98 Degrees test heat for reunion with summer show

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - 98 Degrees, the 1990s American boy band helmed by brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, said on Wednesday they will reunite for one performance this summer, adding fuel to speculation about a full reunion.

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The band, comprising Jeff Timmons, Justin Jeffre and the Lacheys, will perform together at the Summer Mixtape Festival in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on August 18.

"We miss the rush of being on stage together and performing together. Certainly the fans have been clamoring for it, so it just felt right," Nick Lachey, 38, told Ryan Seacrest on his Los Angeles-based radio show, KIIS FM.

98 Degrees released their debut album in 1997, but it wasn't until their second, "98 Degrees and Rising," that the band achieved mainstream success with singles such as "Because Of You" and "The Hardest Thing."

Fans have been speculating about a 98 Degrees reunion for several years, and Wednesday's announcement led to talk of the band coming together for a new record.

Asked whether there might be a full tour, Drew Lachey told Seacrest the timing would have to be right and fit around the band's family commitments.

"We are four grown men now," Drew Lachey said on Wednesday. "Most of us have families or kids on the way, so it really is about making sure that everybody can take care of their own responsibilities at home, and with their family, and with their private lives."

98 Degrees gained popularity in the late 1990s alongside fellow boy bands Backstreet Boys, Hanson and 'N Sync.

They went on hiatus in 2002 to pursue solo projects, which saw Drew Lachey winning television's "Dancing With The Stars" that year.

Nick Lachey married singer Jessica Simpson in 2002 and starred in the MTV reality show "Newlyweds," which propelled the couple's star status in Hollywood until their divorce in 2005.

News of the 98 Degrees summer concert follows the Backstreet Boys and New Kids On The Block joining forces in 2011 for a worldwide tour and compilation album.

A new generation of boy bands have also been gaining steam in the mainstream music charts, led by British bands One Direction and The Wanted, who have taken the U.S. by storm this year.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Gunna Dickson)