SOURCE
Dan Kane
CantonRep.com entertainment editor
Canton native will be guest at Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Aug. 1
Canton native Jeff Timmons, who rose to international pop stardom with the vocal foursome 98 Degrees, is heading home for a fashion show. Timmons, 41, will be special guest at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival Fashion Show Luncheon on Aug. 1 at Canton Memorial Civic Center. Tickets, $58 and $61, may be purchased by calling 330-458-2048.
Here, Timmons, 41, an upbeat and friendly guy who attended Perry High School, graduated from Washington High School, and later played football at Malone University, answers our five-question quiz, via telephone from his home in Summerlin, Nevada, a Las Vegas suburb.
1. A fashion show, huh? Are you modeling?
A. “I’m performing intermittently throughout the fashion show, three or four songs. I was speaking with the producers and they were telling me they’ve revamped the event to make it chic and hip. I’m going to try to come in a little early. I hope to bring my whole clan, my wife Amanda and five kids. I have two stepkids, two from my previous marriage and we have one together. It’s like the Brady Bunch.”
2. How was the 98 Degrees tour last year with New Kids On the Block and Boyz II Men?
A. “It was our best tour ever, 49 dates. 98 Degrees hadn’t been around for 13 years. We never really ended things, we just went in different directions after 9/11. When we found out New Kids had had recent success touring, it piqued our curiosity. Then when Boyz II Men signed on, (the tour) was a no-brainer. They were our idols starting out. Playing to 20,000 people a night was a great way to come back. It was a new and improved version of 98 Degrees. We’re better singers and better overall entertainers, and it was a lot more entertaining for our fans. Plus, it was a luxury for us to get back together now. When we were starting out, there was a lot more pressure, always somebody biting at your heels.”
3. You were a star of the Chippendales show in Las Vegas and now you’ve launched your own male-dancer revue, Men of the Strip. Was this an unexpected turn in your career?
A. “For starters, I don’t strip, I never did. When I hosted the Chippendales show, I was infusing a male revue with a pop singer who has some nostalgic music. It was a win-win situation, we were sold out the entire time, and I started getting mainstream media interest. So I decided to create a better version that was less about the stripping and more about the dancing. I got with Glenn Packard, a world-renowned choreographer who’s worked with Pink, Usher and Ricky Martin, and I brought him in to produce. We went all around the country to find eight guys who are amazing-looking but could also really sing and dance and have great personalities. E! debuted a two-hour, behind-the-scenes Men of the Strip movie on June 1 that got huge ratings, so now we’re waiting to see if they’re going to pick it up as a series.”
4. You had some success with your first solo album (“Whisper That Way,” released in 2004.) Will there be a second?
A. “Yes, it’s prime-time for me and we’re working on an album right now. It’s very contemporary, up to date and sounds like current top-40 stuff. For years, I couldn’t get anywhere and now the labels are coming around and I’m getting some offers. I’ll probably be releasing a single in the next month and a half.”
5. Do you miss your hometown?
A. “I think about Canton all the time. I live outside Las Vegas and it’s a lot different here. I used to live in California and I didn’t like it. Kids don’t have the same chances, and the people in general aren’t the same as in the Midwest. A lot of friends are still there and some family. I think there will be a time when I get a little older and things slow down that I’ll end up there.”
