The Real Reason Boyz II Men Formed a Group — Hint: For Their Female Classmates Attention (Exclusive)

"The group itself existed because we loved the way we sound together, but also we really sang because we wanted to get girls," Wanya Morris jokingly tells PEOPLE

Boyz will be boys. 

Ever since Boyz II Men started performing the late 1980s, one thing has been a constant presence at the their shows: roses. During every single show, each member of the band hands out 24 long-stemmed roses to adoring, screaming fans. This, according to Wanya Morris, has been happening since day one… even before they were called Boyz II Men. 

“That moment actually started in high school. This is the first time that we actually performed as a group for our school. We weren't even called Boys II Men at the time. We were just literally a group. We were called Unique Attractions and we were singing "Can You Stand the Rain" by New Edition,” Morris recalls to PEOPLE. “It was a part of the show at the end where we actually sing the hook maybe like eight times, and during that time we would grab roses and pass it out to the students.”

Prior to that, the girls on the receiving end of the flowers had hardly noticed the aspiring boy band.

“They probably didn't even know our names,” Morris says of the female classmates at Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. “While we were passing out the roses, those same girls were screaming and reaching for us and tears coming out their eyes like we were already established, and that became a moment that we felt like has to continue — and it has for 32 years."

Related: Boyz II Men's Shawn Stockman Says It's 'Biggest Compliment' to Be Told Fans Were Conceived to Group's Songs (Exclusive)

The rose distribution wasn’t done for fun, but rather to be romantic. 

"The group itself really existed because we loved the way we sound together, but also we really sang together because we wanted to get girls,” Morris jokingly acknowledges. "To give them roses was a whole other thing."

In August, Boyz II Men will again be bequeathing roses to fans during a four-show run at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Thankfully the flowers are always de-stemmed, but the group does feel cut at concerts when they talk about the one song that slipped through their grip — "Amazed" by country group Lonestar, which spent two months at No. 1 in 1999.

Boyz II Men was actually offered the song before Lonestar, but they passed. 

"It was just one of those things where it was almost like we felt like we knew it all, and at the time, the circumstance that Boys II Men was going through with labels and record companies, we really didn't trust many people," said Morris who begrudgingly admits Boyz’s version of “Amazed” would have been "an amazing record."

"We wish we did do the song because we probably would've had more Grammys than we have."

Related: Boyz II Men's Wanya Morris Recalls the 'Best Advice' Group Ever Got - and It Came from Michael Jackson (Exclusive)

Las Vegas concert dates are as follows: Aug. 23, 24, 30 and 31, 2024. All dates will feature Robin Thicke. Tickets are on sale now at www.ticketmaster.com, cosmopolitanlasvegas.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.