Boy band singer runs for mayor

“CINCINNATI - Justin Jeffre, a former member of 98 Degrees, wants to be Cincinnati's next mayor, saying his love for his hometown and desire to make it better motivated his decision to run.”

At last, a viable career for former boy band singers: politics.

Boy bands have been around for a long time. In researching this piece, I discovered that some groups who were widely viewed as boy bands in their early days included the Beatles, The Beach Boys, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and the Temptations.

Now, obviously, there is some genuine artistic and creative talent in that list of names. I don’t know anyone who would call the Temptations a boy band today. And who knows? Maybe the future will place ‘N Sync or Backstreet Boys on the same pedestal as the aforementioned groups (although I have serious doubts about that).

Anyhow, back to the subject at hand. The aforementioned Jeffre stated “I am serious about this, and I intend to win.”

Cincinnati has long been associated with popular music. After all, the never-shark-jumped series was WKRP in Cincinnati. The infamous Who concert deaths took place there as well in 1979. So a former (I guess he was one at one time?) musician running for mayor doesn’t seem too outlandish.

So why not run for mayor? Hey, Clint Eastwood did a serviceable job of running Carmel, California in the 80’s. His qualifications? A mean sneer and a taste for little cigars.

Let’s not overlook the fact that the current governor of California did a little acting. Well, maybe describing that amount as a little is a bit generous . . .

And singerwise, the well-loved Sonny Bono received kudos as mayor of Palm Springs before his untimely death.

So maybe Jeffre has a shot. After all, his singing talent is certainly within shouting distance of Sonny Bono.