‘Sister, Sister’: Marques Houston on Why He Quit the Show

Outside of Tia and Tamera’s on-screen characters on Sister, Sister, Marques Houston as their annoying next-door neighbor, Roger Evans, was the most popular character on the show. For four seasons, Roger vied for the attention of the twins by any means necessary. But after they graduated from high school, he no longer appeared on the show. And the decision to step away was solely Houston’s.

Had it been up to Houston, he would have left the show much sooner. He wanted to leave after Season 2. But after prodding from his manager, he opted to stay a bit longer. But by the end of season 4, he knew his time was up. Houston was already a star before the show, thanks to being the lead singer in the boy band, Immature. The show only added to his success. But he feared getting stuck in the role and the image if he stayed on the show as he was aging out of the character and wanted to be taken seriously as a more mature artist.

He explained his decision to leave in an episode of TV One’s Uncensored. And he says he made the best decision.

“When I was there, I was Roger. But, when I wasn’t there, I was this global young teen icon superstar. So it was like two different people. And it was just crazy. I remember sitting with [my manager] Chris [Stokes], because Immature was coming to an end. We tried to even change our name to IMX because we were getting older. It didn’t really work. Immature was a brand. And it was kind of just getting really cloudy. So once I went solo, I think it helped because I stopped doing Sister, Sister. Had I gone for two more seasons, I think that image would have just been printed and stuck in people’s heads and I don’t think I would have been able to have a career after that,” he explained. “So, I felt like I made the wrong decision by stepping away from Sister, Sister. And it was just that. It wasn’t any beef. Me and the girls were on great terms, me and all the producers were on great terms, it was really the decision to step away from Sister, Sister because I didn’t see a future in Sister, Sister. Not Roger.”