Born on September 7th, 1939, Benny Latimore grew to triumph as a great blues and R&B artist. Specializing as a singer, songwriter, and pianist, he achieved great success in many fields of the music industry.
Benny Latimore was born in Charleston, Tennessee where he grew up surrounded by country music, Baptist choirs, and of course, the blues. He attended Tennessee State University for a bit, but he decided to focus on a music career and dropped out of school. Latimore moved to Miami to pursue his music career, but his early soul and blues influences remained with him and shaped his own musical style. He joined forces with Steve Alaimo, another great singer of the time, as well as other bands in the region as a pianist. After gaining experience accompanying others, he started performing his own music and releasing personal records. Debuting on the Dade Records label in the 1970s, Benny Latimore established his professional name, “Latimore,” and released his first album with the same title. Further successful albums were released by the Florida-based TK Records, and his discography consists of over thirty album releases.
Continuing to thrive as a great soul and blues singer, he moved to Malaco Records, a Mississippi based soul label. Latimore continued crafting more successful records in the 1980s on this label, releasing an album almost every single year. To this day, he is still releasing new material and recordings, with his most recent album Latimore Remembers Ray Charles out in 2013. Benny Latimore also made a debut on the Jimmy Fallon Show in May 2014 where he performed with the Roots. He remains an active musician today as a session pianist.