''Things That Lovers Do'' is a collaborative
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by American singers and real-life couple
Kenny Lattimore
Kenny Lattimore (born April 10, 1970) is an American R&B singer.
Early life
Lattimore first developed his interest for music in the high school band program at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland. He often acknowledges Dr ...
and
Chanté Moore
Chanté Torrane Moore (born February 17, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, television personality, and author. Rising to fame in the early 1990s, Moore established herself as an R&B singer.
Her debut studio album '' Precious'' w ...
. It was released by
Arista Records
Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...
on February 11, 2003.
The album includes covers of classic 1970's and 1980's soul duets by singers
Karyn White
Karyn Layvonne White (born October 14, 1965) is an American singer who was popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She is known for several hit singles including "Superwoman" (1988), " Secret Rendezvous" (1989), " The Way You Love Me" (19 ...
and
Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to:
Nicknames
* Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber
* Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician
* "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...
,
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...
and
Tammi Terrell
Tammi Terrell (born Thomasina Winifred Montgomery; April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye.
...
, and more. It peaked at number thirty-one on the US
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...
and number three on the US
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...
chart,
with first week sales of 47,000 units. ''Things That Lovers Do'' was preceded by two singles: "Loveable (From Your Head to Your Toes)" and "You Don't Have to Cry".
Background and release
According to executive producer
Antonio Reid
Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer. He is the founder and served as co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment. He also previously served as the chairman and CEO of Ep ...
, the album release was timed to coincide with
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...
.
Lattimore Moore took an unorthodox route to promoting their album by mounting a full stage show also titled ''Things That Lovers Do''. The play toured through Richmond, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, and Detroit from January 2003 through March 2003.
Also starring in the play were comedian/actress
Kym Whitley
Kym Elizabeth Whitley is an American comedian and actress. She is best known for her roles on television sitcoms, such as ''My Brother and Me'', '' Sparks'', ''Animal Practice'', ''The Boondocks'', ''Young & Hungry'', ''The Parkers'', ...
and actor
Clifton Powell
Clifton Powell (born March 16, 1956) is an American actor who primarily plays supporting roles in films, such as in ''Ray'' (2004), for which he received an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture nomination.
Care ...
who plays a less-than-deserving fiancé to Chante's character. The play was directed and staged by
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
-winner
George Faison
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
.
The album artwork bears a "warning" on the back stating that the CD "may cause pregnancy," making reference to the fact that Chante became pregnant with the couple's first child during the recording of the album. In the music video for the single "You Don't Have To Cry," both Lattimore and Moore appear to sing in separate shots. The end of the clip reveals that both are against an adjacent wall as the camera pans down to discover Moore's prominently showing stomach. Shortly after the release of the album and close of the stage play, she gave birth to a son named Kenneth Lattimore Jr. at 9 pounds and 20 inches long in Los Angeles, CA. Kenneth Jr. was born on April 10, 2003, the same date as his father's birthday.
Critical reception
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
gave the album a positive review, stating that "when an album bears the legend "WARNING! This project may cause pregnancy!," it better contain some serious lovemaking grooves. ''Things That Lovers Do'' luckily lives up to its claims, delivering an old-school-inspired slice of sweet slow-jam music that sounds like it could inspire more action than
Barry White
Barry Eugene Carter (September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003), better known by his stage name Barry White, was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came ...
's waterbed
..A modern R&B classic in the making, ''Things That Lovers Do'' combines the best of old and new R&B to create what may very well be the ultimate make-out album."
''
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'' wrote that Lattimore and Moore "make a perfect musical marriage on this candlelight collection of duets, including 10 classic-soul covers plus two new songs
..Best is their radiant rendition of
Billy Preston
William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, during which he ba ...
and
Syreeta
Syreeta Wright (February 28, 1946 – July 6, 2004), who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights we ...
’s 1980 hit “With You I’m Born Again,” on which Lattimore and Moore seem born to sing together."
Craig Seymour from ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' found that "the results are exqui-sitely competent and utterly boring. Both singers have fine voices, especially the
Minnie Riperton
Minnie Julia Riperton Rudolph (November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979)
was an American singer-songwriter best known for her 1975 single "Lovin' You" and her four octave D3 to F7 coloratura soprano range. She is also widely known for her use o ...
-like Moore. But their pairings consistently lack heat and seem to be more about politeness than passion."
Singles
"Loveable (From Your Head to Your Toes)" was released as the lead single from the album in 2002. "You Don't Have to Cry" was released as the second single from the album in 2003. A music video for the song was released.
Track listing
Notes
* denotes co-producer(s)
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2003 albums
Kenny Lattimore albums
Chanté Moore albums
Covers albums