98 Degrees' Jeff Timmons Says Impossible to Prepare for Boy Band Pitfalls, Fame

TMZ

Liam Payne's death is putting a spotlight on the unseen struggles teen singers face when they put trust into stardom, even when it seems like they're thriving ... according to Jeff Timmons from 98 Degrees.

Transcript

00:00I was at one of P. Diddy's freak-offs.

00:03Freak-offs.

00:04You saw celebrities there that you recognized.

00:07Mm-hmm.

00:08They were a rapper that we all know.

00:11Straight-up porn directed by Diddy.

00:13I'm just grateful to have made it out.

00:17There seems to be a through-line here with all of these boy bands,

00:22which is going from kind of oblivion to incredible fame,

00:28and then at a point it all just, the air goes out of the balloon.

00:32That feels like a tough life.

00:33Well, look, it's been a blessing to be a part of it,

00:36especially being a part of it 30 years later,

00:38but it is a roller coaster ride.

00:40Make no mistake about it.

00:41There are high highs and low lows,

00:43and for us it was like an overnight success.

00:45We were signed.

00:46We were on Motown.

00:47There was no TRL.

00:48We weren't considered a boy band at the time.

00:50Then TRL happened, and overnight, Backstreet, us, NSYNC,

00:55were thrust into the spotlight.

00:57I've got to tell you, of course we all wanted that,

00:59and we're excited about it.

01:01Again, it was a blessing to be a part of it,

01:03but you're never quite prepared for all the things that come along with it.

01:07Like I said, high highs, low lows.

01:10We were in our early 20s.

01:11I can't imagine doing this as a younger person,

01:15a younger guy, teeming now with social media,

01:17all the stuff that that entails.

01:19It is quite a ride.

01:21Do you guys have any interaction with some of the younger groups

01:24and maybe even counsel them on the pitfalls?

01:29We've had an opportunity to cross paths with the wanted in one direction.

01:33When we first came back out in 2013 and got back on the road,

01:37we shared the stage on a couple of big events with those guys,

01:40and they were incredibly grounded for what we kind of thought

01:45and expected they would be, I guess because they had the social media aspect

01:50and being under the microscope 24 hours a day

01:53and just sort of becoming second nature to them.

01:55You don't know what goes on behind closed doors.

01:57There are documentaries that are out there kind of chronicling all this.

02:01This one's really, really well done.

02:03I mean, Johnny Wright, who's managed Backstreet N'Sync,

02:06he manages Justin, now manages us.

02:08I mean, he's a legend and was a part of New Kids.

02:10I mean, he really has his sort of ear to the ground on how all this stuff works,

02:15and they've really, really done a thorough job of chronicling the history of all this,

02:20and how it works, again, the ups and downs, the roller coaster ride,

02:23and everything in between.

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