The sweet urban soul quartet 98° was formed in Los Angeles by four former Ohio residents: brothers Nick and Drew Lachey plus Jeff Timmons and Justin Jeffre. Timmons was trying to make it in the music industry, so he called Jeffre and Nick Lachey -- both former classmates at the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Artists -- and formed 98°; Drew Lachey soon moved to the West Coast as well.

The quartet were working a variety of odd jobs to finance their talent-show appearances, but after attracting attention by trying to crash the backstage area of a Boyz II Men show, 98° were offered a chance to sing on a local radio station. From that appearance the group met Paris D'Jon, the co-manager of Montell Jordan. He arranged demos for them, and helped the group sign to Motown. The quartet's debut single "Invisible Man" hit number 12 on the singles charts and went gold during 1997, leading to the release of their self-titled debut album in July of that year. 98° and Rising followed in late 1998.