Boyz II Men are back with their sensational follow-up LP, simply
titled II. They continue to sing their way into the hearts
of women of all ages, races, colors, and creeds. Just call
them a "II-talented" quartet with a "II-bright" future.
It's not everyday that you find a group who enjoys
recounting how they broke into the world of professional
recording. The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Boyz II Men beam
with pride every time they tell their story.
Nathan "Alex Vanderpool" Morris tells it best. "We were at
a New Edition concert and we snuck backstage to see Michael
Bivins. We asked him if we could sing for him. He agreed,
so we kicked an a capella version of 'Can You Stand the
Rain?' right there for him." Bivins loved it and they were
signed to Bivins' company, Biv 10 Entertainment. Boyz II Men,
composed of Nathan "Alex Vanderpool" Morris, Wanya "Squirt"
Morris, Michael "Bass" McCary, and Shawn "Slim" Stockman,
have certainly come a long way since they were students
together at Philadelphia's High School of Creative &
Perfroming Arts. The four honed their vocal and songwriting
talents in that school's music theory class. Clearly, they
had the talent, but a certain chemistry exsisted between them as well. So they formed a group and dubbed themselves Boyz II Men.
Michael explains, "Nate and Shawn were on the phone one day. We were all crazy about New Edition's music. They heard a song by them called 'Boys to Men.' The lightbulb came on and when Shawn suggested that song as our name, we agreed."
One factor that sets Boyz II Men apart from many of their recording counterparts is that they are formally trained in music. Nate adds, "We learned voice and how to read music. We all played keyboards and piano. I played the trumpet for a couple of years and Shawn played the guitar for about a year. We developed an interestin opera, classical, and jazz music because of our training at the Philadelphia High School of Creative & Performing Arts." Wanya cuts in, "That school really set high standards for us."
Coming from the same Philadelphia genre pool that gave us Harlod Melvin & The Blue Notes, The O'Jays, Jean Carne, and Billy Paul, the demand for excellence was great. Not only did they have to be adept at their craft, they had to be original in order to fit in with their famous predecessors. About Boyz II Men's unique musical style, Nathan shares, "Our style is a combination of a lot of different artists' styles. We really like Take 6's style, so we brought their tape and took it home to listen to it and decipher it for musical technique. We didn't set out to be an R&B, gospel or pop group-just a group. We're versatile, so we can sing any type of style." Shawn continues, "We call our music an amalgamation of R&B, pop, jazz, and classical." They're striving for the same type of closeness and camaraderie that they heard in Take 6's music.
At that juncture in their career, their highest point was when the debut LP, Cooleyhigharmony, and their first single, "Motownphilly" went gold simutaneously. They thought that was the icing on the cake, but it turned out to be only the beginning of their stellar career. Check out these impressive statistics:
Cooleyhighharmony sold over 7,000,000 units worldwide (more now in 1999). The songs "It's so Hard to say Goodbye to Yesterday" went gold, and "Motownphilly," and "In the Still of the Nite (I'll Remember)" went platinum. As a result of that hit-packed album, Boyz II Men won three Grammys: Best R&B Group Performance By A Group In 1992 and 1993, and for Best R&B Song in 1992. They also won three 1993 American Music Awards: Favorite Pop Single, Favorite R&B Song By A Group, and Favorite New R&B Group. In addition to those accolades, they also won #1 Hot 100 Single, #1 Hot Singles Artists, and #1 Single Most Weeks at #1 Billboard Year-End Awards and countless other honors. The group dubbed 'Cooleyhighharmony' "jeep funk" because their musical style fused together the vintage Motown soul sound with the contemporary Philadelphia street sound. Their "jeep funk" boasted lots of bass, bumping and thumping and loud drums.
Boyz II Men's sound, then and now, is replete with rich, powerful harmonies which sound just as nice a capella as they do with insturmentation. The vintage Boyz II Men sound proves that they can sing ballads, midtempo, and uptempo tunes equally as well. They each had a hand in songwriting and singing lead vocals, but they left the production duties to superproducer Dallas Austin. Shawn states, "Dallas is a visionary of music: where it needs to go, where it's at, whaat's in, what ain't in, things like that. We let the producer do the job." Nate finishes, "We could have done it, but being that we are 'new' artists, we wanted to kick back and watch, so we'll be able to do it next time if we have to. We were just content with having our own songs on our first album." They felt honored because such a thing rarely happens on an artist's maiden voyage in the professional recording industry.
It stands to reason that a group who had made such wonderful strides during their debut project deserved to take a hiatus before working on their sophomore LP. However, that word "hiatus" wasn't anywhere in the mix for them. The recorded a single, "End of the Road," for the very popular Boomerang Soundtrack in 1992. This single, and later, their Christmas Interpretations LP, did great things for their career. Nate claims, "We didn't have much of a hiatus. After the LP went down, 'End of the Road' took us for another year and a half. Then we went into the studio to do our second LP. We started recording the Christmas LP in January. The only hiatus we had was 10 days when we to vacation in St. Thomas." If Cooleyhighharmony didn't place them on the musical map, "End of the Road" certainly did because it remained number one on the Billboard charts for 13 weeks at #1. More importantly, they broke the record set by Elvis Presley.
Next, Boyz II Men had a hard task to perform: making sure that their sophmore album lived up to what Boyz II Men aficionados have come to expect from them. The songs on this new album aren't "do me baby, let's get busy" types of lyrics. Their songs are meodic and romantic. They've joined forces with producers such as Babyface, Dallas Austin, and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis-some of the most widely acclaimed music producers. Their first single, "I'll Make Love to You," has recieved heavy airplay and it's presently on the Top 10 on Billboard's R&B Singles charts.
Paul McCartny and John Lennon's classic "Yesterday" is the first song that Boyz II Men recorded on II. That song is special to them because they sang it when they were in high school. They kicked it a capella so that the tune wouldn't loose its appeal. If you're into begging songs, check out "On Bended Knee," a Jam & Lewis-produced tune. Shawn quips, "It's not a Keith Sweat kind of begging song!"
If a spiritual tune is more to your liking, listen to "Thank You," an a capella song produced by Dallas Austin.
One thing can definetly be said about Boyz II Men: they brought back an old musical tradition. They sing meaningful songs using real voices, not studio technology simulating pleasant vocal sounds. They also sing with passion and talent. If you heard them sing a capella, they'd sound just as great as they do on audiocassette tape or compact disc. The new Boyz II Men sound has ripened and mellowed out. Wanya remarks, "Our music has grown and matured a lot-mentally, not vocally. We heard changes in our style and incorporated it in our music. That has its way of working out."
The Boyz' career has been blessed because they haven't had any lulls or down time since they've been singing professionally. However, the loss of their road manager and mentor, Khalil Roundtree, has seriously affected the group. At first, they were deeply saddened by the loss. Now, they've accepted it as one of life's lessons that isn't easy to understand. Shawn says, "We had to adjust. That made us grow. That was the Lord's way of showing us that we had to grow. That changed us a great deal. It's like when a bird is learning how to fly and he falls. THe father eagle brings him back to the nest and then nudges him out there to fly again. He keeps pushing him out there until he can fly on his own. Now that Khalil is gone, it's our time to fly."
Always concerned with portraying a positive image and with the business side of their career, Nate summarizes, "We're instruments being worked through. We try to make people happy and smile, but the message that we bring across is the most important thing."