Features
98 Degrees Dream Team
Tickets will go on sale February 17 for concerts in Portland, Maine; Worcester, Mass; and Washington, D.C. Baha Men and Debelah Morgan will also appear on the bill in Portland and Worcester. Additional on-sale dates will be announced later by tour promoter SFX.
The caravan will travel to major and secondary markets including Chicago; Tampa, Denver; Salt Lake City; San Jose, Los Angeles; and San Diego.
After two years of almost non-stop touring, 98 Degrees took a break from the road last year to record their third album, Revelation.
“I felt like this was the first time we got to catch our breath, get our creative vibe going and grow,” the vocal group’s Justin Jeffre said.
While 98 Degrees hasn’t achieved the mass adulation from teen audiences as contemporaries Backstreet Boys or ‘N Sync, their pop roots are more firmly grounded in an urban soul sound.
They were discovered in 1997 backstage at a Boyz II Men show, and a rep for Montell Jordan gave them the chance to record their first demo and tour with the soul star early in their careers. They’ve since sung with Stevie Wonder and Mariah Carey, in addition to touring with ‘N Sync and Britney Spears.
Dream is a quartet of Californians – Diana Ortiz, Holly Blake, Ashley Poole and Melissa (who goes by her first name only) – that survived out of a group of hundreds of singers who auditioned for the group.
The foursome was introduced to and quickly signed by Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs to his Bad Boy Records label just last year.
They released a single, “He Loves U Not,” to radio last year before recording and releasing their debut album, It Was All A Dream.