Singer Latimore, of 'Let's Straighten It Out,' dies at 86

Latimore, the blues and soul singer born Benjamin William Lattimore, has died at 86. His death was reported by The Boogie Report. Latimore scored his career-defining hit in 1974 with the self-written "Let's Straighten It Out," which reached No. 1 on the R&B chart and became his only pop crossover single.

Born in Charleston, Tennessee, Latimore began performing and recording in the 1960s before finding wider success in the early 1970s on producer Henry Stone's Glades label. Early recordings of "Stormy Monday" and "If You Were My Woman" drew attention, setting up the breakthrough that followed.

Built around Latimore's electric piano and a near-spoken vocal delivery, "Let's Straighten It Out" was a plea for two lovers to stop arguing and talk. He followed it with twelve more R&B chart hits, including the Top 5 singles "Keep the Home Fire Burnin'" and "Somethin' 'Bout 'Cha."

As mainstream R&B shifted in the 1980s, Latimore moved toward a southern soul sound and signed with Mississippi's Malaco Records, where he released a steady stream of albums over the following two decades. He later founded his own label, LatStone Records, and kept recording and performing well into the new millennium, releasing more than two dozen albums in all. His last, a tribute to Ray Charles, came out in 2013.

Latimore's catalog found new life decades later: "Let Me Go," a track from his 1976 album It Ain't Where You've Been, has drawn more than 25 million streams after turning up in TikTok videos. In 2017, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, recognition for a career that spanned more than five decades in R&B and blues.