Boyz II Men: Back To The Present

Top-Selling R&B Group Returns To Motown Roots, And Its Members' Parents' Music, In New CD

(CBS)  Boyz II Men has racked up sales of more than 60 million albums -- more than any other male R&B group, ever -- most of them on the famous Motown label.

Now, the group is going back to its roots, and the label that put it on the map, with a CD that honors its musical heritage.

Since bursting on to the scene in the early '90s, Boyz II Men has had hit after hit, blending its smooth Philadelphia harmonies with the legendary Motown sound.

Founded in 1959 by music pioneer Berry Gordy, Motown was eventually nicknamed "Hitsville USA," and became the biggest-selling independent record label in America.

It radically altered the public's perception of black music, which for years had been kept out of the mainstream.

The Motown sound was even able to compete with the Beatles-led British music invasion of America.

Berry cultivated a roster of the biggest names in R&B, carefully controlling their public image, dress, manners, and choreography, for crossover appeal.

Among Motown's giants: Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Jackson Five, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and The Temptations.

"In every single song," says Boys II Men's Nathan Morris, "probably somewhere in the music, there are hints of Motown, whether it's the artists, or the writers, or the drum links, James Jamerson bass lines, there's stuff everywhere, whether you want to say there is or not, so we want to do our best to preserve that"

And their new album, "Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA,"is a tribute to the music first passed on to them by their parents.

"These were," Morris says, "the songs that were going on in their life when they were happy, when they were sad, when they were pregnant, when they got married, when they sent us off to school. All of these songs were playing in their lives, and they passed this on to us in some sort of shape or form."

And now, they reinterpret 14 Motown classics on their new album, with the help of Grammy-winning mega-producer and "Amrican Idol" judge Randy Jackson.

"They're trying to broaden their career now," Jackson explains. "I don't think there's any brand of music that they couldn't sing. So, this Motown thing is just another thing in the step of them.They could sing opera, they've got a duet with Michael Buble. I mean, they could do anything, these boys. The greats just get better; these boys just got better over the years. They're amazing. I was just blown away!"

And the group is now itself part of the Motown legend.

Says Boyz' Shawn Stockman, "Those artists, those icons that will forever be legendary, look at us, and they see us, and they give us love and they tell us how much they love our music. That confirms it for us."

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