1999 TV Appearances

January: Boyz II Men made another appearance on the Lou Rawls Parade of Stars. They showed Boyz II Men performing at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis from the summer. The songs they showed Boyz II Men sing were "Water Runs Dry," "A Song for Mama," and "End of the Road." Fire even came down during Shawn's solo in "Water Runs Dry."

January: On the 14th Annual Stellar Awards, only Nate, Wanya, and Shawn (Mike couldn't get a plane to Atlanta due to bad weather), went to the award show to do a gospel medely from the Prince of Egypt. They sang most of "I Will Get There." Wanya really got the crowd hyped up.

February: Boyz II Men appeared on Kids WB! to find the fifth cartoon member of Boyz II Men. A bunch of toons auditioned and Boyz II Men picked which toon they liked most. First, they saw Pinky from Pinky & the Brain. He had some weird warming up skills which Shawn liked, but Wanya thought were very odd. Then they saw Superman. Nate and Wanya didn't want to tell him that he stunk, but Superman heard them talking about him so they were surprised by that. Then they sang "A Song for Mama" with Marvin the Martian, he blew himself up with a dynamite stick. Wanya called him the bomb. Then camed the Men in Black. One guy did a rap, and Boyz II Men didn't like it. So, the other guy got the memory device out that erases what they just saw. Then came a crazy fan who just wanted their autograph, so security had to get her out of where Boyz II Men were at. Then came Elmyra who was singing a song to the melody of "End of the Road." She then called them girls, so Wanya set told her that they were men, and then they pulled a rope and she vanished. Then came Slyvester who started to sing "Oh Susana" really fast, slow, and then Wanya made him sing in Spanish. Boyz II Men told him that his tail was too long so he couldn't be in the group. The Brain then came out and he was in a regular man's body, but his head was really small. He pretended to have a music career, but Boyz II Men were wondering why is head was too small and it was because he was big boned. Then a drooling baby came out to audition. Wanya told the baby to get rid of the drool, and some clothes on and he could be in the group. During that conversation, the baby through his diaper off right at the fellas. Then Boyz II Men sang "I Will Get There" with a bunch of toons. Those toons were Bugs Bunny, the Men in Black, Yosemite Sam, one of the Animaniacs, an old man, and the Joker. The winner of this show ended up being Tweety Bird. He asked to change the group name to Birdz II Men, but that wasn't going to happen. Then Slyvester came along as his agent and ate Tweety.

February: MTV had an Ultra Sound special about money in the music industry called: Ultra Sound: Money For Nothing. Shawn started off the show saying, "No one told you? You don't make money in this business." Then Nate chimed in saying, "We're the last guys to get money." Boyz II Men were at the Z100 concert in New York City in December of 1998. Later in the special, Boyz II Men came back. Nate talked about recoupment being a very important word in the music industry.

February: On the BET Walk of Fame special, they showed clips of Michael Jackson (he was inducted in 1995), Whitney Houston (she was inducted in 1996), Babyface (he was inducted in 1997), and Boyz II Men (they were inducted in 1998), being inducted into the BET Walk of Fame. When they showed some of Boyz II Men's career stats, they showed clips from many of their music videos. Gladys Knight calls them "the gentlemen of all music." Then they showed clips of the actual induction ceremony from October of 1998. BET unveiled the plaque that would be going up in the BET Studios, (it was a big star that had Boyz II Men's name in the middle). Each member of Boyz II Men then received mini-versions of that plaque, and an award. The special only showed Shawn talk. He said that they wanted to thank everyone there right now, gave honor to God, and that they were celebrating their 10th year of being together.

March: MTV had a news story on the RIAA Diamond Awards, which Boyz II Men attended to pick up their Diamond Award for II. They only talked to Shawn, and this what he said: "We grew up watching these guys. To be in the same room looking at them and conversing with them, and talking, laughing and joking like we've known each other for like a thousand years is like the best thing about this business. And to get to meet, face to face, the legends and the people that you grew up with...And they knew us too, and I guess that was a kick as well, you know, the fact that a lot of them knew us by name."

March: Boyz II Men sang the "Star Spangled Banner" at WWF's Wrestlemania 15 in Philly in the wrestling ring. The beginning sounded like they were about to sing the "National Anthem." Fireworks went off at the end of their performance.

April: On VH1's Save the Music-Road to Fame, Boyz II Men were barely shown. What they did show of Boyz II Men was mostly from the Then II Now video when they went back to their high school, and the other clips were from the Save the Music special back in 1997 which Boyz II Men appeared on. The new clips that they did show were high school yearbook pics and a few extra clips from the Save the Music special in 1997.

May: Boyz II Men appeared on Wheel of Fortune when the show made a stop in Philly. Boyz II Men came out when a contestant guessed the answer to a puzzle titled, "Show Biz." The answer was Award-Winning Recording Artists. The host, Pat Sajak, gave Boyz II Men a very nice intro, and they came out to a standing ovation. Pat Sajak said he wished he could have made the audition for the group and asked them a question about being a good role model. Shawn answered it saying that they are just being themselves, and acting the way that they should be.

