Veteran American R&B quartet All 4 One is back in Korea for the sixth time to take part in a televised charity concert for KBS set to air live Saturday night.

All proceeds and donations from the concert will go to impoverished children around the world, which the band says inspired them to pass on an appearance fee to show support for its cause.

“This concert is special to us because there’s a cause behind it,” said the band’s baritone, Delious Kennedy, who appeared alongside fellow members Tony Barowiak and Jamie Jones during a meet and greet with local press Friday.

“If we had something to say to impoverished children around the world then I think it would be a message of hope. If you can stay with it you can get out of it and if having us here singing can help then we’re glad we’re here.”

The band showed up sans Alfred Alvarez looking rather hefty and in good spirits, beaming from ear to ear.

The concert will also feature the band performing duets with Korean singer Insooni and an English language cover of Shin Seung-hun’s 1998 hit “I Don’t Want to Cry.”

“When we covered (‘I Don’t Want to Cry’), we’d already been to Korea two or three times,” Jones said.

“Our record company which was Warner Bros., were talking about some of the big Korean songs to potentially do a cover of and said it would be great if we could remake one so we ended up recording Shin’s song and loved it.”

The band says the Josh Groban hit, “You Raise Me Up,” will also be covered during the concert Saturday night.

Other local acts like SG Wannabe, Jang Hye-jin, Younha, Jeong-in, Hweesung and Park Gi-yeong will also perform during the show.

Jones, who has composed music for some of Korea’s top acts such as BoA, SHINee, and Fly to the Sky was perhaps a bit too enthusiastic when asked to comment on K-pop artists.

“I have to say, that the one thing we have noticed of all of our trips around Asian countries, Korean artists are and I hope this doesn’t go out to other countries always the best,” he said.

“The singing, the dancing, the passion, Korean artists excel in all of that and I actually love a lot of the artists and it’s been a pleasure of mine to write songs for some of them. It’s great.”

After nearly 16 years together professionally, the band credited their lifelong friendship as the bedrock of their longevity.

“We’re more than friends, we’re like family,” Tony Borowiak said before giving Jones a hug.

“We all grew up together and were friends before we debuted and to this day we remain as close as ever.”

Dubbed the “Dukes of R&B,” the group debuted with a self-titled album in 1994 with its first single “I Swear,” a cover of the hit by country singer John Michael Montgomery.

The single became worldwide smash, garnering the group their first Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1995.

The Antelope Valley natives have sold more than 22 million albums worldwide.

By Song Woong-ki (kws@heraldcorp.com)