Wednesday, September 13, 2017

'I Was Just Handled by a Man!' Nick Lachey Dances with Maksim Chmerkovskiy in First DWTS Rehearsal Video

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PEOPLE is celebrating the Sept. 18 premiere of Dancing with the Stars 25th season with 25 days of exclusive interviews, fun retrospectives and new details about what fans can expect from the milestone season.

Nick Lachey is practicing for Dancing with the Stars — but it’s not with the pro you’re thinking of.
In rehearsal footage released exclusively to PEOPLE, the former 98 Degrees frontman gets a special lesson from none other than Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who is actually Nick’s wife Vanessa‘s partner. (Nick and Vanessa are going up against each other this season, as are their respective pros, Chmerkovskiy and his wife Peta Murgatroyd.)
In the clip, Chmerkovskiy coaches Nick through some steps. As the two complete their twirl around the studio, Vanessa and Murgatroyd squeal in delight.

“Wow!” Vanessa says. “Sexy.”
“I was just handled by a man!” Nick quips.
“Well technically, you handled me, because you were leading,” says Chmerkovskiy as the foursome dissolve into giggles.

PEOPLE caught up with Vanessa and Chmerkovskiy at the DWTS season 25 cast party in New York City this week, and they revealed that going spouse-to-spouse is already starting to complicate things at home.
“I messed up already,” said 36-year-old mom of three. “I told Nick, ‘Oh, I think we got a song!’ And then Nick told Peta.”

That got Chmerkovskiy, 37, caught in a lie with Murgatroyd, 31: “She was like, ‘Babe, I asked you and you said no!’ Damn it.”
Vanessa now knows there are some things she won’t be able to share with her hubby throughout the dance contest.
“I’m learning, maybe don’t tell him everything,” the former Total Request Live host said. “Maks is my TV husband, and Nick is my life husband. I have to learn how to separate. It’s really hard!”
Season 25 of Dancing with the Stars premieres Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

'DWTS': Vanessa & Nick Lachey Arguing Over Who Gets To Dance To This 98 Degrees Song

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DANCING WITH THE STARS – NICK LACHEY AND PETA MURGATROYD – The celebrity cast of “Dancing with the Stars” are donning their glitzy wardrobe and slipping on their dancing shoes as they ready themselves for their first dance on the ballroom floor, as the season kicks off on MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 (8:00-10:01 p.m. EST), on the ABC Television Network. (ABC/Craig Sjodin)


It’s about to be a family affair on ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ and we spoke with the two married couples about what’s coming. Watch our interview here!

Maks Chmerkovskiy and Vanessa Lachey are bringing their A-game this season to Dancing with the Stars, competing against their spouses Peta Murgatroyd and Nick Lachey — but they also all feel so luck to be paired up together.
“I like this position because I know Peta — being a new mommy, everything that goes on not happening externally, internally — is in good hands with Nick,” Vanessa, 36, told HollywoodLife.com exclusively. “And vice versa, Nick knows that I’m with a daddy. There’s an underlying understanding when you’re a parent, when you’re a spouse.”
“She’ll ask me, ‘What studio do you want?’ and I’m like, ‘I’ll go to the one that’s closer to you,'” Maks added. “And then Nick goes to the one that’s close to us, that way mommy’s get to be with the kids more.” Vanessa and Nick, 43, are also looking forward to using the experience to grow their relationship. “Maks knows how important that time with the kids is,” she added. “It also adds another dynamic to mine and Nick’s relationship, which I love.”
One other thing it adds? Competition! For example, both Nick and Vanessa want to dance to 98 Degrees‘ “Una Noche,” since it’s one of the few upbeat, dance-worthy songs the ballad-friendly group has.
“I was like, babe, can I get ‘Una Noche?’ He’s like, ‘That’s my song,'” Vanessa said, laughing. “And I went, ‘But you don’t want to dance to your song! You want your wife to cha cha to your song.’ He’s like, ‘No, I want my song!'” Of course, we may also see Vanessa dance to some N’SYNC hits. “It’s no secret, I’m an N’SYNC fan. They performed when I won Miss Teen USA; I’ve been ride or die since then. I say this with love — Nick knows that I love him because I love him. I was not a 98 degrees groupie!”
HollywoodLifers, who do you think should get to dance to “Una Noche?”

