Chante Moore

Chante Moore

    Her music is at once sensuous, romantic and loving. Passion, intimacy, and warmth are the ingredients she uses to create just the right vibe, the perfect mood for love. Her own heartfelt compositions, jazzy grooves, and soulful ballads are her stock in trade. When she performs, her music comes alive with vibrancy and energy. Through four best-selling, critically-acclaimed solo albums and two duet sets with husband Kenny Lattimore - 2003's THINGS THAT LOVERS DO and 2005's UNCOVERED, Chante Moore has emerged as consistently popular recording artist and performer whose music has an international appeal.

    The Bay Area-born daughter of a minister, Chante's pathway to recognition as one of contemporary soul music's premier vocalists began during her teen years, singing gospel music and setting her own poetry to the instrumental recordings of such artists as George Duke and Lee Ritenour. Inspired by the reaction she got in a high school production of "The Wiz," Chante (derived from the French word for singing) started pursuing her natural penchant for music in the late ‘80s. The strikingly elegant Chante, a successful beauty pageant winner, Chante signed with Silas Records, an MCA-distributed label created by late renowned music executive Louil Silas Jr. in 1991 and began working diligently on her all-important debut album PRECIOUS, released in 1992.

    With George Duke and U.K. producer Simon Law (of "Soul II Soul" fame) primarily at the helm, the critically-acclaimed set spent more than a year on the Billboard charts, buoyed by reaction to the Top 20 R&B charted singles "Love's Taken Over" and "It's Alright," the album was considered a breath of musical fresh air at a time when many of Chante's peers were focused on ‘new jack' grooves and sexually-explicit lyricism. Achieving gold status, PRECIOUS attracted music buyers on both sides of the Atlantic and Chante became a firm favorite among discerning European audiences who appreciated her silky smooth yet undeniably soulful approach on tracks like "As If We Never Met", "Candlelight and You" (a duet with Keith Washington), and "Who Do I Turn To."

    "Satisfy You," a 1994 duet with Damion Hall (of Guy fame) kept Chante's name on charts and later that year, Chante's sophomore album LOVE SUPREME was released, once more garnering rave reviews for bridging old school soul music and contemporary musical grooves. Indeed, the single "Old School Lovin'" gave the songstress another Top 20 R&B hit single while the track "This Time" became a popular dance music and R&B cut, helping to take the album (which included production by Kipper Jones, Jud Friedman, Laney Stewart and Simon Law among others) into the upper ranks of the R&B charts. Prime cuts - like a medley of Deniece Williams' classic "Free" and The Commodores' "Sail On," the original tunes "Am I Losing You?" and "I'm What You Need" along with a cover of the Alicia Myers' classic "I Want To Thank You" - proved satisfying Chante's ever-growing audience who also heard her on a number of 1995 soundtracks including "New York Undercover" (with a version of Minnie Riperton's "Inside My Love") and the multi-platinum "Waiting To Exhale" set.

    THIS MOMENT IS MINE album, whose production credits primarily included work by super hitmakers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis was released in 1999; Chante had worked with the pair on the 1998 soundtrack for "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," duetting with Boyz II Men on the track "Your Home Is In My Heart." In addition, she had participated with fellow Minneapolis-native Prince on his 1996 album "Emancipation," adding his name to a list of guest appearances and vocal background spots on records by such artists as Everette Harp, Bobby Brown, Fourplay, Toni Braxton, Chaka Khan, Keith Washington, George Duke, Norman Brown, El DeBarge and most recently, The Rippingtons.

    THIS MOMENT IS MINE contained the track, "Chante's Got A Man," a Grammy-nominated song that finally gave the soulful song stylist a gold single and a No. 2 R&B and pop Top 10 smash; other key cuts on the album included a Diane Warren-penned duet with JoJo Hailey (formerly of Jodeci) on "I See You In A Different Light" and the tunes "I Got The Love" and "I Cry To Myself" and the MCA set became Chante's highest-ranking R&B charted album.

    In 2000, Chante contributed the song "This Is A Test" to the soundtrack for "Romeo Must Die" and that same year, MCA released their final Chante Moore album, EXPOSED and it was, as the title implied, the singer's most personal record which she herself described as "a little less poetic and a little more blunt." Working with executive producer Jermaine Dupri, Chante collaborated on eight songs for the album including the controversial cut "Bitter" and "Take Care Of Me" (featuring rapper Da Brat) and it clearly marked a departure for an artist, best known for a more subtle lyrical approach in her music. At the time of the album's release, she noted, "I like to be able to expose my experiences so that people know they are not alone. Sometimes, people will come to me like ‘girl, your music got me through a time when my heart was broken.' That makes such a big difference...that is a blessing to me..."

    Following the album's release, Chante hit the road with Jesse Powell as part of a national "Seagram's Gin Jam" tour and also duetted with Will Downing on "When You Need Me" from his "All The Man You Need" set. Chante began touring with Downing and famed saxophonist Gerald Albright in 2001 and continued the tour through 2002 as well as recording the track "One More Time" for Kenny G.'s multi-platinum "Paradise" album (via the cut "One More Time").

    In January 2002, she married singer Kenny Lattimore in a quiet ceremony in Jamaica. After their marriage, Kenny and Chante were in the recording studio creating THINGS THAT LOVERS DO, a best-selling album that primarily featured covers of classic R&B songs such as Teddy Pendergrass' "Close The Door," The Commodores' "Still," "You Don't Have To Cry' (Rene & Angela, 1986), 'With You I'm Born Again,' (Billy Preston & Syreeta Wright, 1980), "Make It Last Forever" (Keith Sweat with Jacci McGhee, 1988), "You're All I Need To Get By" (Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, 1968), "Love Saw It" (Karyn White & Babyface, 1989) "Here We Go" (Minnie Riperton & Peabo Bryson, posthumously released in 1980) and the Ashford & Simpson chestnut, "Is It Still Good To Ya." In addition to producers Darryl Simmons, James Poyser, Jamey Jazz and Jamie Hawkins, Kenny and Chante worked with super hitmakers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis on the album's title cut and first single, "Loveable (From Your Head To Your Toes)." Another cut on the album, the country song, "When I Said I Do", was also performed by Chante and Kenny on one of the biggest and most anticipated wedding episodes on the longest running daytime drama, "Young and The Restless."

    The response to "Things That Lovers Do" was such that Kenny and Chante took to the road to perform in a play named after the album and in 2004, Chante joined her husband by performing in the gospel play "What Men Don't Tell." In between solo concert dates, Chante began working with Kenny on the follow-up album, UNCOVERED. Released in the fall of 2005, the album once again displays the musical chemistry between the couple, this time on standout original tunes such as the "I Got You Babe," "Vocal Booth," "Live With You" and "Tonight (2 Step)" along with tailor-made covers of Sade's "No Ordinary Love," LTD's "Love Ballad" and R. Kelly's "I Can't Sleep."

    Chante - whose international touring has included performances in Japan, France, The Netherlands, Germany and the UK - continues to build on the momentum she's created with her impressive body of recorded work and her most recent duet albums with Kenny; undoubtedly with a career spanning close to fifteen years, she's proven her ability to stay the course as one of contemporary soul music's leading ladies.

    Contributed by David Nathan http://www.soulmusic.com/