Song:End Of The Road
Album:End Of The Road: The Collection
Boyz II Men was one of the most popular groups of the 90s. End Of The Road was their first number one pop hit in 1992. They started out as Unique Attraction when they started out in a Philadelphia high school led by Nathan Morris and Marc Nelson. Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman joined the group. One day they were practicing in the high school bathroom and Michael McCary walked in and started singing with them. He joined the group. The obvious influence on the group was the teen R & B vocal group New Edition. So they named themselves Boyz II Men after a New Edition song. Their big break came when they sneaked backstage at a New Edition concert and auditioned for Michael Bivins. He was just starting his own production company and got Boyz II Men a deal with Motown. Before they could record, Nelson left to go solo. He would have success with the group Az Yet. Boyz II Men had success with their first single Motownphilly. Critics complained that Boyz II Men sounded too much like New Edition. Bivins says that was deliberate. He wanted them to appeal to New Edition fans. So the first Boyz II Men album Cooleyhighharmony was very successful. While on tour, Boyz II Men returned to the studio briefly to record End Of The Road for the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. The song was written and produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 13 weeks. Originally End Of The Road was only on the Boomerang soundtrack and later added as a bonus track to a reissue of Cooleyhighharmony. Then they changed management from Bivins to Edmonds. Boyz II Men's other number one hits were I'll Make Love To You and On Bended Knee in 1994 and 4 Seasons of Loneliness in 1997. What all these songs had in common was they were all weepy ballads and they are all on this British budget comp. Boyz II Men started having problems with Motown over the CD The Remix Collection which they were against releasing. There were also some health problems. They started their own label and tried to leave Motown but couldn't. They did leave after the 2000 CD Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya didn't sell. They signed with Arista for the 2002 CD Full Circle and reunited with Edmonds. But the CD didn't sell and McCary retired due to health problems. Boyz II Men is now a trio. Their latest CD Twenty was released in 2011. They have a permanent home at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. They appeared on a recent episode of How I Met Your Mother. Here's the video for End Of The Road by Boyz II Men.
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