Boyz II Men is an American R&B/soul singing group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1988 as a quintet, Boyz II Men found fame as a quartet, with members Wanya Morris, Michael McCary, Shawn Stockman, and Nathan Morris, on Motown Records during the early 1990s.
Based on sales, Boyz II Men is one of the most successful R&B male vocal groups of all time. It has recorded five #1 R&B hits between 1992 and 1997 and has since sold more than 90 million albums and 50 million singles. Three of its #1 hits, "End of the Road", "I'll Make Love to You", and "One Sweet Day" (with Mariah Carey), set and broke records for the longest period of time a single remained at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Boyz II Men was originally signed to Motown Records from 1990 to 2000, at which point it was moved to parent label Universal Records. After the 2000 album Nathan Shawn Michael Wanya, Boyz II Men moved to Arista Records. In 2003, Michael McCary left the group due to chronic back problems resulting from scoliosis. As of 2005, Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman, and Nathan Morris continue to tour and record as a trio. The group that later became Boyz II Men was founded in 1988 at the High School of the Creative And Performing Arts(CAPA)[1] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, friends Nathan Morris and Marc Nelson had put together several various R&B singing groups, all of which fell through. Eventually, they recruited tenors Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman and bass Michael McCary.
The members of Unique Attraction idolized New Edition, one of the most popular R&B groups of the 1980s. They found inspiration in New Edition's harmonies and routines, and eventually renamed the group "Boyz II Men" after one of New Edition's songs.
Sneaking backstage after a 1989 concert performed by Bell Biv DeVoe (a New Edition spin-off group consisting of Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie DeVoe), Boyz II Men performed an a cappella rendition of New Edition's "Can You Stand the Rain" for New Edition/BBD member Michael Bivins. Bivins was impressed by the group, and began plans to sign them to Motown Records through a production deal with his Biv Ten Records company. But before the group began recording, Marc Nelson left because of personality conflicts, reducing the quintet to a squarlet. Boyz II Men's first album, Cooleyhighharmony, was released on Motown in 1991, executive produced by Michael Bivins. Cooleyhighharmony's drum-heavy new jack swing sound and multi-layered sampled backdrops were similar to that of Bell Biv DeVoe's own work, but featured smooth classic-soul styled vocals in place of BBD's rapping and brassier singing. This style was dubbed "hip hop doo wop" by the group and Bivins, who presented Boyz II Men and adolescent R&B group Another Bad Creation to the public as BBD's protégés.
Boyz II Men's first single, the Dallas Austin-produced "Motownphilly" featured BBD as guest performers, and was accompanied with a music video that presented the group in hip hop style. (The video also included cameos from Black Thought and ?uestlove of the Roots pre-fame.) Their second single was a cover of a classic Motown tune, G.C. Cameron's "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" from the 1975 film Cooley High, while "Uhh Ahh" served as the third single.
From the beginning, Boyz II Men featured all four members trading leads, avoiding the usual R&B group arrangement of one or two lead singers and a team of background singers. The multiple-lead arrangements became a Boyz II Men trademark, and it became typical to hear Wanya Morris' vibrato-heavy tenor, Shawn Stockman's smoother tenor voice, Nathan Morris' baritone, and Michael McCary's deep bass (notably used in spoken-word sections of many Boyz II Men hits) trading bars in each song.
The album's liner notes identified nicknames for each member of the group. These nicknames were devised in collaboration with Bivins in an attempt at marketing. Wanya was "Squirt," Shawn was "Slim," Michael was simply "Bass," and Nathan was named after a soap opera character who brandished a nerdy style, "Alex Vanderpool."
In time, Wanya Morris would become something of the de facto leader of the group, handling its operations and business interests, but the group never presented one man as more important than the other.
Cooleyhighharmony was a major success for the group, Bivins, and Motown. It eventually sold over nine million copies, "Motownphilly" and "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" were #1 R&B hits and top five U.S. pop hits, the album won the 1992 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and Boyz II Men joined Hammer's high-profile 2 Legit 2 Quit tour as an opening act. While traveling the country, their tour manager Khalil Roundtree was murdered, and the group's future performances of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" were dedicated to him.
