June 30 [16:00 EDT] -- The Philadelphia R&B chart-topping quintet Az Yet has just become a quartet with the departure of Marc Nelson.

Nelson will now concentrate on songwriting and producing, and in the past, he has worked in this behind-the-scenes capacity with Toni Braxton and Aaron Neville.

During Nelson's time with Dion Allen, Darryl Anthony, Shawn Rivera, and Kenny Terry, the group attained gold sales status with its self-titled debut album.

Az Yet will press on, and will follow up their current hit single with "That's All I Want." The group's manager says that for now Az Yet will tour as a quartet, but eventually hopes to replace Nelson.

Nelson was brought into the group in early 1996, five year's after its formation. Nelson is also a former member of another Philadelphia-based group, Boyz II Men, which he left prior to the group¹s 1991 debut album.

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KURT: Some pretty curious behavior has also been cropping up on the hip-hop scene recently, where young R&B smoothies have been joining forces with aging popsters of the ultra-white persuasion in the search for new mass market hits. Most recently, the vocal group "Az Yet" defrosted balladeer Peter Cetera for a top 10 reprise of his old Chicago hit, "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" -- and they're not the only ones.

SHAWN "PUNCHY" RIVERA, Az Yet: It was an idea that came from thinking about a good song that was long overdue and Az Yet is about bringing together different styles of music. So, us not wanting to be a typical R&B group, we covered a song that is known by a lot of people that don't just listen to R&B.

MTV: The marriage of light rock and R&B, and even rap, has gone beyond just doing a simple cover. The original singers of these hits are being resurrected to consummate the union. Rapper B-Legit has dusted off the old Hall and Oates classic "Sara Smile" and singer Darryl Hall for his interpretation. In Az Yet's case, one-time Chicago vocalist Peter Cetera added his vocals to a re-mixed version of "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" at the request of the man who co-wrote and produced the song back in 1982.

MARC "MARBLES" NELSON, Az Yet: David Foster approached us. He said, "Man, I love that. What do you guys think about me re-mixing it?" And we thought about it for like a millisecond before we screamed "Yes!"

KURT: Suggested follow-up from the Chicago catalogue, "Does anybody really know what time it is?"

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May 6 [14:00 EST] -- This week, the R&B quintet Az Yet makes a return visit to the "Billboard" Top Ten Singles Chart with a remake of Chicago's "Hard To Say I'm Sorry."

Since its beginning in 1989, the Philadelphia group landed in the top ten once before with the million selling single "Last Night."

Now, the group's return to chart success sees the group covering some unlikely ground in taking on the 1982 Chicago hit, and paring with Chicago singer Peter Cetera for the remake. So when MTV News spoke with Az Yet recently, the first question that popped up was, "Why Chicago?"

"The idea just came from thinking of a song that was long overdue," Shawn Rivera told MTV News.

Trivia buffs may recall that "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" was originally on the movie soundtrack for "Summer Lovers," which starred Daryl Hannah and Peter Gallagher.

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