Boyz II Men formed in 1988 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a quintet. When Marc Nelson left to pursue a solo career, the group carried as a quartet with Nathan Morris, Michael McCary, Shawn Stockman, and Wanyá Morris (no relation to Nathan). All four members proved to be distinctive lead singers in addition to their smooth trademark harmonies. The group's clean-cut retro nouveau image, synchronized dance routines, and polished stage act were key to their rapid rise to stardom. Between 1992 and 1997, Boyz II Men recorded five Number One Pop hits and twelve Top Ten R&B singles, sold over 60 million records worldwide, and earned a host of awards including four Grammy Awards.

In 1991, Boyz II Men signed to Motown Records and released their debut album, Cooleyhighharmony, with Michael Bivins of Bell Biv Devoe as executive producer. Cooleyhighharmony is considered a classic of Nineties new jack swing or—to use Boyz II Men's own phrase—hip-hop doo-wop. The album spun off three major crossover hits: Motownphilly, It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday, and Uhh Ahh. Cooleyhighharmony made the Top Five and hung on the Billboard Top 200 for an astounding 133 weeks. It sold over nine million copies in the US alone and earned Boyz II Men their first Grammy Award, for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

In 1992, during a break in their extensive tour schedule, Boyz II Men returned to the studio with writer/producer Kenneth Babyface Edmonds to record a new song, End of the Road, for the soundtrack of the Eddie Murphy movie Boomerang. Released as a single, End of the Road became Boyz II Men's all-time biggest hit. It held the Number One spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for thirteen weeks, breaking the previous eleven-week record set by Elvis Presley's Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog in 1956, and also topped the Billboard R&B Singles chart for four weeks. Winner of the 1992 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, End of the Road was added to subsequent pressings of Cooleyhighharmony.

Boyz II Men's second album, simply titled II, appeared in 1994 and featured the songwriting and production of Babyface and the team of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. The album topped the Billboard chart for five weeks, won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, and sold over twelve million copies thanks to its two Number One Pop singles, I'll Make Love to You (also a long-running R&B Number One) and On Bended Knee, both certified platinum. A third single, Water Runs Dry, went to No. 2 Pop and was certified gold.

I'll Make Love to You broke Boyz II Men's own chart record set by End of the Road when it captured the Number One spot for an astonishing fourteen weeks. I'll Make Love to You earned the group its fourth Grammy Award, for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. When On Bended Knee replaced it at the top of the Hot 100, Boyz II Men became only the third act in chart history—after Elvis and the Beatle—to replace themselves at Number One.

In 1995, the group collaborated with Mariah Carey on One Sweet Day, a track from her best-selling album Daydream. It became another multi-million-selling single, topping the Hot 100 for sixteen weeks and earning both artists the 1996 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

By now, the sound of Boyz II Men had become as influential as that of their Sixties predecessors like the Temptations and the Miracles. Their impact on pop music was obvious in the music of later competing groups such as BLACKStreet, All 4 One, and Jodeci, but none of these achieved the degree of crossover success enjoyed by Boyz II Men.

Following the release of a remix collection, Boyz II Men's next album of new material was Evolution, released in 1997. It sold over three million copies in the US and included the No. 1 Pop/No. 2 R&B hit 4 Seasons of Loneliness. Later that same year, the group scored its fifth R&B Number One with A Song for Mama from the soundtrack of the Babyface-produced movie Soul Food. Boyz II Men made the Pop Top 40 once again with I'll Get There, a gold-certified single from the soundtrack of the Dreamworks animated feature The Prince of Egypt.

Following the merger of Motown and Universal, in 2000 Boyz II Men released Nathan Michael Shawn Wanyá—a new collection of songs largely written and produced by the four group members. The disc was certified gold in the US and sold over one million worldwide but did not produce another Top Ten single. 

In the years 2001-2007, Boyz II Men released a best-of set through Universal (Legacy: The Greatest Hits Collection, 2001) and signed with Arista Records, where they reunited with Babyface for Full Circle (2002) and a new single and video, The Color of Love. Like its predecessor Nathan Michael Shawn Wanyá, the album sold just over 500,000 copies in the US and over one million copies worldwide. Meanwhile, Michael McCary was increasingly debilitated by the spinal condition called scoliosis, which caused him chronic pain and limited his onstage mobility. In January 2003, he left Boyz II Men and retired from performing. Boyz II Men switched to independent distribution for the all-covers collection Throwback, Vol. 1 and the 2006 album The Remedy. The group also activated a heavily trafficked website, BoyzIIMen.com, and undertook major tours of North America and the Far East.