Based on sales, Boyz II Men is one of the most successful R&B male vocal groups of all time. It has recorded five #1 R&B hits between 1992 and 1997 and has since sold more than 90 million albums and 50 million singles. Three of its #1 hits, "End of the Road", "I'll Make Love to You", and "One Sweet Day" (with Mariah Carey), set and broke records for the longest period of time a single remained at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Boyz II Men was originally signed to Motown Records from 1990 to 2000, at which point it was moved to parent label Universal Records. After the 2000 album Nathan Shawn Michael Wanya, Boyz II Men moved to Arista Records. In 2003, Michael McCary left the group due to chronic back problems resulting from scoliosis. As of 2005, Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman, and Nathan Morris continue to tour and record as a trio. The group that later became Boyz II Men was founded in 1988 at the High School of the Creative And Performing Arts(CAPA)[1] in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, friends Nathan Morris and Marc Nelson had put together several various R&B singing groups, all of which fell through. Eventually, they recruited tenors Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman and bass Michael McCary.
The members of Unique Attraction idolized New Edition, one of the most popular R&B groups of the 1980s. They found inspiration in New Edition's harmonies and routines, and eventually renamed the group "Boyz II Men" after one of New Edition's songs.
Sneaking backstage after a 1989 concert performed by Bell Biv DeVoe (a New Edition spin-off group consisting of Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie DeVoe), Boyz II Men performed an a cappella rendition of New Edition's "Can You Stand the Rain" for New Edition/BBD member Michael Bivins. Bivins was impressed by the group, and began plans to sign them to Motown Records through a production deal with his Biv Ten Records company. But before the group began recording, Marc Nelson left because of personality conflicts, reducing the quintet to a squarlet. Boyz II Men's first album, Cooleyhighharmony, was released on Motown in 1991, executive produced by Michael Bivins. Cooleyhighharmony's drum-heavy new jack swing sound and multi-layered sampled backdrops were similar to that of Bell Biv DeVoe's own work, but featured smooth classic-soul styled vocals in place of BBD's rapping and brassier singing. This style was dubbed "hip hop doo wop" by the group and Bivins, who presented Boyz II Men and adolescent R&B group Another Bad Creation to the public as BBD's protégés.
Boyz II Men's first single, the Dallas Austin-produced "Motownphilly" featured BBD as guest performers, and was accompanied with a music video that presented the group in hip hop style. (The video also included cameos from Black Thought and ?uestlove of the Roots pre-fame.) Their second single was a cover of a classic Motown tune, G.C. Cameron's "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" from the 1975 film Cooley High, while "Uhh Ahh" served as the third single.
From the beginning, Boyz II Men featured all four members trading leads, avoiding the usual R&B group arrangement of one or two lead singers and a team of background singers. The multiple-lead arrangements became a Boyz II Men trademark, and it became typical to hear Wanya Morris' vibrato-heavy tenor, Shawn Stockman's smoother tenor voice, Nathan Morris' baritone, and Michael McCary's deep bass (notably used in spoken-word sections of many Boyz II Men hits) trading bars in each song.
The album's liner notes identified nicknames for each member of the group. These nicknames were devised in collaboration with Bivins in an attempt at marketing. Wanya was "Squirt," Shawn was "Slim," Michael was simply "Bass," and Nathan was named after a soap opera character who brandished a nerdy style, "Alex Vanderpool."
In time, Wanya Morris would become something of the de facto leader of the group, handling its operations and business interests, but the group never presented one man as more important than the other.
Cooleyhighharmony was a major success for the group, Bivins, and Motown. It eventually sold over nine million copies, "Motownphilly" and "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" were #1 R&B hits and top five U.S. pop hits, the album won the 1992 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and Boyz II Men joined Hammer's high-profile 2 Legit 2 Quit tour as an opening act. While traveling the country, their tour manager Khalil Roundtree was murdered, and the group's future performances of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" were dedicated to him.
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