2010: I have to share this story; it made me laugh. I don’t know too much about the boy bands of the late 1990s and early 2000s except that they were extremely popular and that, because my son was born in 1996, I missed that entire era of pop. So I went online to school myself on 98 Degrees, in anticipation of today’s guest, singer Jeff Timmons, joining me on the show to talk about his latest work.
JEFF TIMMONS podcast excerpt: "When you dream about being a pop star, it's about having all of these crazy girls after you. The first two or three months, when we were on the road, I was excited, hanging out with different girls. At a certain point, though, it wasn't that interesting to me anymore. It lacks a little bit of depth. That phase didn't last too long for me."I clicked on a Google link to the band’s official website, 98Degrees.com, but it never materialized. My second choice was to read the Wikipedia page on the band. Before I could read anything else, the following disclaimer appeared: “This article is about the band. For the body temperature, see 98.6.” Apparently there are only point-six degrees of separation between the band and normal human body temperature. Wonder if Kevin Bacon knows this? (And, incidentally, there is no redirect on the 98.6 Degrees site back to the band 98 Degrees, just in case you were wondering.) So where was I? Oh, Jeff Timmons, of course. The founder of 98 Degrees was part of a singing act that sold more than 10 million albums and scored several Top 40 singles, including “Because Of You” and “This Gift.” The group’s successes were eventually overwhelmed in the public eye when one of its members, Nick Lachey, married singer Jessica Simpson. Their short-lived marriage was memorably chronicled on MTV’s “The Newlyweds.” 98 Degrees released its last album, The Collection, and toured in 2002. Jeff Timmons released a solo album, Whisper That Way, two years later and is now readying to release a third.
Jeff Timmons Website • Facebook • Twitter • 98 Degrees website • Order Whisper That Way from Amazon.com
