NEW YORK -- For Donnie Wahlberg it's not a matter of why now, rather "why not?"
The recording artist-turned-actor was referring to the news of a major tour with his New Kids on the Block, who'll be joined this summer on "The Package Tour" by 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men.
"The state of the boy band union is strong," Wahlberg joked Tuesday. "Even though technically we're not really boy bands, but we're OK with that, so we'll accept it."
The three bands sold millions of records in the 1980s and '90s and helped usher in a wave of vocal groups that continues today.
The Boston-based NKOTB formed in 1984 and amassed ten Top 20 hits. They broke up in 1994 but got back together after a 14-year hiatus. Wahlberg said he feels the break coincided with the maturation of their fan base.
"They needed time to have families and husbands and children and get jobs and live their life," Wahlberg said.
But now he sees his band's music as a complement to the fans' adult lives.
"We created an outlet for them to feel good about themselves and tap into that youthfulness that had been put to bed for a long time ... you may be 40, but the euphoria of it makes you feel 14 all over again," Wahlberg said.
The band also announced a new single, "Remix (I Like The)," which will be released Jan. 28, and a new album, "10," which is out April 2.
That music will be a bit more mature than some of the band's previous material, member Joey McIntyre said.
"It is about the decisions that a grown man makes and goes through, as opposed to singing songs like 'Popsicle,"' he said.
Nathan Morris, one of the members of Boyz II Men, known since the early 1990s for such hits as "I'll Make Love to You" and "End of the Road," said the tour is going to be all about performing.
"If the boy band thing is attached, it's wonderful, but for all of us in here, we're ready to get out there and sing and perform," he said. "That's just what we do."
Though 98 Degrees is the youngest group on the bill, it has been apart the longest, 12 years.
"So we're excited to get back together and doing what we do," member Nick Lachey said. "We feel reinvigorated by our bond and by our group, so we're very excited by that."
Wahlberg, who stars as Detective Danny Reagan on the CBS television series "Blue Bloods," said the boy bands' tour, kicking off May 31 in Uncasville, Conn., and continuing into July with more than 30 dates, is going to be "great."
"You have three acts that have lots of records, lots of fans," he said. "Fans that are anxious to sing those records and anxious to sing other bands' records, too."
It's not listed in any tourist guide, but NKOTB fans flock to the house where the Knight brothers grew up By Johnny Diaz Globe Staff / November 15, 2008 When Kari Lusso and her trio of girlfriends flew from Seattle to Boston for the New Kids on the Block concert, they had to make a quick detour. On a rainy Saturday night, the friends drove their rental car to 10 Melville Ave. As they stood in front of the Victorian house, they shrieked and giggled like little girls. The commotion? They were at the former home of the band's brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight. When they rang the bell, they got a quick tour. "It was going from 31 to 13," Lusso said. "We took pictures of their stove. We took pictures of their floor. We took pictures of the banister, the living room, and their bedrooms. What a dream come true to see such an...
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