The sweet urban soul quartet
98° was formed in Los Angeles by four former Ohio residents: brothers
Nick and Drew Lachey plus Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre. Timmons was trying to make it in the music industry, so he called Jeffre and
Nick Lachey -- both former classmates at the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Artists -- and formed
98°; Drew Lachey soon moved to the West Coast as well. The quartet was working a variety of odd jobs to finance their talent-show appearances, but after attracting attention by trying to crash the backstage area of a
Boyz II Men show,
98° was offered a chance to sing on a local radio station.
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From that appearance the group met Paris d'Jon, the co-manager of
Montell Jordan. He arranged demos for them and helped the group sign to Motown. The quartet's debut single, "Invisible Man," hit number 12 on the singles charts and went gold during 1997, leading to the release of their self-titled debut album in July of that year.
98° and Rising followed in late 1998, and a year later the group returned with the seasonal effort
This Christmas. Their third full-length,
Revelation, featuring the single "Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche)," was released in fall 2000. It became the most-added Top 40 single in history during its first week of release. By fall, second single "My Everything" was hot while things with the band began to simmer down. Rumors of split started to brew. By February 2002, the rumor had gone far enough. The members of
98° officially announced that the band was on hiatus. Other projects were in the works, but they were still a band. The Collection album and DVD followed in May. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