Vanessa Lachey: Nick and I Give Each Other 'Massages' After 'Dancing With the Stars' Practice

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Mixing business with pleasure! Vanessa and Nick Lachey may be battling it out on Dancing With the Stars, but the couple swear that they aren’t competitive with each other.
“We are having fun doing this together. We’ve been doing this for 10 years so this is giving us a whole other dynamic in our relationship and I’m excited to see [what happens],” Vanessa, 36, exclusively told Us Weekly last week. “I’m proud of us for doing it together.”
Vanessa Lachey Maks CHMERKOVSKIY Dancing With The Stars DWTS
The Lacheys did a spouse swap for the ABC show’s 25th season. While Vanessa is teamed with Maks Chmerkovskiy, Nick, 43, is partnered with the Ukrainian hunk's wife, Peta Murgatroyd.
“We don’t practice dancing with each other but it is nice because of the massages,” Vanessa told Us. “I’m like, I’ll rub your feet you rub my feet. That is fun. It really is another layer to our relationship. I can’t wait for the first live show, and I can’t to watch him. We did a little show the other day, we were at the same studio, and Maks and I came in and they showed us a little bit of their routine and we showed them a little bit of what we learned.”
Nick Lachey Peta MURGATROYD Dancing With The Stars DWTS
She added: “It would be fun if we all made it to the finals.”

Vanessa admitted that she doesn’t really enjoy the gym, though. Luckily, Chmerkovskiy, 37, has no intention of pushing her to the extreme like her past “intense trainers.”
“It kind of seems childish. You have these grownups come, they signed on to do a show. It’s not like we’re in a summer camp together, and here I am making them do warmups and pushups and all that. It’s not me man,” he told Us. “I want to do my best and I want her to do her best too so we can do our thing. When I speed things up faster and faster, I know that there’s a leg that is able to do it. What is the point of pushing someone that I know for a fact that some of these people cannot be pushed? If you push, it’s going to break, and nobody wants that.”
Season 25 of DWTS premieres on Monday, September 28, on ABC at 8 p.m. ET. 

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Mini Must-Have: The Lacheys’ Adorable Elephant Pajamas – and Three Wild Alternatives That’ll Cost You Peanuts

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The Lachey kids are stylin’, even at bedtime.
On Saturday, Phoenix Robert, 7 months, Brooklyn Elisabeth, 2½, and Camden John, 5 next month, looked ready for quite an adventure-filled slumber party as they snuggled up on the couch for a cute snap, shared on Instagram by mom Vanessa Lachey.
In the photo, the kids are sporting matching Roberta Roller Rabbit pajamas, which feature an elephant print. Camden and Phoenix are wearing the brand’s Pima Cotton Classic Two-Piece Pajamas Set in blue, while Brooklyn relaxes in the pink version. Both retail for $65.

Nick and Vanessa Lachey to Compete on Dancing with the Stars

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Dancing with the Stars' 25th season is going to feature another married couple comparing their boot-scooting skills.
Nick Lachey and Vanessa Lachey have signed on to compete with one another on the show's new season, People reports. The pair, who have been married since 2011, have three children together and recently shared the screen on Battle of the Network Stars and Hollywood Game Night.
Nick has appeared on Dancing with the Stars in the past as a musical guest, but he previously denied any interest in joining the show as a competitor, especially since his younger brother and fellow former 98 Degrees singer Drew Lachey competed on and won DWTS' second season.

He told NJ.com in 2014, "No Dancing with the Stars for me. I'm not a dancer, my brother is the dancer of the family, and in fact I don't even like dancing to be honest with you, so I'm going to leave all that to him. And he won, so I mean I can't possibly beat him, all I can do is tie him, so it's a no win situation for me." Indeed, Vanessa has openly derided her husband's dancing skills, including the moves that made him famous as a '90s boy bander.
Evidently, time has since changed his mind about that opportunity, but given what we know about the couple, it looks like Vanessa might have the edge in this small screen family feud.
Nick and Vanessa Lachey aren't the first married couple to compete on the show -- Carlos and Alexa PenaVega both competed in Season 21, and series regular dancers Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy are now married as well.
Dancing with the Stars premieres Sept. 18 on ABC.

Saturday, September 2, 2017

An Ode To The Underrated Sex Appeal Of 98 Degrees

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Is it getting hot in here, or is it just us?

