Throughout his career Rick has performed live and on recordings with, are such greats as bluesman B.B. King, Quincy Jones, rockers Neal Schon, and Pat Travers as well as jazz all-stars Bill Watrous, Larry Carlton, Paul Smith, Howard Roberts, David Friedman and David Samuels. Rick's versatility has also been highlighted with such top entertainers as Rita Moreno, Ben Vereen, Martha Reeves, Redd Foxx and Pete Barbutti. He has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe and Asia.
Latham is also renowned as the author of the long celebrated and internationally recognized drummer's text ADVANCED FUNK STUDIES (1980) [honored by Modern Drummer magazine among "The 25 greatest drum books ever published,"] as well as the highly acclaimed CONTEMPORARY DRUM SET TECHNIQUES (1990), distributed world-wide by Carl Fischer.

Rick endorses DW DRUMS, EVANS DRUM HEADS, K&K PICKUP SYSTEMS, , PRO-MARK DRUM STICKS, REALFEEL PRACTICE PADS, and SENNHEISER MICROPHONES. He's frequently invited to conduct product demonstrations at international trade conventions including NAMM (National Assoc. of Music Merchants), PASIC (Percussive Arts Society International Convention), and Europe's MUSIC MESSE... in addition to master classes and clinics around the globe.

Originally from Columbia, South Carolina, Rick graduated from SHELBY High School, and then EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY where he studied percussion with Harold Jones. He was granted a teaching assistantship and accepted into the Masters program at NORTH TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY. Rick's mentors there included Robert Schietroma, Ron Fink and Jim Hall.

1995 brought the release of "RICK LATHAM'S GROOVE TIME" live drum loop and sampling CD, now a standard among recording professionals. His Pro-Mark signature drumstick "THE RICK LATHAM GROOVE STICK" and "THE RICK LATHAM CRYSTAL BALL" clear resin bass drum beater made it's retail premiere in 1996. Now with his critically acclaimed jazz group "RICK LATHAM AND THE GROOVE DOCTORS" Rick steps into the spotlight as a prominent solo artist . His demanding schedule continues, performing, recording, composing, producing, and conducting master-classes.