May: On Russell Simmon's One World Music Beat, Nate, Shawn, and Wanya were interviewed at Stonecreek Studios about their entire career, from the Cooleyhighharmony days to when they left Motown Records. During the first commercial break, they showed a clip of Wanya saying that if someone does a solo project, the group is not over. Wanya is obviously talking about the rumors that surfaced in 1995 and 1996 when Nate, Shawn, and Wanya did solo projects. Throughout the interview, clips were shown of various moments from Boyz II Men's eight year career. Nate started the interview by saying that what they do is a rollercoaster, and that they can't be on top forever. If you're at the top, where else can you go? You can only go down, you can't go up anymore. The interview officialy started with Shawn telling how the story on how the group formed back in the 1980's. Wanya said that they were just a high school group, and they weren't trying to get a record deal. He then told the no famous story on how Boyz II Men met Michael Bivins. Boyz II Men actually waited a year and a half until they actually came out so that they had time to sit back and still be Nate, Mike, Shawn, and Wan. Then came the Cooleyhighharmony days. Nate explained that back then, it was like there were no cares. They were fresh out of high school, they didn't have the chance to experience college, never quite had the experience of being on their own and struggling to take care of themselves, as young men in the world. They went on the road for nine to ten months, practically free, without a dime. They sold 2 1/2 million records and still did not see a thing. When Boyz II Men finally felt their success financially was at the end of the Cooleyhighharmony album. Right when the Cooleyhighharmony hype was going down, "End of the Road" came out and rocketed them to more popularity. Shawn explained that "End of the Road" was that internationa song that appealed to the folks not only in America, but in Spain, Uruguay, and more. Then came the II days, Boyz II Men's most successful days in the music business ever. Shawn revealed that Boyz II Men did go through a stage where they had a big entourage, two barbers, and a big crew. They were really doing some ego maniac-type things. They started to feel the hype to themselves for awhile. And when II's success died down, they were looking at themselves like, "wow," and their egos jumped out and they started looking at themselves like "what are you doing?". Nate added that that took them on one of those rollercoaster rides. Then came the Evolution days. Nate started by saying that they had expectations, but he didn't even think that their expectations were as big as other peoples were. Towards the end of the project, it didn't feel warm and it felt like people were only around for the money ride. To make a long story short, Motown had no idea what they were doing for the last year and a half and it reflected in our project, bottom line. Wanya added that ever since Jheryl Bubsy left Motown hadn't been the same. Shawn then said that when a person is holding your money, tells you that if you don't do this, it's not gonna be successful and they mean that. They have the control to make it whatever they want to make it. Wanya added that they did what Motown wanted them to do and ta da. Nate said that now they are at Universal Records and that they feel comfortable to the point that Universal is letting them make songs for only themselves and hopefully their hearts have feelings like everyone else's hearts. Shawn gave a little info about the next album saying that they are going to express themselves like they never have before and that they are going to let the music speak for itself. They are not going to create some pre-hype on the thing because everyone does it and it's been done before. So, they just want to say that they are coming out with an album very soon and they hope that everyone who enjoyed the last album, will enjoy this one and embrace it just as well. Nate ended the interview by saying that this does not happen everyday. It does happen every year, it doesn't happen every ten years. If they never sell another album today or tomorrow, the success is the best thing that could have ever happened to them. Overall, this interview was very well done and showed the more real side to Boyz II Men's career.

May: Shawn & Wanya made an appearance on VH1's Top 10 Countdown. The show was in Orlando, Florida at the opening of a new theme park there. Shawn said that it was hot there and that they were having a good time. They haven't been on any rides at that time, but Shawn wanted to get Wanya on a water ride and Wanya wanted to get Shawn on a new ride called Duel of the Dragons. When asked what video would be #1, Shawn guessed it would be Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" and after a lot of thinking, Wanya said TLC's "No Scrubs." He then added that he is definitely not a scrub.

July: Shawn made an appearance on VH1's Rock & Roll Jeopardy. It was celebrity show where the celebrities picked charities to give their prizes to. Shawn picked The Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America of course. Shawn had to play against two musicians who were older than him, Art from Everclear, and a member of the Go-Gos. In the first round, Shawn got to pick the category first, so he picked the 90's category. Shawn ended up having no points for a very long time, so he started to rest on the podeium instead of stand. The host asked him if he was comfortable and he said yes, and Art said that Shawn was pacing himself. Shawn got into the game when he answered a question right with The Bodyguard, which gave him 100 points. The crowd clapped for him so he did a mini-bow. Shawn got 400 more points when he answered Paula Abdul's Forever Your Girl. Shawn got 200 points when he answered the "Macerena." Shawn got 400 more points when he answered MC Hammer right. Then Shawn lost 400 points because he said the name of the song instead of the artist. The first round ended and Shawn was in last place with 700 points. When the second round started, Shawn got to pick the category and he picked "Love" Songs. Shawn answered the first three answers right in that category. The answers were "Endless Love," "Dreamlover," and "Vision of Love," they were all Mariah Carey songs. At that point, Shawn had 1900 points, and that's when things started to go down. The last two questions of the "Love" Songs category made Shawn's score go way down. He answered both of them wrong, so his score was now down to 100, so he was back in last place. Then Shawn did a not too smart move by buzzing in for a 1000 point question and had no clue was it was, so his score was all the way down to -900. The host then asked him if he was thinking the answer to the question was Tracy Chapman and he said no, everyone thought that was hilarious. Shawn redeemed himself a little bit by answering a question right with Rage Against the Machine, so now his score was -500. At the end of the round, Shawn had to have a positive score to go on to Final Jeopardy, so they gave Shawn positive 500. The Final Jeopardy category was Paul Simon Songs. Shawn only put "WHAT" as his answer and he wagered 500, so he ended up in last place with zero points.

Go Back II the main page 1