Given Boyz II Men’s status as the most successful R&B male vocal group of all time (based on record sales), is it any surprise the Philly outfit is celebrating its 20th anniversary in the music business? Now down to a trio, following the departure of Michael McCary in 2003 due to health reasons, the Boyz will still be flexing those golden pipes and trotting out hits like “Motownphilly,” “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” “I’ll Make Love to You” and “End of the Road.” In the meantime, the success of the Boyz served as a bridge between boys bands of the past and a number of successors.
Menudo – Despite being largely overlooked by the Anglo world, this Puerto Rican boy band got its start in 1977. In addition to being the launching pad for the likes of Ricky Martin and Robi Draco Rosa, Menudo instituted the idea of rotating members out once they turned 16, their voices changed, they grew facial hair or got too tall.
New Edition – The predecessors to Boyz II Men, New Edition are often credited with kicking off the whole boy band craze back in the ’80s. A ridiculously fertile well of talent, New Edition spawned the likes of Ralph Tresvant, Bell Biv DeVoe, Johnny Gill and, of course, Bobby Brown, whose personal travails have managed to make him his own one-man reality show.
New Kids on the Block – The third best-selling boy band of all time, (80 million record over 12 years), NKOTB enjoyed their heyday in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Despite a number of unsuccessful reunions, it seems the most recent may have actually stuck after the five-some released The Block in 2008 and recently played a string of Radio City Music Hall dates.
’N Sync – Broken up since 2007, ’N Sync sold more than 56 million records worldwide during their dozen years together. This was also the entity that gave us business mogul/amateur golfer/serial celebrity dater Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus backup dancer Joey Fatone.
Backstreet Boys – The best-selling boy band of all time, the Backstreet Boys have more lives than Jason Voorhees and have proved it by releasing their seventh album, This is Us, despite the departure of Kevin Richardson.
Take That – Best known for giving the world Brit bad boy Robbie Williams, the current quartet sold more than 25 million records from 1991 to 1996, with the bulk of their success coming on the other side of the pond.
O-Town – Spun off from the MTV-produced reality show Making the Band, O-Town enjoyed a brief three-year window of success from 2000 through 2003, barely eking out a pair of hits (“Liquid Dreams,” “All or Nothing”) despite having the backing of music mogul Clive Davis.
98 Degrees – This rare boy band quartet featuring the Lachey brothers, Drew and Nick, (aka the former Mr. Jessica Simpson), was originally signed to Motown records and somehow managed to spawn eight American Top 40 singles. A 2004 appearance on Nick & Jessica’s Family Christmas TV special was the last time the foursome reunited.
Westlife – Wildly successful in Europe but barely a blip on the American market, this pop group is the only act in UK history to have their first seven singles go straight to No. 1.
Fingerbang – Not a flesh-and-blood group of guys, but the fictional foursome created by Eric Cartman on episode 56 of South Park, the five-some consisted of Cartman, Stan, Kenny, Kyle and Wendy (since all boy bands have five members). The name came from Cartman’s interpreting it to mean the act of someone pretending their hand is a firearm.
SAT 6.26
NYC
Boyz II Men @ B.B. King Blues Club and Grill
237 W. 42nd St. 8 p.m. $39.50 adv. $45 DOS. 212-997-4144.
