Popular R&B Singer Opens Up About His Faith—and His Divorce
Singer Kenny Lattimore is the “king of the love ballad” and is best known for writing and performing the perfect love song. But it’s taken five years to give his fans his latest installment of new music, “Anatomy of a Love Song.”
After two decades in the music business, he has seen the highs and lows of the industry, including his public break up with singer and songwriter Chante Moore.
“If you’re in a 20-year relationship—and that is what this has been for me, a 20-year relationship with the music industry—there are times when you don’t feel as in love. In a natural relationship, it’s the same thing and you have to go back and examine, why am I doing this again?” Lattimore said.
He says it was his Christian faith that fueled his passion for music. “I prayed and I said, ‘Lord, I have achieved my natural goals,'” he recalled.
“So, I was like, what is the real legacy of it all?” he continued. “And [God] spoke back to me, to the hearts of women, to the minds of men, encouraging them in love, and said I am going to say this every time I get on stage. I am going to let people know this is my purpose.”
Prayer and pursuing God’s purpose have long been part of this R&B singer’s life, even before his signature ballad “For You” released in 1996 and his first solo project “From the Soul of Man.”
“At 8 years old, I heard about Jesus and I learned my first Scripture, Luke 10:19, ‘Behold I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you,'” Lattimore said. “For me, that was a great Scripture as a kid.”
Lattimore treasured that Scripture in his heart and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior at age 8.
“The Holy Spirit began to lead my life, even beyond my lack of knowledge,” he added.
That faith has sustained Lattimore through tough times as an adult, even through his divorce with Chante Moore. Lattimore says amid all the public scandal and scrutiny, he had God to lean on.
“I started to understand that this is why marriage is for a lifetime,” he said. “The commitment is even higher than the person because people are going to let you down. I don’t think we were committed to the same commitment.”
Lattimore says there are no regrets, and his marriage did produce years of happiness and a son.
“When I do it again—which I am sure I will do it again because I do believe in marriage, the institution of marriage 100 percent—I will leave other people out, except those who are truly ministering and feeding into the success of my marriage,” he said.