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“Welcome to 98 Degrees,” a smooth Champagne-tinged male voice emerges from amid a swelling of sensual strings, acoustic guitar, and chimes. The voice then invites us to “feel the heat” and “the passion,” before reaffirming that this is, indeed, 98 Degrees, the L.A.-by-way-of-Ohio foursome we’re listening to. “Are you ready?” he asks. “Are you ready, baby?” Boy, I don’t even know. But I will get there.
98 Degrees released their eponymous debut album 20 years ago today. Throughout its 13 tracks are songs dripping in sex appeal, and evocative of dim lights, desire, and tender loving care. Though many rank them among the best pop boy bands of the ’90s, 98 Degrees were more R&B than pop. Brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons, and Justin Jeffre boasted soulful vocals and harmonies akin to Boyz II Men. Unlike their pop brethren who alluded to cheeky hookups and innocent love, 98 Degrees, with their beefcake looks, were interested in mature themes. These boys didn’t fuck, they made love.
While other boy groups of the era comprised members who clearly fit a variety of archetypes—the shy boy, the sporty boy, the daddy boy (hi, Backstreet Boys’ Kevin), the playboy, and the good guy—all four members of 98 Degrees looked pretty much the same (after all, two were actual brothers). They were built like Abercrombie & Fitch models with a Midwestern charm that, when paired with the intimacy of their first album, beguiles a listener. These were the boys you could bring home to mom, but who’d also know their way around the bedroom and the body. (Listen to “I Wanna Love You” for proof.)
In that way, they were a little dangerous. They followed up 98 Degrees with 98 Degrees And Rising, a solid soul-pop sophomore album, but there was one glaring thing missing: sex. 98 Degrees toned down their carnal desires in songs like “I Do (Cherish You)” and “Because Of You.” Eventually, as Timbaland’s reign started to infiltrate the pop world, the band ditched their baby making vibes for Top 40-friendly songs reminiscent of everything else their peers were producing in 2000. The tracks became denser and layered with electronics, designed to get the listener dancing instead of engaging in some light petting. The mojo, you could say, was depleted.
98 Degrees didn’t totally forego the bedroom anthems, though. As it was with every major pop album at the time, there were smooth ballads on their following albums that harkened back to their debut. “Always You And I” proved itself with its vulnerable confession of commitment; “Still” offered up a delicious mix of courtship and promise with a harp melody to boot. 98 Degrees were the kings of pop ballads, which made their slow jams the highlight of each album.
Revisiting their debut, however, is a genuine trip into what could have been. All four members shined with rhythm, blues, and soul. They made tenderness sexy and sexiness tender. The material today can’t touch the passion of “Heaven’s Missing An Angel.” Those wails at the end? Hello, loins. The candlelit vibes of “I Wasn’t Over You” are enough to make you call up your ex for some good ex-sex. Two decades in and 98 Degrees still got our temperatures rising. Burning up has never felt so good.

98 Degrees Look Back on Style Regrets, 'Best Memories' of Their Career as Debut Album Turns 20

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by Sophie Schillaci
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Nick Lachey has a message for his younger self.
"I would have told myself 20 years ago, 'Change your hairstyle,'" the singer, now 43, tells ET. "Don't go with the 'butt cut.'"
Saturday, July 29 marks the 20th anniversary of 98 Degrees' debut, self-titled album and the release of their first single, "Invisible Man." In honor of the milestone, ET asked the band about their memories from that day and the wisdom they've gained since.
"It seems like yesterday, really," Jeff Timmons, 44, says. "In that particular time, I think we were driving ourselves around in a Winnebago that was wrapped with our pictures on it and we were out there hustling and doing grass roots promotion ... But the excitement of the whole thing, this germinated from a dream that we had together and all of a sudden we're out there, the album's in stores and we're actually going into stores ourselves and buying our own records -- all that kind of fun stuff back in the day."
"He's still paying off that credit card," Justin Jeffre, 44, quips.
"We would literally pull into a town, like, driving ourselves in a motorhome, and call a radio station and request our own song as many times as we possibly could," Nick jokes. "In those days, you're just doing anything and everything you can to get yourselves recognized."
The work paid off -- but looking back now, Drew Lachey, 40, wishes they had also played a little harder back in the day.
"Don't take it so seriously," he offers the band's younger selves. "Enjoy it more, have more fun with it."
"It's funny because we tell these stories about 20 years ago and as I'm sitting here talking about it, those were some of the best memories of the whole ride for me," Nick adds. "Those early days where it's just kinda us against the world and, you know, we're driving ourselves and pulling into a town and then doing our own show. To Drew's point, I don't know that we necessarily appreciated it as much in the moment 'cause we were so tired and so nervous about what was gonna happen."
But mostly, it all comes back to those epic '90s fashion moments.
"Fire all these stylists and get someone else," Justin jokes.
"Maybe [wear] some smaller pants," Jeff adds. "We had these gigantic pants."

