Nathan Morris (24), Michael McCary (24), Wanya Morris (22),
and Shawn Stockman (23), first came together while being
students at the prestigous High School of the Creative and
Performing Arts in Philadelphia.
The group has changed names and faces a few times in the
past decade, but through it all, founding member, Nathan,
remained true to his original concept, "I formed Boyz II Men back
in 1985 along with a friend, and over the course of the
years, different people came and went," Nathan recently
told Upscale. "I mean, all groups go through that. In our
case, some people graduated and went on to college, and so
forth. My dream was just to have a group that really was
good because I was a big New Edition fan, he adds. "I was
really into all of their songs through 1989, we had members
coming and going. In fact, we even had a girl member at
one time, and she was incredible!"
Former black filmmaker Robert went to great pains to
consider his critically acclaimed drama, "The Five
Heartbeats," the dance five-partvocal harmony. In
ensembles, it allows for even deeper depth and dimension.
A little known fact is that until former member named Marc
Nelson departed the group to pursue a solo songwriting and
production career, there were once five Boyz. Nathan
remembers that version of the group as awesome.
"Oh it was mad, let me tell you! I mean, we're happy.
We're very happy with where we are today and what we have
become," he asserts. "But we just know that if we had
Marc, if we had a fifth member in the group, there's no
telling what we could try to do with our vocals. Take 6 is
a perfect example.
"It's incredible what can you do harmony-wise with more
people. When we had five voices, we would have one person
sing lead, and then we could do all sorts of intercate four
part harmonies in the background. It was really
something."
So would they consider a reunion with Nelson in the future?
"Well, I'm not so sure about that," Nathan contends. "We've
seen a lot of groups go through that, and one thing The
Temptations taught us was that you don't put anybody out
and you don't bring anybody in. What the world knows is
what Boyz II Men should be, because they're (The Temptations) one
group that was famous for changing members, and a lot of
people can never remember who the (original) Temptations
were.
"Melvin (Franklin, of The Temptations) was one of the key
people who told us to make sure and keep whoever was in the
group, and not let anybody go because it takes away from
your identity, and what the people are familiar with."
Long before Boyz had established an identity beyond
Philadelphia, the group wasn't so unique, and the quartet
desprately needed to convince someone with expertise that
they were ready to ascend to the next level. It was a
situation that fate would soon recity.
"The good thing about our high school was that it wasn't
just Nate, Mike, Shawn, and Wanya that could be Boyz II Men."
Nathan fondly recalls. "There were so many talented people
there that if they wanted to, they could have been who we
are. "The year 1989 is when Wanya, Shawn, and Mike, the
fold, and about six months after we met Michael Bivins.
That was when everything started happening."
Bivins, a member of youth talented groups, New Edition, and
Bell Biv Devoe (or BBD), was floored with Boyz II Men collared him
backstage for one of his shows for an impromptu a capella
demonstration. He signed them to a recording contract on
the spot, took over as manager, and as they say, the rest
is history.
Watching the career of Boyz II Men unfold, as so many fans and
indusry insiders are certainly doing, one can't help but
ponder whether these rising astars could be the saviors of
the timehonored traditon of soul music. So much of what
the public is bombarded with over the airwaves these days
is written solely to sell, or is so mindless in its intent
and content that it actually insults the intelligence of
record-buyers.
"Boyz II Men, we believe, is a transition term. It means longevity. It bridges the gap between not only racial barriers, but also age groups, family relations, and the like," Nathan explains. "It's a universal title that can mean a lot of different things. We accept it as a growing process, so the name will always be what it is."
"It's so difficult (to maintain intimate involvements) when you're away from home maybe 10 months out of a year. Marriages are even difficult to do like that, let alone just being in a relationship. We try to concentrate only on Boyz II Men, and we feel like when it's time for that other things to happen, it will because that's just the way life is."
Boyz recently realized yet another dream with the purchase of Stonecreek, their own studio and retreat located in Gladwyne, Penn., a suburb of Philadelphia. The facility is a fully functional, 48-track analog digital setup with several small rooms. The members simply describe the surroundings as tranquill-sort of an 18th century fortress of solitude where they and other burgeoning local artists, can go to get away and create."
"Then the whole Milli Vanilli thing really pissed everybody off, so all of a sudden they took note of that and had to step back and say 'OK, look, we have got to get back to the basics-back to what The Temptations, The Four Tops, and Marvin Gaye were all about.'"
boz, in fact, arrived on the scene in the wake of the infamous Milli Vanilli lip-synching scandal. No only was their music refreshing, but they may well have prcluded imminent disaster for the entertainment business. Nathan, makes no apoligies for Boyz II Men being real singers in an industry flooding with pretenders. "I think what happened was that there were times when we, as inquisitive human beeings, wanted to find other ways to create music," he says. "And some people get into the situationwhere they felt that this was the ingenious way to do it: 'We've got new musical technology here, and now we can throw a nonsinging woman in there, record this into a sequencer or a keyboard and make her sound like Whitney Houston, and make a bunch of money!' The music indusrty got wrapped up in that," he relates furhter, "and involved in gimmicks and bringing in artists who had to have this and that kind of image, and making them dress that way and that way because it's what sells."
While there timing, as well as their proficiency with songs in their forte, the same may be also be the group's greatest weakness. The four young 20-somethings devote so much time and enery to what they're doing professionally, that there remains precious few oppurtunities for them to develop interpersonal relationships. For the time being, their hearts belong to the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America, a charity to which they donated a $10,000 honorarium this year, and have commited no less than four seats at every concert.
None of the members at present are married, engaged or otherwise spoken for. Nonetheless, they have faith, pray often and believe that to everything there is indeed, a season, and a time. "We put our all in all, our 125 percent into Boyz II Men because we realize that everything else will spring from the tree. That's where everything comes from," Nathan reasons.
Nothing the four ever come up with, however, will call for Boyz II Men to break up to pursue individual projects or careers. Too many examples of what can befall successful acts as a result have been set for them. "Never in life. Never, ever (witll their members go solo)," insists Nathan. "One thing we realize is that nothing will ever be bigger than the whole, and I wish that a lot of the groups that went before us would have understood that."
"You may have a solo artist that spins off and does this or that, but no matter what, at the end of the day you come back to what got you there. Our group is just built on Nate, Mike, Shawn, and Wanya," he continues. "And honestly, no matter how well we sing, we just feel like we're nothing without one another."
They've only been in the business for a very short while, and arguably have have yet to truly merit their frequent comparision to lengendary Motown-era entertainers like The Miracles, The Four Tops, and others.
Yet, in the relatively brief span of their soaring, history-making career, everything the celebrated hip-hop, doo-wop group known as Boyz II Men touches has gone platinum. Their potential and prospects appear viturally limitless, and by no means are they anywhere near the end of their road.
Boyz II Men will be touring through December. Afterwards, they intend to take a year-long hiatus. They look forward to investing some quality time in themselves and their families before letting the creative process kick back in again and begin production on their third album, not including the Christmas album. The break is clearly a deserved one, considerig all that they're given to the legacy of black music is just their first five years.
"We hope that our fans enjoy the ride just as much as we have," the group says in collective voices. "Because we realize that without them, we wouldn't even be on this ride. Our fans are very, very dear and very important to us. We've realized that from day one, and as long as our fans stick around, Boyz II Men will be right there doing our best to give them music they can appreciate, and that they deserve to hear."