Boyz II Men on winning ‘The Masked Singer’ despite their best efforts to sabotage themselves
Legendary R&B trio dish on their history-making reality run and the upcoming biopic that will surprise fans and dispel the ‘bulls—.’
Boyz II Men made history on “The Masked Singer” Wednesday night as the first group to win the Golden Mask Trophy. And believe it or not, the artists formerly known as the Buffalos weren’t even trying.
Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris (no relation), and Shawn Stockman confess to Gold Derby they deliberately disguised their voices in hopes of being eliminated on the first episode. “It was our only two weeks off,” Wayna Morris jokes. Adds Nathan Morris, “We were trying to sabotage the whole thing from the beginning. We were either going to sing like us so they would find out or sing like s—. One of the two, so they would say, ‘Get them out of here!'”
During their first performance of “(I Just) Died In Your Arms” by Cutting Crew, Stockman reveals, “We all tried to not sound like ourselves. I know I was trying my best to sound like a white boy as much as I could. So, that was fun! We were able to role play and enjoy it. We’re in suits for God’s sake, so let’s not take this so seriously.Then, as the show went on, we started to get more involved, emotionally, and we were like, ‘Let’s pull this off!'”
Despite their initial hesitation to stay in it for the long haul, the Grammy-winning group admit they were excited to be named the champions. “We had a lot of fun,” says Stockman. “We burned a lot of calories and it was just a good, good moment. It was unlike anything we’ve ever done in our 33-year career.”
Wanya says the experience became “really emotional” at one point, causing him to break down in tears on stage. “Thirty-three years in the music industry is a very long time,” he explains. “For us three guys to be doing this 33 years later, still doing innovative things, setting records and making history as the first group to ever win — we’ve got friends that are in their 50s that can’t walk up stairs, but we’re still on stage. We’re overcoming and that’s what the emotional aspect of it was. We really are doing this.”
This year marks the 30th anniversary of their sophomore album, Boyz II Men II, which sold 12 million copies in the U.S. and spawned two number one hits: “On Bended Knee” and “I’ll Make Love to You.” “That was the album that changed our lives,” says Stockman. “I just remember having such a good time recording that record. All the things that it took to put this record together, the camaraderie that we had, and all the expectations. It was like the world was our oyster. We felt complete energy and we couldn’t wait for the record to come out. We went on tour right after that and that’s when things started to really catapult. When I see that album cover, that’s the album that changed me and my guys’ lives forever.”
Last month news broke that a Boyz biopic is in the works in collaboration with Compelling Pictures and Primary Wave. “Fans will be surprised by everything except for the singing because they don’t know anything about Boyz II Men,” Wanya says. “You might see some blurbs here and there on the internet, but they don’t know the journey. I think it’s going to be so intriguing that some people might think it’s bulls—. They’ll say, ‘That ain’t happen.’ But, oh yes it did!”
“There’s people in our hometown that don’t even know the story,” Nathan adds. “You saw all the videos. We had the collegiate sweaters and the hats. A lot of people think we come from money and we come from dirt. Just knowing that people that lived in our own vicinity never even knew tells you that the whole world has absolutely no idea.”