Another little something that’s different from when they first started out: Nick, Drew and Jeff now have 10 children among them, plus Justin has nephews who are old enough to have witnessed a few 98 Degrees concerts in their day.
“Do they sneak into the corner and listen to 98 Degrees on their phone?” Drew said with a smile of his two kids with wife Lea Lachey. “No, I don’t think so. But they appreciate what we accomplished. At least my kids are getting to the age now where they understand it. Jeff’s kids are obviously that age as well. Nick’s are probably still—”
“My oldest definitely understands, like, ‘OK, people know who my parents are and know who my dad is,'” Nick said of 8-year-old son Camden, the eldest of his three children with Vanessa Lachey. “And I always tell him, I say, ‘I’m just dad. Don’t think of what I do.’ But I do think at some age they start to, and he’s starting to get to that point where he’s putting it all together.”
Drew said, “Some people have parents that are doctors, some that are custodians, some that are teachers. Every person has a job and a story and ours is just a little different.”
And jumpstarting 98 Degrees in 2012 also meant a lot to Nick because his kids could then see for their own eyes what Dad did for a living. “Otherwise, they just have to take my word for it,” he joked. “And now they can actually come to a concert and see you do what you love to do. And hopefully it inspires them on some level.”
Or, as father of five Jeff might put it to his brood, “I swear we were cool at one time!”
Catch 98 Degrees’ new single “Where Do You Wanna Go” and the premiere of the song’s music video on Friday, July 9.
