It’s the thing married couples always say is the first thing to go after saying, “I do.”
So, Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris, who have been married to their respective wives for nearly 20 years, had one major piece of advice to newly married Brett Young and his wife, Taylor Mills, backstage at CMT Crossroads. The hour-long concert special premieres March 27 at 10 p.m. ET.
“Just try to make sure you have a lot of sex,” Stockman told Young. “I’m serious … because that is normally the first thing to go. It gets routine and things of that nature … Do it. Do it a lot.”
Boyz II Men would know. The group’s most popular baby-making material — “I’ll Make Love to You,” “On Bended Knee” and “End of the Road” among others — is what got them a wild 2013 gig in Moscow as part of what the Moscow Times described at the time as “a crusade” launched by Russian president Vladimir Putin to boost the country’s population. Nowadays, with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III investigating any possible links between Russia and the campaign of President Donald Trump, it’s not a connection the R&B group like to discuss.
Nathan Morris exclaimed, “[There was] no collusion!” His comment got a few laughs from his bandmates and Young, who was hearing about the Russian shows for the first time.
“We keep that on the low-low,” Stockman added. “[Putin] was not there. He was busy. He wanted Russians to come see our show with the hopes they would all go home, procreate and make Russian babies.”
CMT Crossroads will showcase new arrangements of both acts’ most heartfelt ballads. They hope that maybe their sweet sounds will ignite some romance for those watching at home.
“I think that’s the tie that binded us,” Stockman said of Boyz II Men’s connection with Young’s music. “It was one of those things where he comes from not so far of a world. Our songs, our music and our intent behind the music, it’s all the same.”
