Kenny Lattimore & Chante Moore performing live.
The married couple, R&B team of Kenny Lattimore & Chanté Moore have enjoyed major success as hit solo artists over the past decade, and also with their first duet album Things That Lovers Do (released in 2003). Now the duo has returned with their second joint project, Uncovered/Covered, which is an ambitious 2-CD set which contains a full disc of R&B/pop material (Uncovered) and a second disc of contemporary gospel songs (Covered). This double set was released this month (Oct. 2006) on LaFace/Zomba Records.
Uncovered/Covered is an extensive collection of 24 songs: 13 cuts on the R&B disc and 11 songs on the gospel disc. The R&B Uncovered features the duo’s collaborations with such hit writer/producers as Bryan-Michael Cox (whose credits include Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey), Barry Eastmond (Anita Baker, Whitney Houston) Carvin Haggins & Ivan Barias (Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown) and Eric Roberson (Musiq, Carl Thomas). The gospel Covered was largely produced and co-written by Fred Hammond, who is known for his work with gospel group Commissioned, the Winans and Ruben Studdard.
In a new interview, Lattimore & Moore discussed how this project came together, and how they co-wrote most of the songs on the album. The duo also expressed their love for gospel music, and that their Covered disc is a natural extension of their music and beliefs. In addition, Lattimore & Moore mentioned that they will eventually begin working on solo projects again, although their main focus now is as a duet team.
Initially, the duo’s project was going to be a single disc of R&B material. In fact, the R&B Uncovered was fully completed by the end of 2005. “Uncovered was the first part of the idea – the theme was about uncovering the secret things that lovers do,” explained Moore. “We had finished this R&B album, but then we got a call from Max Siegel, who is President of the gospel Verity label (which is part of the Zomba Label Group). Max wanted us to record a gospel album, so we then decided it would work great if we combined these two projects and themes into one, cohesive set.”
“The concept for the album is that there are two sides to love – earthly love and heavenly love,” Moore added. “This is the way our lives are – we love each other and we love the Lord. I think our gospel and spiritual side is naturally intertwined with our pop/R&B music. For us, both sides flow together.”
Kenny Lattimore & Chante Moore.
With their R&B disc already completed, the two were able to focus in early 2006 on writing and recording the gospel material. “The gospel disc really came together fast,” said Lattimore. “We worked with Fred Hammond, and we wrote and recorded all the songs in just three weeks, during late April and early May. We had a few song ideas before the sessions started – Chanté had the idea for the song ‘Make Me Like The Moon’ – but we pretty much created and recorded all the gospel songs during a short period. It was great working with Fred Hammond, and we’re very happy with the way the gospel disc turned out.”
Uncovered/Covered contains a wide range of material, from hip, modern R&B tracks to sexy soul ballads on the Uncovered disc, to the praise & worship songs and other unique, gospel cuts on Covered. The first single for R&B release is the uptempo “Figure It Out” (produced by Bryan-Michael Cox) and the first gospel single is the ballad “Make Me Like The Moon.” The album also features two, excellent cover versions: “Love Ballad” (by L.T.D.) and “No Ordinary Love” (Sade).
Lattimore & Moore are currently promoting their album to both the R&B and gospel markets, and they are looking forward to launching a new concert tour together soon. “It’s great that we can go on the road together,” they said.
When asked, Lattimore & Moore recalled how they decided to become a duet team. “We were definitely a couple first before we decided to record as a duo,” explained Moore. “We got married because we fell in love. Then later on, it was our manager Michael Mauldin (who co-manages the duo with Jeff Sharp) who had the idea for us to record our first duet album. There wasn’t a lot of duets out at that time, so it worked really well that we came out with our Things That Lovers Do album.”
In addition to their now-established career as a duet team, both Moore and Lattimore are planning to record solo albums again. In fact, Moore has already signed a solo deal with jazz label Peak Records. “I’ve had meetings with writers about this project, but we haven’t recorded yet,” said Moore. “The style for my album will be more quiet storm, with a jazz flavor.”
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