‘A voice that would swallow you up.’ Miami musician Latimore dies at 86

Local Obituaries admin August 25, 2026 0 Comments

‘A voice that would swallow you up.’ Miami musician Latimore dies at 86

Some singers need just one name to leave a lasting impression. It’s in the voice. The visual presentation. The elusive “It” factor.

Benjamin William Lattimore, one of the leading lights of Miami’s vaunted TK Records in the 1970s, fit that billing.

Lattimore didn’t even need all nine letters in the surname that ushered him into the world in Charleston, Tennessee, on Sept. 7, 1939, and through his Baptist church choir years.

Latimore — no double t necessary — on records as his professional name would be his calling card as he swept into Miami’s fledgling recording studios in the mid-1960s where he cut his first record for one of Henry Stone’s labels, Dade Records.

The Latimore name represented this towering beanpole of a man whose even larger bedroom-smooth, soulful voice and keyboards behind bluesy R&B crossover hits like his signature “Let’s Straighten It Out” and “Somethin’ ‘Bout ‘Cha” seduced soul music fans nationwide. Those two songs, in 1974 and 1977, respectively, became Latimore’s two Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 singles.

Benny Lattimore — musician Latimore — died Aug. 22, at age 86 in Tampa.

KC pays tribute to his colleague

One of Latimore’s colleagues at TK Records was Hialeah-raised Harry Wayne Casey, the KC of KC and the Sunshine Band’s string of five No. 1 crossover pop hits between 1975 and 1980 spanning “Get Down to Tonight” to “Please Don’t Go.” He remembers Latimore fondly as one of the main male R&B artists at TK when Casey arrived there in the early-1970s after graduating from Hialeah Senior High.

“He was charismatic, classy, kind, humble and respectful,” Casey said.

Latimore closed his fourth album, 1976’s “It Ain’t Where You Been,” with a sultry cover of Casey’s Sunshine Band percolating tune, “I Get Lifted.”

“He had this voice that would just take you in and swallow you up,” Casey said. “At times it was silky smooth. And other times, commanding with soulful R&B energy.”

After moving to Miami in the early 1960s, Latimore’s music crossed genres from R&B/soul to blues and onto mainstream pop music stations. He scored his first significant nationwide hit on Stone’s Glades Records with “Stormy Monday.” That sultry tune climbed to No. 27 on the R&B charts in 1973, followed by “If You Were My Woman,” a gender-tweaked cover of a 1970 Gladys Knight and the Pips Motown single.

When Stone and singer-songwriter Steve Alaimo formed TK Records, Latimore played piano on many of the Miami label’s recordings, including Alaimo’s, songs that, today, crop up in movies, TV shows and as soundtracks for social media posts.

Made in Miami talent

TK was a hotbed of Miami-supplied and groomed talent.

In addition to Latimore and KC and the Sunshine Band, TK Productions and its offshoot labels boasted vocalists including George McRae, whose Casey-Richard Finch-written “Rock Your Baby” in 1974 inspired the rhythm track of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” two years later. His then-wife Gwen McRae scored a hit with Clarence “Blowfly” Reid’s sexy “Rockin’ Chair” in 1975. Earlier, Betty Wright had one of the era’s most enduring hits with Reid’s “Clean Up Woman” in 1971. Timmy Thomas had a major TK hit with “Why Can’t We Live Together” in 1972.

Latimore played keyboards, including piano and electric piano, with that same velvet-smooth touch he brought to his vocals. He’s on the McRaes’ recordings, as well as Wright’s “Clean Up Woman” and on Bobby Caldwell’s self-titled 1978 TK imprint album that contained the elegant Top 10 pop hit, “What You Won’t Do for Love.”

Remembering Latimore

“Benny was cool. He always called me ‘Big Joe’ even though he stood a solid seven inches taller than me,” said producer Joe Stone, Henry’s son and president of Henry Stone Music.

“He was always the tallest man in the room and one of the kindest people and artists I ever had the pleasure of working with,” Stone said. “I feel fortunate to have worked with such a talent and even more fortunate to have co-written a song with him in the early 2000s, one of the highlights of my career.”

Latimore’s later years

Latimore scored a few other R&B chart hits for the Miami labels, including “Keep the Home Fire Burnin’” in the 1970s before branching out into the blues, releasing albums, including a reunion with Henry Stone on a new label collaboration. LatStone released his album “Back ‘Atcha” in 2007. He also scored work as a session pianist on Joss Stone’s “The Soul Sessions” and “Mind Body and Soul” albums in 2003 and 2004. Latimore promoted a new compilation of his TK-era music in 2014 by appearing on Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” and he sat in with the house band, The Roots.

In 2017, Latimore was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

“Benny was one of a kind. He had his own style of playing keyboard and a voice that was filled with deep passion. You could feel the emotion when he would sing. He would grab the low notes with a solid southern blues power and hit those high notes spot on the money, the kind that make the hair on your arms rise up and fill the room with joy,” Joe Stone said. “A true southern soul man who played the road and entertained millions. He will be missed.”

Henry Stone died in 2014. Alaimo, who discovered Sam & Dave at Liberty City’s King of Hearts club in 1961, died in 2024.

Latimore’s survivors include his wife, Yvonne Lattimore. There is no information on services.

This story was originally published August 25, 2026 at 6:14 AM.