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98 Degrees |
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 MEMBERS: Nick Lachey,
Jeff Timmons, Drew Lachey, and Justin
Jeffre
BIRTHDAYS: Jeff Timmons
(April 30, 1973) ~ Nick Lachey
(November 9, 1973) ~ Drew Lachey
(August 8, 1976) ~ Justin Jeffre
(February 25, 1973)
BIGGEST
SINGLE: "I Do (Cherish You)" (1999)
BIGGEST
LP: 98 Degrees And
Rising (1998)
GRAMMY
AWARDS: 0
"We're
all very grounded guys, we all have a
spiritual background. We have the
proper perspective. We know as easily
as it has come, it can easily be
taken away. You should enjoy it while
you have it. " - Jeff Timmons, 98
Degrees
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 The quartet 98 Degrees consists
of brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Justin
Jeffre, and Jeff Timmons. 98 Degrees joined
the ranks of the rising pop 'boy-band'
sensations such as the Backstreet
Boys and 'N Sync in the late 1990s with
their good looks and talent for harmonizing.
Jeff Timmons, born in Ohio on April 30, 1973,
studied psychology at Kent State before
moving to Los Angeles in hopes of an
entertainment career. Timmons was the
catalyst of the group, gradually bringing in
other vocalists until the current line-up was
conceived. Nick Lachey, born in Kentucky on
November 9, 1973, was the second member to
come aboard permanently, and the link to the
remaining members, his friend and brother.
Nick's friend, Justin Jeffre, born in
Michigan on February 25, 1973, left his
studies at the University of Cincinnati to
join the group. Nick's brother, Drew Lachey,
born in Ohio on August 8, 1976, joined the
group to replace a departing member and left
an EMT job in New York City to complete the
98 Degrees roster. The group officially was
discovered while attending a Boyz
II Men and eventually catching the eye
(and ear) of Montell Jordan's
co-manager who helped them record a demo. The
band then signed with Motown Records in 1996.
 # 71
Singles Artist of the Year
 98 Degrees released their debut
LP, 98
Degrees. Only a year after
being signed with a major record company, the
U.S. was beginning to feel the heat of 98
Degrees.
98 Degree hit the Top 40 with
"Invisible Man."
98 Degree hit the Top 10 with "Invisible Man."
"Invisible Man" was certified
gold.
 # 55
Singles Artist of the Year
98
Degrees was reissued with an extra
track, "Was It Something I Didn't
Say" penned by Diane Warren.
98 Degrees hit the Top 40 with Stevie Wonder with "True To Your Heart."
98 Degrees hit the Top 40 with
"Because
Of You."
 98 Degrees released their
sophomore LP, 98
Degrees And Rising.
The single "Because
Of You"
was certified gold.
98 Degrees hit the Top
10
with "Because
Of You."
98
Degrees And Rising was certified gold and
the single "Because
Of You"
was certified platinum.
 # 15
Singles Artist of the Year
98 Degrees hit the Top 40 with
"The
Hardest Part."
98
Degrees And Rising was certified
platinum.
The boys embarked on a tour with
B*Witched
98 Degrees hit the Top
10
with "The
Hardest Part."
 98 Degrees hit the Top 40 with
"I
Do (Cherish You)."
98
Degrees And Rising was certified 2x
platinum and the single "The
Hardest Part" was certified gold.
98 Degrees hit the Top
10
with "I
Do (Cherish You)."
 This
Christmas was released and spawned the
hit "This
Gift."
98
Degrees And Rising was certified 3x
platinum.
98 Degrees hit the Top 40 with
"This
Gift"
and could be heard helping out Mariah
Carey on her hit "Thank
God I Found You" (also featuring Joe).
 The boys began preparing to
record a new LP in early 2000. Timmons told
MTV: "This next album is going to be a
very, very mature album. You're gonna see us
grown vocally as well as musically. We're
gonna write a lot more songs than we did on [98
Degrees And Rising] and produce probably
the majority of the album."
This
Christmas was certified platinum.
 98 Degrees: # 16
Singles Artist of the Year - Nick
Lachey: # 103
Singles Artist of the Year
 98 Degrees hit the Top 20 with
"This
Gift"
and the Top
10
with Mariah
Carey and Joe with "Thank
God I Found You."
98
Degrees was certified gold and 98
Degrees And Rising was certified
4x platinum.
