I saw this enchanting couple live in Nigeria on the 10th of February 2007. The way the kept staring into each other's eyes and holding on to each other like their lives depended on it was powerful. So I decided to go check out their love story. See what I found out
The mellow-voiced singers, both known for their tender ballads, first crossed each others paths in 1997. At the time both were involved in high-profile relationships-Chante with then-husband, actor Kadeem Hardison of "A Different World" TV fame, and Kenny with actress Kellie Williams of "Family Matters" TV fame. Neither Chante nor Kenny showed any interest in the other. They were merely cordial in passing.
Hardison and Chante, who are the parents of a 5-year-old daughter, Sophia Milan, divorced a few years ago.
The dynamics changed last year when Chante and Kenny crossed each other's paths again. This time, both were single. But, once more, neither were looking for romance. In fact, Kenny's first attempt to greet Chante after one of her Los Angeles performances with jazz singer Will Downing didn't turn out as planned. Kenny wanted to compliment the songbird on a great performance, but when he got backstage, she was nowhere to be found.
"I thought, `Lord, it wasn't meant to be. Maybe we'll hook up later. She really was beautiful," recalls Kenny.
A month later fate intervened and Kenny had a second chance to greet Chante when she performed with Downing in New York. This time Kenny was able to say hello to Chante; he even exchanged telephone numbers with the pretty singer in the hopes of collaborating on a duet.
"Initially, I wasn't looking for anything, so it was nice that we were just friends," explains Chante. "I thought he was a really nice guy and thought maybe we would hang out and have a good time, but the Lord had something different in mind. It seems like our parallels were so consistent. It seemed like everything else we liked to do with our time other than singing was in sync."
She continues, "I think we all have a journey that we take about what is ordained in our life and what is supposed to happen by God, who orders our steps. Any relationship that I've had before now has prepared me for right now. It's not a discredit to anyone at all I've ever loved before him because certainly they've been wonderful people and I've learned quite a bit and taken away quite a bit from the relationship. But it prepared me to be the best wife I can be right now."
Kenny says from their first conversation, which lasted five hours at her home, he knew she was "the one," because the feeling was "unexplainable."
He says they can just be and have the greatest moments. "We can sit in a room and do nothing and just enjoy each other's company whether we're talking or not. The depth of our relationship is such that we love each other. We have so much in common. Even our mothers died from the same rare form of cancer, multiple myeoma. Our fathers have similar personalities. It's like we grew up in the same house, but she on the West Coast and I on the East Coast."
Having fun is something the lovebirds are always doing. So when Kenny decided to pop the question, he figured what better way than to propose in a fun way. That's what he did. While sitting side-by-side in a limousine with Chante as they rode on their way to the screening of the movie Ali, Kenny says he two-way paged the love of his life.
After dating for six months, the cute couple tied the knot on New Year's Day in 2002, during a private ceremony at the Grand Lido Sans Souci Hotel in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
They have a son Kenny who was born 10th April 2003
Chante Moore is 39, Kenny Lattimore is 36
I have absolutely no doubt that this union will work. These two will definitely stay together for a long, long time. Amen