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LFO still likes girls who wear Abercrombie (and hopes you do)

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Brad Fischetti and Devin Lima decided to relaunch LFO after a brief performance last summer with 98 Degrees.

This was supposed to be over a long time ago. Years. Decades, even.
In the late 1990s, the three guys who made up the boy band LFO lodged themselves in pop-culture history with the song “Summer Girls.” The radio and MTV smash was wrapped in sugary raps and bouncy vocals and references so random that you couldn’t help but remember them: Chinese food (it “makes me sick”), “Billy” Shakespeare (he “wrote a whole bunch of sonnets”) and, most notably, “I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch.”
But that ride stopped in 2002, when Rich Cronin, Brad Fischetti and Devin Lima took a break that lasted most of the next 15 years. LFO did a brief reunion tour in 2009, but at the time, Cronin was ailing in his battle against leukemia, and one year later, at 36, he died.
“When Rich died, I thought that was it,” said Shawn VanPatten, a Kiss 98.5 deejay known as “Shy Guy Shawn” and a longtime friend of LFO. “That closed the chapter.”
But it didn’t. LFO is back, with a new single called “Perfect 10” and two-week tour across the eastern United States. Fischetti and Lima and their six-piece band visit Buffalo on July 30 for a show at Studio @ Waiting Room.
Let's be real: If you’ve read this far, there’s a decent chance you were a '90s child boy-band fan, and therefore have “Summer Girls” ear-worming through your head right now. If that’s you, you’re probably also trying to remember some of LFO’s other popular songs. (We can help: “Girl on TV,” “West Side Story,” “Can’t Have You.”)
Or, if you’re still reading, you probably have a sense of curiosity that ranges from skeptical to judgmental:
Why are they doing this?
Will people care?
What about Rich’s parts?
Can there be LFO without Rich?  (Cronin was the group’s founder and frosty-haired frontman.)
WHY?
It’s OK. You are not alone in wondering these things.
“It keeps me up at night,” Fischetti said in a phone interview from Orlando, where he and Lima live with their families. “Are we still viable? That’s the big question. Those answers will come over the next few weeks.”
The question was opened last summer, when Fischetti was texting with Jeff Timmons, the founder of the boy band 98 Degrees. During their own reunion concert tour last year, 98 Degrees played a seven-minute medley of late-‘90s hits, from ‘N Sync’s “Bye Bye Bye” to Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” to the LFO hit “Summer Girls.” Timmons told Fischetti about the medley, which was billed as a tribute to MTV’s famous ‘90s countdown show, “Total Request Live.”
“We were like, ‘Aw, cool, if you ever want us to come out and do a cameo, let us know,’” Fischetti said. “Kind of half-joking.”
“Pick a show,” Timmons responded.
It was one of those moments where a what-if scenario became real. Suddenly, Fischetti, who is 41, and Lima, 40, were faced with the possibility of actually getting onstage in front of an actual crowd one more time.
In one sense, this shouldn’t be a big deal. Back in LFO’s heyday, when the group was big in the U.S. and Europe, playing for crowds of screaming teens was a regular thing. But that was a different time; it felt like a different life.
“Back then, I didn’t really have any conviction,” Fischetti said. “I was just trying to go out there, play some shows, meet some people, make some money and be on TV.”
Today, Fischetti and Lima have fuller, well-rounded lives. Fischetti has five kids, owns a small record label, and works as the musical director at a church.
Lima has, in his words (because he describes it better than anyone else could), “a bunch of kids, a great girl... We play sports, man: soccer and basketball is heavy in this house, kung fu, boxing ... A lot of talk-smacking — the art of it makes it kosher. We’re tight. We’ve got the good food in life, we’re about the kale and the garlic and all of that.
“Other than that, music. Straight music.”
So if you’ve got things like church and kale and kids – if you’ve got convictions and purpose and have turn smack-talk into acceptable household patter – do you really want to re-live your boy band past?
Probably not, but … it’s music. Which neither of them ever let go.
Fischetti and Lima said yes to Timmons, and joined 98 Degrees for a show last August at Brooklyn’s Coney Island — the same spot where they shot “Summer Girls” some two decades earlier.