Boyz II Men back again

Years from now I will not be surprised if Pinoys start talking about the pop soul group Boyz II Men in the same breath as The Lettermen. Why not? After all, there are several similarities between these two acts. Here goes:

Both have all-male members. It used to be four guys each for both but I noticed that Boyz II Men now has only three. Both started out catering to the teenage crowd with emotional ballads. You know, the early fans of both were those kids who danced and fell in love for the first time to the romantic sounds these groups made with their sweet harmonies. This was back in the ’60s for The Lettermen and back in the ’90s for Boyz II Men.

Both the Lettermen and Boyz II Men have a good number of hit songs. The Way You Look Tonight, The Seventh Dawn, A Summer Place, Shangrila, Traces, When I Fall In Love, Symphony For Susan and others for The Lettermen. End Of The Road, I’ll Make Love To You, On Bended Knee, One Sweet Day, 4 Seasons of Loneliness, Water Runs Dry, It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday, Pass You By, A Song For Mama, plus others for Boyz II Men, which is acknowledged as the guys who put an R&B twist to the boy band genre.

And as I have recently noticed The Lettermen and Boyz II Men both like to visit the Philippines and perform for Filipinos. I am sure even the guys of The Lettermen themselves have already lost count of how many times they had been to this country. Now, we can still keep tabs on the Boyz II Men, which will soon be on its fourth local stint. Don’t say, only four, because knowing how much Pinoys love to swoon over guys with beautiful voices singing songs of love, I expect the number of their visits to increase.

And so they will be here again next week. Ovation Productions is bringing back Boyz II Men again for a one-night-only concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City on Sept. 17. Ticket prices are P5,750, P4,750, P3,750, P2,750, P1,750 and P750 and are now available at Ticketnet outlets, tel. no. 911-5555 and online at www.ticketnet.com.ph.

Boyz II Men is made up of Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris. They started singing together while still in high school in the late ’80s. Unlike other groups, Boyz II Men has no soloists or background singers. All of the members are soloists with fantastic voices. There has also been no change in membership all these past years. The fourth member bass Michael McCary had to leave due to health problems. The three who remain have carried on marvelously in concerts and at the recording studio. A new album titled Collide, the group’s 11th studio collection, is due for release soon.

Incidentally, singing diva and ex-American Idol judge Mariah Carey, the girl with whom Boyz II Men made One Sweet Day, the longest-running No. 1 song in the hit charts and one of the biggest-selling duets in pop music history, is also coming to town. Too bad they are not doing it together but fans of Carey would be glad to know that the girl with the five-octave vocal range, will be here on Oct. 28 for a one-night-only performance at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The show kicks off her world tour in Asia for her latest album Me, I Am Mariah…The Elusive Chanteuse. She is also slated to perform in Singapore, Malaysia, China and Japan. Tickets to the show are now available at smtickets.com or call 374-2222 or 470-2222. Ticket prices are VIP P15,840; Patron P12,680; Lower A P10,560; Lower B P8,450; Upper Box P4,230; and General Admission P1,960 and if you want those special SVIP tickets, which might get you close to Mariah, call tel. no. 374-2222.

Brace yourselves for live renditions of the songs that have sold over 200 million records worldwide and created a pop icon like Hero, Visions Of Love, Love Takes Time, Someday, I Don’t Wanna Cry, Emotions, Can’t Let Go, I’ll Be There, Dream Lover, Fantasy, Always Be My Baby, Honey, Without You, Touch My Body, We Belong Together, Don’t Forget About Us, Open Arms, All I Want For Christmas Is You and so many others, including of course, the hits from the new album like Beautiful featuring Miguel, You’re Mine (Eternal) and You Don’t Know What To Do.

We all know that there will not be time enough for Carey to perform all these hits in a single show. Still I am sure that her followers feel that hearing her do only some of these live is already worth the price of the ticket. 

And so Boyz II Men on Sept. 17 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum and Carey on Oct. 28 at the Mall of Asia Arena.