Timmons talked about the groups
next LP: "We're going to try to step it
up and make it a little more mature with some
uptempo stuff. We wrote and produced half of
the last album, but we're aiming to do more
of that this time."
The group was also nominated for
a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Musical
Group.
"Thank
God I Found You" topped the Billboard Hot
100 for 1 week and the Billboard R&B/Hip
Hop chart for 1 week.
 Nick Lachey was helping out
girlfriend, Jessica
Simpson, on her hit "Where
You Are."
"Where
You Are"
hit the Top
10.
 98 Degree hit the Top 40 with
"Give
Me Just One Night (Una Noche)" - the song also
broke the record for most-adds on radio
during the month.
Nick Lachey won a Teen Choice
Award for Love Song of the Year ("Where
You Are").
 98 Degrees hit the Top
10
with with "Give
Me Just One Night (Una Noche)."
98 Degree's next LP, Revelation, was released. Drew
Lachey called the new LP: "...very
diverse. No 2 songs on it sound alike, which
is definitely something that we set out to
accomplish." Jeffre addressed the 'boy
band' label they often get lumped into:
"A lot of people see 4 guys singing and
they write us off as another boy band and
give us bad reviews without really listening
to the music. That hurts and is very
frustrating."
98 Degrees' LP, Revelation, debuted at #2 on the
Billboard 200 LP Chart.
98 Degrees were
sued by their former managers for $25
million. The managers are claiming they
should awarded earnings promised for helping
the group achieve their success.
Better new during the month came
with the news of Drew Lachey getting married.
98 Degrees won a Radio Music
Award for Most Requested Song of the Year
("Give
Me Just One Night (Una Noche)").
The single "Give
Me Just One Night (Una Noche)" was certified
gold.
Revelation was certified
platinum.
 The boys hit the Top 40 with
"My
Everything."
 # 69
Singles Artist of the Year
98 Degrees hit the Top 10 with "My
Everything."
98 Degrees were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with
Vocals
("Thank God I Found You" with Mariah
Carey and Joe).
 98 Degrees were nominated for a
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite
Group - Pop.
98 Degrees hit the Top 40 with
"The Way You Want Me To."
 # 174
Singles Artist of the Year
98 announced that they were not
breaking up, but were taking a break - Drew
announced on their website: "Many doors
have been opened up to us over the past
couple of years and we want to take advantage
of some of those."
98 Degrees hit the Top 40 with
"Why."
 98 Degrees released a hits
compilation - The
98 Degrees Collection.
Nick Lachey wed Jessica
Simpson.
 Nick
Lachey: # 105
Singles Artist of the Year
Nick had his first solo hit with
"Shut Up."
 Nick was seen
on MTV with the hit reality series Newlyweds:
Nick And Jessica.
Nick hit the Top 40 with "This I Swear."
Nick released his solo LP, SoulO.
Nick co-hosted Saturday
Night Live with his wife, Jessica Simpson.
The second season of
Newlyweds began on MTV.
 Nick appeared on the NBC series American
Dreams performing as Tom Jones.
Nick and Jessica
Simpson appeared in their first TV
variety special on ABC with The Nick
& Jessie Variety Hour.
# 124 on the Top Pop Artists
of the Past 25 Years chart.
Justin Jeffre announced he would
be running for mayor of Cincinnati.
Justin Jeffre came in 5th
running for a spot in the November elections
for mayor of Cincinnati getting 1.7% of the
vote.
 Jessica Simpson filed for a divorce
from Nick.
 Nick
Lachey: # 12
Singles Artist of the Year
Drew Lachey
participated in the ABC show Dancing With
The Stars and ended up winning.
 Nick Lachey hit the Top 40 with
"What's Left Of Me."
Nick Lachey hit the Top 10 with "What's Left Of Me."
Nick released What's
Left Of Me.
Jeff Timmons was arrested on DUI
charges in Florida.
Nick topped the Billboard Hot
Dance Airplay chart with "What's Left Of Me."
 Nick hit the Top 40 with "I Can't Hate You
Anymore."
Nick won a Teen Choice Award for
Choice Love Song ("What's Left Of Me").
The video for "What's Left Of Me" was nominated
for a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Male Video.
Nick was nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist.
Nick's What's
Left Of Me was certified gold.
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