the industry. Most of my peers that were recording at that time were probably just in their early twenties.
Had you tried to record when you were in your early twenties?
Yeah, I did a lot of demos for myself, and a lot of times what would happen is other people would hear my demos and they would want the songs. So that's how I started getting into writing. I was like, “Oh, people like the songs!”
Did any of those songs for other artists actually make it to records?
Earlier I ended up writing for John Lucien and I got a placement on Glenn Jones’ album Here We Go Again (“Open Up Your Heart”). That was one of my solo songs that I was about to present to record companies for my own solo deal.
You hadn't had a deal yet?
I didn't. I didn't really know any record people. I just [had] friends out peddling my music! Taking it to other friends they knew who were up and coming. But there's a guy named Matt Jones over at Columbia.
My manager Colin [went] to him saying, “Hey, we've got a kid who is a singer. I think he's the whole package, but he's not like R. Kelly.” That was the thing. Even then in ‘96, everybody was trying to be R. Kelly. He had just come off 12 Play and [Colin] said, “But he's more like an all-American kind of guy, clean cut.” And Matt Jones said, “That's what we're looking for.”
So, what did Columbia Records perceive for you as an artist? If they painted a picture of what stardom would be like for you, what was the picture?
That's a good question. I don’t think they ever did, but they obviously liked my demo…the energy, my voice, the lyrics. I always did these inspirational lyrics. They were very close to gospel because I wanted it to be like BeBe & CeCe Winans. I wanted to be a gospel artist initially, or inspirational artist. But I realized that the R&B world was open to me for whatever reason.
Did you feel welcomed when you got into the music industry?
I did not feel like I fit into what was happening. The [neo-soul] movement had begun with D’Angelo and that happened maybe a year before. D’Angelo was actually one of the people that I was supposed to work with. Some people at his publishing company were like, “We want you to work with Angie Stone and D’Angelo.” I don't know what would have happened had we gotten into a room.
Why didn't that happen?
I think it was because it was so close to his solo record coming out that he was just busy. They were putting the finishing touches on Brown Sugar. And so, by the time he came out, I was like, “This is D’Angelo?” It was very different from who I was!
Being a Black male in the industry singing at that time. I felt like there was a very heavy stereotype that we were either rappers or thugs. Hip-hop had become really popular with Biggie and Pac, and then you had R. Kelly, so it was very sexual. I understood all this stuff sells, but again, coming from gospel and inspirational music, I didn't care.
I was like, “This isn't who I am.” I was more afraid that if I tried to just go in that lane that people were going to be looking at me like, “He's not that. That's not authentic.” As soon as I opened my mouth and started talking, they going to know that's not where I'm from.
So, of all the songs that you did on that first album, which is the one that you're vocally the proudest of?
Well, definitely “For You” because the approach became such a signature approach for me. Whatever it was between Barry Eastman and Kenny Lerum going in, we really carved out something that was uniquely me.
But vocally? “I Won't Let You Down” was super fun. “Forgiveness?” Oh my gosh. “Forgiveness” was a tough one because Kenny Crouch has such an amazing ear and he had so many harmony ideas and different things. I think there are things that we did on that song that you can't even really hear how brilliant his ideas were.
You co-wrote seven songs on Kenny Lattimore and Kipper Jones co-wrote five. How did he end up on the project?
Kip really took the lead in writing on a lot of the hits. Even though, yes, I may have been this writer that they believed in and they were nurturing me, they made sure I wasn't out there by myself, which is awesome. They sent in a seasoned writer like Kipper Jones to kind of walk me through.
Had you met him before?
Not until we were getting ready to do this album. I was reading his credits. I had seen him before, because he was in a group called Tease. “Firestarter” was their song years ago. I had seen him perform before at a music convention, but I didn't know him.
What did you learn while you were recording these first 12 songs that you wish you knew back at “Never Too Busy?”
