This versatile close-harmony soul unit enjoyed an almost unprecedented level of success during the early 90s, beginning with 1991’s US Top 3 debut single ‘Motownphilly’. The original line-up comprised Wanya ‘Squirt’ Morris (b. 29 July 1973, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA), Michael ‘Bass’ McCary (b. 16 December 1971, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA), Shawn ‘Slim’ Stockman (b. 26 September 1972, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA), Nathan ‘Alex-Vanderpool’ Morris (b. 18 June 1971, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA), and Marc Nelson (b. 23 January 1971, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA). The five members met at the Philadelphia High School Of Creative And Performing Arts, forming the band in 1988, although Nelson left the group after they finished school. Michael Bivins of Bell Biv DeVoe took the remaining quartet under his wing and brought them, fittingly, to Motown Records. Their debut album was one side dance, one side ballad, and was a huge seller in the USA. By the middle of 1993 the album was still high on the US chart with sales of over eight million copies. The previous autumn, the soundtrack song ‘End Of The Road’ topped the US charts for a then record-breaking 13 weeks and provided the quartet with a UK chart-topper.
The winning formula was repeated with uncanny accuracy in 1994, with the regular follow-up album (imaginatively titled II) becoming a huge hit. The album saw the songwriting and production team of Babyface and Jimmy Jam And Terry Lewis taking over from Bivins. It spawned one of the bestselling singles in US chart history, ‘I’ll Make Love To You’ (at the top for 14 weeks), and further hits with ‘On Bended Knee’ (at the top for 6 weeks) and ‘Water Runs Dry’. The following year’s ‘One Sweet Day’ (with Mariah Carey) stayed at the US number 1 slot for an astonishing 16 weeks. The 1997 follow-up Evolution featured all-star contributions from Babyface, Jam and Lewis, Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs and Keith Crouch, but its three million sales were paltry compared to its predecessors. Stemming from the group’s conflict with Motown over the unauthorised release of a remix collection, the lack of promotion afforded the album did not help. However, ‘4 Seasons Of Loneliness’ did provide the quartet with its fifth US number 1 single.
The quartet set up their own label, Stonecreek, and after a three year hiatus launched Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya onto a market now saturated with a new generation of R&B vocal groups. The quartet’s brand of smooth, inoffensive soul, though classy as always, struggled to make a commercial impact in a less discerning and more sexually explicit climate. They subsequently signed a new recording contract with Arista Records, and returned in July 2002 with Full Circle. This proved to be the last album to feature McCary, who had been suffering from scoliosis and announced his retirement from the music business not long afterwards.
The remaining trio formed the MSM Music Group label and set about recording a new album Throwback 1, which featured cover versions of songs by artists such as Al Green, DeBarge, Michael Jackson and the Dazz Band. This independent release sold only a fraction of the amount of the group’s previous albums. Indeed, their next two releases were initially only made available on the Asian market. They signed a new contract with Universal Records for the release of 2007’s Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA, on which the trio paid tribute to acts from the golden era of Motown Records.
