History of Boys II Men

Boyz II Men is a Grammy Award-winning American group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Initiated during 1988 as a quintet which originally included Marc Nelson, Boyz II Men found fame as a quartet, with members Nathan Morris, Michael McCary, Shawn Stockman,and Wanya Morris on Motown Records during the early 1990s. Nelson left the group before their first recording to pursue a solo career. The group specialized in new jack swing-style music. History Beginnings The group, known originally as Unique Attraction, was founded during 1986 at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, friends Nathan Morris and Marc Nelson organized several R&B singing groups, all of which ended soon. Eventually, they recruited tenors Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman and bass Michael McCary. They found inspiration in New Edition's harmonies and routines, and eventually renamed the group "Boyz II Men", after one of New Edition's songs. In 1989, they snuck backstage after a concert performed by Bell Biv DeVoe, a New Edition spin-off group. Boyz II Men performed an acappella rendition of New Edition's "Can You Stand the Rain" for New Edition/BBD member Michael Bivins. Bivins was impressed by the group, and began plans to contract them to Motown Records through a production deal with his Biv Ten Records company. But before the group began recording, Marc Nelson left because of personality conflicts, reducing the quintet to a quartet. Other early workings include work with Michael Jackson. A year before releasing their debut album, they made an appearance on a solo album by Robbie Mychals. They are listed in the credits as singing background vocals on the song "One Mile from Paradise" as "Boy's to Men".

Do you know about music?

Music is strongly associated with the brain's reward system. It's the part of the brain that tells us if things are valuable, or important or relevant to survival, said Robert Zatorre, professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Montreal Neurological Institute. One brain structure in particular, called the striatum, releases a chemical called dopamine in response to pleasure-related stimuli. Imaging of the brain can reveal this process is similar to what happens in your brain in response to food or sex. But unlike those activities, music doesn't have a direct biological survival value. "It's not obvious that it should engage that same system," Zatorre said. Musicians can't see inside their own brains, but they're aware of moments of tension and release in pieces, and that's what arrangers of music do.