That I didn't have to be as rigid in my thinking. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted to be perfect so bad. Every day I wanted to impress my producers. I was into proving that I could sing well. And the only thing that happens with that is, eventually you have to take a fall. You hit something that's off, a little sharp, a little flat, which is part of the human journey. But as a singer, I probably should have studied some other male singers in a way that allowed me to let go.
Well, who did you study that got you to where you were?
I loved Stevie Wonder and Luther Vandross. And then I listened to a lot of the women singers. Chaka, Anita Baker.
As much as I love Chaka Khan, I wouldn't have guessed her as an influence on this album. What things did you take from her that showed up on the record?
I don't think any of it! Because I really don't sound anything like her or Stevie. I could do some things that sound Stevie-esque but, I just studied and I loved her. I loved the fact that she and Stevie could caress a song [or] they could blow it way out.
My biggest influence of this album was probably Matt Jones, the A&R director. He said, “You know what? You don't have to do the runs and all the different things that everybody is doin’. The Aaron Hall and R. Kelly and all these people. You don't have to do those.” He said, “But you know what? I've discovered something in your voice that, that I want right now. I want that soft voice because it doesn't sound like anybody else. And it's going to separate you from all the other male singers.”
Did you ever wish you sounded like someone else?
Wow. That's a good question. I used to want a richer tone like Donny Hathaway... [or] Frank McComb who sounds like Donny a lot—a cross between Donny and Stevie. I was a singer who studied and listened to so many people and I wanted no boundaries. Rahsaan Patterson and I sang backgrounds on some demos for Usher. Keith Crouch was like, “Oh my God, you and Rahsaan can do this thing with your voices that adds this edge to your voice.” My voice had more air in its presence than Rahsaan’s, but when we sang together, it was brilliant.
That air is probably why I love “Climb the Mountain” so much. Whose idea was that arrangement?
Wow. Jimmy Abney. Jimmy had a brilliant demo of that song and then you gotta go back in and make it your own? That was very intimidating for my first album. It was one of Jimmy's early projects. God rest his soul. He's not with us anymore, but I remember hearing the song and thinking to myself, “What am I going to do with it?” That's when I got into the producers. Can I produce vocally what the producer wants?
I began to take pride in that and I wasn't really into “put Kenny on it.” I don't think I knew who Kenny was on the first album. So, thank God. I guess. I always was me, different from everybody else. I don't know that I appreciated the fact that I had my own sound. So, when people turn it on, nobody goes “Is that Eric Benet?” They go, “Oh, that sounds like Kenny Lattimore.”
You produced the last song, “I Won’t Forget (Whose I Am).” How did a new singer get production credit?
I said, “Well, if you give me a gospel song at the end that's contemporary, this is what I want to say.” So I brought my buddy Sam Kendrick from the gospel industry and we worked it out. I think I sat in a room and I wrote everything out, the lyrics, and I sang the melodies and stuff into a tape recorder. Then I went to Sam, and Sam put music around it.
That is so dope because it's very personal.
Yeah. And it really was my ultimate statement to my mother who had passed and all of the mentors that poured into me that I wouldn't forget who I was. That I was going to keep God first. It was literally my personal statement of where I was in life. And giving that to a record was fairly easy. It was like God was writing it.
When did your mom pass?
That happened years earlier, during the process of recording Maniquin’s album. She had managed me and helped me to develop my vision for myself. My mother, I think wanted me to be who I am today. A person who was diverse, who was going to be intelligent, who didn't have the boundaries of genres.
My parents supported me doing voice lessons and classical music and all the different genres, jazz. She would want me to walk into a room and be able to sing with Nancy Wilson. My mother would have just been beside herself. To go out with George Duke and Rachelle Ferrell and then turn around and sing with a Stevie Wonder and a Barry White? It was almost like everything that she introduced me to just happened in my life.
What tempted you to forget who you were?
Being in Hollywood and having this great opportunity. I think I had seen people destroyed by their own success. Sometimes they call it people getting in their own way…the drugs, all different kinds of things people would use to cope with their pain. I just knew going in that I didn't want to get lost in any of whatever the industry had to offer.
