98 Degrees singer joining Chippendales male revue as host and musical guest

A '90s boy bander joins the Chippendales! Is that a story or what?

Jeff Timmons sure hopes so. Even if most media outlets eventually read the fine print and learn the 98 Degrees singer won't be stripping down to a G-string.

"People can judge me on it. They might think it's cheesy," the 38-year-old pre-emptively volunteers. That's what Timmons thought as well, until he came to check out the Rio's male revue for himself. "I thought it was going to be like a stripper show. I thought it was going to be something that is really corny. And it isn't."

His wife was even the one who convinced him to do it.

But if others want to trade on misconceptions ever so briefly, why hurry to set them straight?

"Ultimately, at the end of the day, I'm going to get more looks in the magazines now and more looks at (my) website," he says. "Ultimately, I'm going to have more people exposed to the music than I would have had I not done it."

So how much does he grin and bare, anyway?

"At one point, they're going to put me in the (signature Chippendales) cuffs and collars as a joke. I've been bustin' my butt to get in shape for that little part at the end," the energetically friendly entertainer said last week, preparing for a role officially designated as host and musical guest, each weekend through June 5.

For Chippendales, Timmons brings new attention to a revue that's easy to overlook after six years in its custom theater, where its six-pack abs compete with three other male revues for the bachelorette-party dollar.

The media coverage generated by February's one-shot appearance by "Jersey Shore" lunk Ronnie (Ortiz-Magro) led Chippendales publicist Michael Caprio to reach out to Timmons, whom he used to manage.

Timmons' longer commitment means the revue is being refashioned for him, cutting some group numbers to free up more singing time.

Rotating boy-band alumni might become permanent policy for Chippendales producers, who see it as a natural fit. When the show first went into the Rio, it was backed by (the now-disgraced and imprisoned) boy-band impresario Lou Pearlman, who saw it as a natural progression for the grown-up girls who used to scream at 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys.

"I'm pretty sure they'll have the right balance. (The producers) know their crowd, and they've done this for a while," Timmons says. Remember, this man is no stranger to singing over female shrieks.

Boy-band survivors who prosper as adults seem to be the ones with a sense of humor: Think Timberlake. Timmons endured his moments of humiliation in both reality TV ("Mission: Man Band") and real life (a 2006 no-contest plea to reckless driving).

But it's easy to take him at face value when he says, "I'm a pretty easy-going guy. I never take myself too seriously."

98 Degrees was one of the few '90s vocal groups to form on its own, rather than being assembled by a record label or producer. The quartet's moment basically came and went with the 1998 album "98 Degrees and Rising," but its half-life was extended when reality TV chronicled singer Nick Lachey's marriage to Jessica Simpson.

Timmons maintains that even in the day, "I never really took it all that seriously. The way I was raised, my parents would never let me buy into the hype that was surrounding the group."

One day, "We're going from mall to mall, trying to pass out fliers and get attention for our music. And a week later, we've got a video on (MTV's "Total Request Live") that's No. 1, and the next day, we can't get out of our tour bus because we're surrounded. It's clear to me that it's not real.

"You've got to keep that perspective the whole time," he advises. "Enjoy the ride, appreciate the opportunity and do the best you can with it. Music is trendy. ... As it's going on, you see people who were popular a year or two before we were on their way out, and you know ultimately that it's cyclical. It's only a matter of time before your style of music goes out.

"You've got to just take it for what it's worth. ... Learn as much as you can. Hopefully you'll have another opportunity some day to do it again."

Timmons keeps up with technology and new media. Last year he gave away an album called "Emotional High" as a free download in exchange for email addresses. He collected 1.2 million.

With these Chippendales shows, "I can show people a bar code at the meet-and-greet, and they can download the music right into their phone."

And he plans to keep right on recording on mobile studio equipment right through the run. "People say the record business is over: 'It's so hard, It's so hard.' It sure is, but it's also more open than it's ever been. And there are more opportunities for independent artists to do things on their own."

Even if it involves taking one's shirt off in the process.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.