98 Degrees (stylized as 98°) is a vocal group consisting of brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons, and Justin Jeffre.
The American pop and R&B group was started independently by Jeff Timmons in Los Angeles, California, although all of its members originate from Ohio.
The group successfully charted in the U.S. top five with "Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche)", "Because of You", "The Hardest Thing", and "Thank God I Found You"—the latter as a guest artist backing Mariah Carey to give 98 Degrees their only number-one song, which earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
Beginning with an August 2012 performance at the Mixtape Festival in Hershey, Pennsylvania, the group reunited and continues to record new music.
[1] The founding members of 98 Degrees met after Massillon, Ohio native Jeff Timmons decided to quit college and pursue a music career with best friend Jeremy Volk.
[3] He met a former student of the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts who passed his name on to another graduate, Nick Lachey,[4] who was attending Miami (of Ohio) University to study sports medicine.
Jeffre, a history student at University of Cincinnati, had attended SCPA with Lachey and they had performed together before in various outfits such as a barbershop quartet at the amusement park Kings Island[6][7] and a cover band.
[8] After rejecting a series of names (including Just Us and Next Issue), upon the suggestion by their manager Paris D'Jon, they decided on "98 Degrees" describing body temperature and their music.
The group's wait for a manager and a recording contract did not take long, as they seized an opportunity to perform during a radio broadcast of a Boyz II Men concert, which they attended in the hope of passing a demo tape to the band.
Directly referring to NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys, he added, "We are singers, songwriters, and producers all in one, not just one of those manufactured pop groups that is put together as a marketing scheme.
Although critical response to the debut of the group was mixed, a Billboard review of their first single noted their vocal abilities, and the addition of a new track helped to keep the band in the public eye.
[10] After building popularity with their appearance in the animated Disney movie Mulan, and singing "True to Your Heart", a duet with labelmate Stevie Wonder, their album 98 Degrees and Rising went 4× platinum in 1998.
The single went to the top 10 in the UK charts and the group also received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for the same song.
In September 2001, the band appeared at Madison Square Garden alongside Luther Vandross and Usher singing Michael Jackson's hit song "Man in the Mirror".
Timmons released the solo album Whisper That Way and participated in the VH1 reality TV series, Mission Man Band.
On June 20, 2012, Nick and Drew Lachey announced on Ryan Seacrest that the group would reunite for a one-time performance at Mixtape Festival in Hershey, PA in August.
[14] On January 22, 2013, the group appeared on The View along with New Kids on the Block and Boyz II Men to announce their joint tour would take place in summer 2013.
They were supported by O-Town, Ryan Cabrera, and Dream, putting together a bill of pop acts that were first popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s at larger venues.
[17] On November 23, 2017, the band made a 90-second musical appearance in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, performed in New York City.
On May 21, 2018, the band made a musical appearance at Miss USA, singing "The Hardest Thing" and "I Do", as the three final girls did their last walk on the stage.