Did you have a vision for this album when you did it? Or was it just something you were doing, and it happened to work out, it happened to sound good. Did you just get lucky?
I think I got lucky! [Laughs]
You said “For You” was on your demo. How did that come about? It was arguably the biggest hit on the album.
When I knew I had the opportunity to do the demo, I asked Kenny [Lerum] for his songs. It was his wedding song and I sang it for him and his wife for their reception. I just thought it was such a brilliant song. I asked him if I could record it for the demo. And he was like, “Yeah!”
What other single contenders were there? Were they considering a fourth single?
“Joy” was a song that they really loved and that was surprising to me.
I mean, that's not a gospel song, but you gospel-ized it.
Yeah. And that was just where I was back then. That was what I knew back in the day.
You say that like you regret it!
No! No, no, no, I don't regret it! But it's interesting because I guess I've evolved so differently through the years. I became their sultry singer, as opposed to recording things where I was just outright hollering, you know! Authentically, that's where I was musically. All of the other commercial music, sexy stuff, soft stuff? The producers helped me to make that transition. J. Dibbs had to help me make it a little sexier. I give him credit for that!
The only regret that I would have about my solo debut record was because I explored my soft tones in my voice, people didn’t think—(they weren't listening to the whole album)—some people had come up with the conclusion that, “He's pretty good. He's not really a great singer, but he's pretty cool.” And that hurt. I think it hurt a little bit, not terribly, because it was one of the other beautiful lessons that I learned in life.
My aunt told me before [my record] ever came out, we were watching the “Never Too Busy” video one day, and she said, “Kenny, I think the song is a hit, you look good,” and all this other stuff. “I think you're going to be fine.” She paused for a minute. And then she said, “But just remember this. Everybody's not gonna like you.” One of the most valuable lessons I've ever learned.
You seem really happy with how the album came out. What did you want that you didn't get?
I wanted it to be out of the box platinum, because that was everybody's goal at that time. Double platinum! Triple platinum! I wanted it to be all of that. I wanted every single to work.
I loved being at Columbia Records. Not just for what it represented in terms of legacy, but they treated me well in general. I may not have been getting the money spent on me, but there were people who were like, “You have the potential to go extremely, extremely far.” It just wasn't what they were promoting at the time! And for Black men, it never was.
Can you think of anyone who was occupying that kind of space?
Brian McKnight. He was in a classic space where he could do jazz and he could pop. What was great about him? He wrote all his hits, really. The right ones at the right time. So, when [he] did, “Do I ever cross your mind anytime?” That's what I needed. Something that was considered cool. I wasn't “cool.”
But “cool” changes all the time.
It changes all the time, and I wasn't that. I think I'm that now! [Laughs] But I wasn't that then at all.
I saved my hard question for last. It’s actually cruel. And I apologize in advance. What are your five favorite albums of all time?
I'm going to go all the way back to [Rufus featuring Chaka Khan’s] Ask Rufus (1977), Earth, Wind & Fire’s All ‘n All (1977), Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions (1973) because that just influenced me to even want to do music altogether. Let's say Anita Baker's Rapture (1986). And it was actually Luther Vandross’ Busy Body (1983) that influenced me. It changed my whole life when I saw him perform live. I was studying these things over and over and over again, trying to figure out how to take bits and pieces of how this music was affecting me and infuse it into who I was.
So how do you approach recording now with your new music, as opposed to what you did 25 years ago on the Kenny Lattimore album?
I feel like I'm free and I can do whatever I want. [Laughs] There's no inhibition. There's no “I have [something] to prove.” So, I try different songs and see if it comes out good. If it doesn't sound like it's authentically who I am, we can walk away from it. But yeah, I approach it fearlessly now.
That's a nice full circle. Thank you for your time today! I appreciate you diving deep for us here, and I'm looking forward to the new music you have coming out this year.
Yep! Absolutely. We’re gonna have something out this summer!
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