Boyz Ii Men

Philadelphia’s Boyz II Men combined sweet soul harmonies and swaggering new jack swing beats to become one of the biggest R&B groups to come out of the ’90s.

High school friends Michael McCary, Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris, and Shawn Stockman began singing together in the mid-’80s; their 1991 debut, Cooleyhighharmony, was produced by New Edition’s Michael Bivins, who hailed the quartet as his musical protégés.

Their debut single, “Motownphilly,” an origin story with brassy synths and a vocal breakdown, neatly summed up the group’s aesthetic; their a cappella cover of the ’70s soul side “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” and their breakup ballad “End of the Road” put their raw emotionalism on display.