Black male R&B group from Philadelphia, comprised of Nathan Morris, Michael McCary, Shawn Stockman, and Wanya Morris. They are indisputedly the best-selling of the 1990's boy bands, since for many years they were the male pop a capella group, before knockoffs (BSB, N'Sync) started hitting the charts towards the latter end of the decade.
The four, along with Marc Nelson (who later left for a [unsuccessful] solo career), met while attending the Creative and Performing Arts High School in Philadelphia in the mid 1980's, and started singing New Edition covers together at local venues. Their first big break came in 1989 when they snuck backstage at a concert in Philly, ran into former New Edition singer Michael Bivins, and sang "Can You Stand the Rain?" for him. Bivins was so impressed he lined up a studio session and soon the boys were getting air time on local radio stations (I still remember hearing them on Power 99 FM before they went national). Working with Bivins, they cut their first album, Cooleyhighharmony in 1993. The album hit #1 on the Billboard charts, went platinum several times over, and the rest is history.
Albums:
- Cooleyhigharmony (1993)
- II (1994)
- Evolution (1997)
- Nate Mike Shawn Wanya (coming out in late 2000)