Happy birthday to Southern Soul-Bluesman Latimore

Singer, songwriter and pianist Benjamin “Benny” Latimore was born on September 7, 1939.

Latimore is profiled by author David Whiteis in Southern Soul-Blues, an overview of the genre that mixes blues, 60s-era Deep Soul, contemporary R&B, hip-hop and gospel.

In Southern Soul-Blues Whiteis writes:

Benny Latimore reigns as the Sweet-Loving Philosopher King of Southern Soul.  Whether he’s preaching transcendence through sexual ecstasy (“Take Me to the Mountaintop”), spinning out parables that equate conjugal devotion with spiritual enlightenment, if not salvation itself (“Dig a Little Deeper”), extolling the redemptive power of free love (“It Ain’t Where You Been”), or even playfully mocking his own aging-roué persona (“I’m an Old Dog”), his aphoristic meld of romantic fervor, life lessons, and self-depreciating irony continues to melt hearts and elicit screams. . . .

Entering his fifth decade of recording and performing, Latimore recently appeared on Joss Stone’s albums The Soul Sessions and Mind, Body and Soul.

 

 


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