The Boyz are currently recording their 4th album. It is expected to be released in January of 2000. Also...Wanya will be releasing a solo project in October of 1999.
The Boyz are currently recording their 4th album. It is expected to be released in January of 2000. Also...Wanya will be releasing a solo project in October of 1999.
The year was 1998, the place was Philadelphia, PA. Boyz II Men hit the Mowtown scene with a bang! The group consists of Wanya "Squirt" Morris (b. 7/29/73), Michael "Bass" McCary (b. 12/16/72), Shawn "Slim" Stockman (b. 9/26/72) and Nathan "AlexanderVanderpool" Morris- no relation to Wanya (b. 6/18/71).
The Boyz met at the Creative and Performing Arts High School of Philadelphia. They realized that the four of them had talent, and if they put those individual talents together, they could become one harmonic force.
The fellas began singing at school, but then broadened their venue to include street corners and subway platforms. They were once called Unique Attraction. In 1989, the Boyz hit up a New Edition concert when it came to town. They finessed their way backstage and sang an a cappella version of NE's "Can You Stand the Rain" for Michael Bivins (Paula Abdul, Cherrelle, Keith Sweat, and Kid 'n Play were also present- talk about having some guts hunh?).
Needless to say, Mike & company loved the Boyz! He eventually took the Boyz under his wing after giving them his number and becoming their manager. After negotiating a good deal, Mike brought them to Motown Records. He suggested they change their name, and they chose Boyz II Men, a song off of the New Edition Heartbreak cd.
Their debut record was fast on one side, and full of ballads on the other. It was named Cooleyhighharmony (after a 1975 blaxploitation comedy called "Cooley High"). The cd was released in May of 1991 and in record-breaking time, became a phenomenal seller within the US. By 1993, Cooleyhighharmony had sold over seven million copies!
Their smooth doo-wop/hip-hop type of style revitalized the good old Motown sound, and the group latter became Motown's best-selling act. In 1992, just as the excitement over "Cooleyhighharmony" was settling down, the Boyz dropped another bomb on us. They appeared on the soundtrack Eddie Murphy's box-office hit movie "Boomerang" with a new single: "End of the Road." The single hit the Bill Board charts at number one and lingered in that spot for a phenomenal thirteen weeks beating out an eleven-week record set by Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog" single back in 1956!
If you thought that Boyz II Men would take a break in light of all their successes, you are wrong! These guys go on torelease the Christmas Interpretations cd, in October of 1993. This cd was a collection of both traditional and original Christmas songs. Their version of "Let It Snow" cracked the Top 40 for one week, entering in at No. 32, and the cd itself hit the Top 20.
In '94 their follow-up cd (titled II) became a huge hit also, and less than a year later it sold eight million copies in the US. Boyz II Men had become major forces in the music industry.
II spawned three massive-selling number 1 singles in 'I'll Make Love To You', 'On Bended Knee' and 'One Sweet Day' (with Mariah Carey ). The first single from the cd, "I'll Make Love to You," was a Babyface collaboration, and it spent fourteen weeks in the No. 1 slot. The second, "On Bended Knee," a Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis collaboration, immediately followed the first to the top of the chart, where it camped out for six weeks. Once again, the Boyz were breaking records: charting two songs back-to-back in the No. 1 slot.
The cd itself debuted at No. 1 in the US, becoming the first Motown cd to do so since Stevie Wonder's 1976 release Songs in the Key of Life. The record sold an incredible six million copies worldwide during its first four months in release, and eventually went on to sell more than eleven million copies in the US.
By the summer of 1997, the Boyz had sold over thirty million cds worldwide. The media had given their descriptions of the guys in order for fans to tell them apart. Wanya was generally described as the hyperactive lead; Nate, the serious collegiate type; Shawn, the mellow crooner and second lead; and Mike became known as the Barry White of the '90's hip hop/R&B generation.
The group's amazing success and massive sales numbers helped them rack up a slew of music awards, including Grammy, American Music, Soul Train, and NAACP Image honors. Boyz II Men performed before Pope John Paul II during his 1995 American visit, and sang the national anthem at the closing ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. In 1996, the group was inducted into the Philadelphia Hall of Fame. Way to go Boyz!!!
OK, finally the guys decide to take a break, and following the release of II, the Boyz took a year-and-a-half break before beginning work on their next album.
Evolution came out and featured all-star contributions from Sean 'Puff Daddy' Combs, Keith Crouch, Babyface and Jimmy Jam And Jerry Lewis. But this time around, the Boyz tried their hand at producing. They wrote/co-wrote ten of the thirteen tracks on the album. They also honored their pre-fame New Edition wanna-be days by including an a cappella version of "Can You Stand the Rain," the song that first brought them to the attention of Michael Bivins.
The fellas were major superstars by this time and had lived up to their name as they went from being boys to being men. The fellas each bought houses, spent time with their families, and also built their own recording studio, Stone Creek, just outside of Philadelphia.
