Boyz II Men

Boyz II Men
▪ 1996

      By 1995 the vocal quartet Boyz II Men had harmonized their way into the record books and earned many of the music industry's top prizes, including multiple Grammy awards for best rhythm and blues vocal group performance. In 1992 their recording of "End of the Road," from the movie sound track of Boomerang, spent 13 consecutive weeks in the number one slot on Billboard's pop chart, eclipsing by two weeks the previous record set by Elvis Presley—"Don't Be Cruel" backed with "Hound Dog"—in 1956. In 1994 after Whitney Houston broke their record by spending 14 weeks at number one with "I Will Always Love You," Boyz II Men came back to tie her record with "I'll Make Love to You." Then, as if to punctuate their success with an exclamation point, the release of their follow-up single, "On Bended Knee," put them with an elite group of artists (Elvis Presley and the Beatles) who succeeded themselves at the number one spot.

      The members of Boyz II Men included Wanya (pronounced wan-YAY) Morris and Nathan Morris (the group's founder and no relation to Wanya), who were born in 1973 and 1971, respectively, and Shawn Stockman and Michael McCary, who were both born in 1972. They grew up in separate neighbourhoods of Philadelphia and came together as high-school friends at the Philadelphia High School for the Performing Arts, where they studied classical music and vocal arts.

      The name Boyz II Men came from a song that had been recorded by the pop quintet New Edition. In 1989 the quartet managed to meet Michael Bivins—who had been a member of New Edition—and gave him an impromptu audition. Bivins later signed on as their manager and helped define their gentlemanly image. In 1991 Boyz II Men debuted on Motown records with the album Cooleyhighharmony, which went on to sell more than seven million copies. That success led to the enormous popularity of "End of the Road," and in 1994 the group helped write and produce the album II, which included the hits "I'll Make Love to You" and "Water Runs Dry." As 1995 drew to a close, singles continued to be released from II, a Spanish version of the album was planned, and the quartet pondered what future musical direction they would take. Said Stockman, "We don't want to limit ourselves creatively. . . . We don't want to be considered just R&B singers." (ANTHONY L. GREEN)

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