Boyz II Men Q&A

posted: 14 March 2008 by Sonja Stephen

Boyz II Men are back with a new Motown album and an a cappella version of their hit single End Of The Road. Sonja Stephen grabbed them for a much needed catch up...

What made you decide to release an a cappella version of 'End of the Road'?
Wanya: Money... he he! The idea of the Motown album came from Winston and David Simone. Cos we were on Motown for five to six years. We felt like the best thing to do was to put a song of ours on this classic Motown album. We wanted a different flair for it, so we did it a cappella.

How much did you enjoy making your recent album?
Shawn: It was the most fun we've had in years. The environment was so relaxed and comfortable and we were able to be ourselves. That's all that artists want. It was a great experience.

Great. You're touring the UK, what are you looking forward to most?
S: This is our very first UK tour. We are just excited as it's the first time! That's enough in itself. We look forward to them reacting and they look forward to us performing.

Boyz II Men is in its 17th year together - what's the secret to your success?
Nathan: Loving the music, we have seen a lot of different groups come and go, and I think what's kept us together is that we all have the same genuine musical influences, and love for getting better. The same musical drives for doing what we do.

Is it true that you're releasing a tenth studio album in late 2008?
W: That's the rumour. Hopefully we will get around to doing it. Promoting this album is very important to us... the bigger this album is, the bigger the next album will be. We will have made a mark for people to take us seriously again.

You've collaborated with artists like LL Cool J and Mariah Carey in the past, are there any current artists you'd like to work with?
S: It's funny, we have encountered quite a few artists and a lot of them expressed interest in working with us, like Carmen, will.i.am, John Legend.
W: Boyz II Men have always been the kind of group to collaborate based on the artistry not on how it could benefit us. We are hoping this album being successful will benefit us. With LL Cool J, it had nothing to do with what it would do for our career, it was about how we loved LL and wanted to contribute our voices to one of his songs. It had nothing to do with a career move.

Boyz II Men's new album, Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA, is out now.

Sonja Stephen - Sonja Stephen got mixed up with Big Brother from an early age and spent many a summer locked away in a dark and dingy portacabin writing stories about the socially inept housemates. She had brief love affairs with MTV and then Emap, where she worked as the Mobile Producer on heat Daily, but something in that BB portacabin kept luring her back- maybe it was those long unsociable hours. After being snogged by a winning housemate, and progressing to the role of Sub-Editor, she decided it was time to call time on her BB romance. A brief stint at the BBC made her realise that life's too short, and it was then she found herself in the warm welcoming arms of Que Pasa where she's now Content Editor on Virgin BITES.