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Jun 9 2008

Backgrounder

Boyz II Men To Perform During Sunoco Welcome America!

Philly’s own Boyz II Men formed in 1988 while the Boyz were students at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Today, the Boyz are all grown up and sounding as good as ever.

With Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris (no relation to Nathan) trading off lead vocals, the Boyz still sport the smooth trademark harmonies, clean-cut “retro nouveau” image and polished, synchronized dance routines that launched them to stardom with five number one pop hits, 12 top 10 R&B singles, more than 60 million records sold and four Grammy Awards, all between 1992 and 1997. And with mega-producer Randy Jackson at the helm, their newest CD Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA adds a modern flair to classic Motor City favorites.

Boyz II Men’s 1991 debut album Cooleyhighharmony spun off three major crossover hits, including Uhh Ahh, Motownphilly and It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday and is considered a classic of 90s new jack swing or, in the words of Boyz II Men, “hip-hop doo-wop.” The album hung on the Billboard Top 200 for an astound¬ing 133 weeks, selling more than nine million copies in the U.S. alone, and earned the group their first Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

After that, the hits kept coming. End of the Road, recorded for the sound¬track of the Eddie Murphy movie Boomerang, became Boyz II Men’s biggest hit, holding Billboard’s number one spot for 13 weeks, breaking Elvis Presley’s 11-week record for “Don’t Be Cruel”/“Hound Dog” and earning the group the 1992 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Boyz II Men’s second album, II, appeared in 1994 and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, selling more than 12 million copies thanks to its two number one pop singles, I’ll Make Love to You, which also topped the R&B charts, and On Bended Knee, both certified platinum. A third single, Water Runs Dry, went to number two on the pop charts and was certified gold.

I'll Make Love to You broke Boyz II Men’s own chart record when it captured the number one spot for an unprecedented 14 weeks and earned the group its fourth Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. When On Bended Knee replaced it at the top of the Hot 100, Boyz II Men joined Elvis and The Beatles in becoming the only artists to ever replace themselves at number one. The honors kept coming in 1995 when the group collaborated with Mariah Carey on One Sweet Day, a track from her best-selling album Daydream, which earned Mariah and the Boyz 1996 Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

The multi-million sellers continued with 1997’s Evolution and soundtrack recordings for the films Soul Food and The Prince of Egypt. In 2000, Boyz II Men released Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya, a certified-gold collection of songs largely written and produced by the four group members.

From 2001 through 2007, Boyz II Men released Legacy: The Greatest Hits Collection and Full Circle, which also went gold.

Now a trio, Boyz II Men switched to independent distribution for the all-covers collection Throwback, Vol. 1 and the 2006 album The Remedy. Boyz II Men returned to the roots of R&B for their most recent album, Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville, USA, which highlights their mastery of the tight harmonies that have been at the foundation of their sound since they first started making music together.

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