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Who Is Wanya Morris Of ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Season 22?

By Stacy Carey
Published on: 09:47 PST, Mar 16, 2016

Wanya Morris is one of the Season 22 Dancing With the Stars cast members and he will be partnered with pro Lindsay Arnold. Wanya’s participation this spring on DWTS was the last teaser leaked, and fans are quite excited to see Morris hit the dance floor. What do show fans need to know about this contestant?

This Dancing With the Stars contestant is known by most as one of the singers in the a Capella group Boyz II Men. Wanya Morris has been a member of the ensemble since it began in 1988, and he sings alongside Shawn Stockman and Nathan Morris. In the early days of the group, it was a quartet that included Michael McCary, but he left the ensemble in 2003 due to health issues.

As Biography notes, Morris attended the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts and he grew up in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area. Wanya had a challenging upbringing, growing up as one of four kids in a rough part of town. This Dancing With the Stars contestant relied on drawing and singing to get through those early years.

When Wanya was at his performing arts high school, an ensemble called Unique Attraction formed and Morris was added to the crew. The Dancing With the Stars celebrity sang in the school choir and after some classmates graduated, Wanya, Nathan Morris, Marc Nelson, Michael McCary, and Shawn Stockman united and stuck together. The group was said to have been inspired by New Edition and after singing together at school, they eventually got a break after sneaking backstage at a concert.

At a concert backstage, the guys connected with the singers who split off from New Edition to form Bell Biv DeVoe and after singing a tune for them, they scored a recording deal. Nelson didn’t stick with the Boyz II Men crew at that point, but the remaining four recorded their first album titled Cooleyhighharmoney with Motown Records, releasing it in 1991. The quartet went on to have numerous hits and multiple albums, and McCary ended up leaving Boyz II Men due to scoliosis in 2003. The remaining three guys continue to work together, even appearing on Fox’s Grease: Live recently alongside former Dancing With the Stars judge and pro, Julianne Hough.

As for Wanya’s personal life, he dated singer Brandy quite a few years back, a relationship that was a bit controversial at the time due to her young age. They denied the relationship much of the time back then, and the duo split in 1997 when he reportedly dumped her for someone else. As the Urban Daily details, Brandy did speak out about the relationship just a few years ago and noted that he was her first love and the secrecy of the relationship caused it to fail.

Morris married Traci “Toi” Nash in 2002 and they live in New Jersey with their children. As PureDWTS details, Boyz II Men currently has a residency at the Mirage in Las Vegas, and there are many performance dates ahead that will surely mean a hectic rehearsal schedule for the new Dancing With the Stars contestant. Wanya will be dancing with Lindsay Arnold, who wowed DWTS viewers last season during her partnership with Alek Skarlatos.

Season 22 of Dancing With the Stars will be quite the competitive one, with a cast that includes the likes of Ginger Zee, Jodie Sweetin, Antonio Brown, and Von Miller. Can Wanya Morris and Lindsay Arnold charm DWTS fans enough to stick around and scoop up the mirror-ball trophy? Boyz II Men fans certainly think that may be the case and cannot wait to see Wanya and Lindsay hit the dance floor this spring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IJKIY5zz7A

[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]

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