98 Degrees ready to bring the holiday spirit to Green Valley Ranch

The ’90s-era pop group — OK, call them a boy band — 98 Degrees has a local stop coming up on its Christmas tour, Saturday at Green Valley Resort. But Jeff Timmons, one-fourth of the vocal group known for ballad hits “I Do (Cherish You)” and “The Hardest Thing” with Justin Jeffre and brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, has lived in Las Vegas for almost seven years.

Timmons came to town for a guest-hosting gig with Chippendales and the rest is history. “I fell in love with this place,” he said. “I came kind of reluctantly to (do Chippendales) and didn’t know what was going to happen, but ended up having the time of my life. That was the catalyst for a lot of good things.”

His Lasvegas gig created a bit of buzz that helped bring the group back together after a long break, and the reunion spawned “Let It Snow,” 98 Degrees’ second album of Christmas music released last year. This year’s holiday tour is a continuation of a successful Christmastime 2017 run in support of the record. Here’s the rest of the conversation:

The last time I saw you, you were doing several local shows with “Men of the Strip,” the male revue you created after Chippendales.

We had some success with that and took it on the road. We were never really trying to get a residency in Vegas, but it was doing so well we started touring it. With those kind of troupes, it’s hard to keep your cast together. Putting together that show kind of has to consume everything you’re doing. I had a great run with it, but our group got back together and I started producing some TV and working on other projects.

You and the guys in 98 Degrees all have different, busy lives. When you get back together to record or perform, do you have to shake the rust off a bit or is it easy and natural?

It’s a lot different than it used to be. Originally, we put ourselves together and got signed very quickly, and we were thrown into the fire. We had to develop as a group while we doing national and international tours. Looking back, we

CHARLES SYKES / INVISION / AP Jeff Timmons of 98 Degrees credits a gig as a guest host with Chippendales as the catalyst for moving to Las Vegas and helping to bring the ’90s boy band back together.