'A Very Boy Band Holiday' ABC Special Wraps up NSYNC, New Kids, Boyz II Men, More as Gift for Fans
Fans of classic '90s and '00s boy bands are going to have a very good Christmas. ABC Is throwing a holiday special called A Very Boy Band Holiday! and will feature band members from *NSYNC, New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men, 98 Degrees, New Edition and O-Town. ABC shared the news on social media, and the announcement featured Joey Fatone (*NSYNC), Chris Kirkpatrick (*NSYNC), Lance Bass (*NSYNC), Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men), Shawn Stockman (Boyz II Men), Bobby Brown (New Edition), Michael Bivins (New Edition), Joey McIntyre (NKOTB), Erik-Michael Estrada (O-Town), Nick Lachey (98 Degrees), Drew Lachey (98 Degrees), Jeff Timmons (98 Degrees) and Justin Jeffre (98 Degrees).
Entertainment Tonight reports that the special will feature the supergroup performing holiday classics, as well as their respective bands' holiday hits. There are also some as-yet-unannounced special guests who will make an appearance, and some new, original songs will be featured. Fatone and Morris will be performing "A Very Boy Band Holiday" and McIntyre will be singing "This One's For The Children" with his son Griffin. A Very Boy Band Holiday is set to air Monday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. on ABC.
This special comes on the heels of Fatone and Bass teaming up with Backstreet Boys members AJ McLean and Nick Carter for Bingo Under the Stars Pride event, which benefits The Trevor Project, in June. "We were just on stage going, 'Maybe we should do a supergroup and tour and do an album,'" Carter told Variety. "We've come together for a cause greater than ourselves, so let's let it blossom into something." McLean added that that the more band members wanted the join "the merrier," explaining of the complicated scheduling, "Fans still want a Backstreet/NSYNC tour, but it's got to be all 10 of us. It's the only way to make it work, so I think he'd be sleeping on it if [Timberlake] didn't do it, but he's a dad doing his thing and I completely respect that. This four is a dream team right now."
McLean also teamed up with NSYNC's Chris Kirkpatrick to debut their new collaborative single, "Air," in Las Vegas at the Music for Life fundraiser for the Victoria's Voice Foundation. McLean regularly teams up with other artists with his side band, ATCK (All the Cool Kids), which brings in a "revolving door" of musicians, he told Variety.
"There was a time when I couldn't be in the same room with this guy," Kirkpatrick admitted of the bands' rivalry at their peak. "But there's always been a mutual respect, and now that we're all parents, we've grown up. Reflecting on things, it's cool to see what each of the bands did and how it all worked together. It really was this symbiotic relationship with Backstreet, 98 Degrees, us and even O-Town and other bands that came in."