Named for the day the members learned their fate--Aug. 26, 2007-- Day26 [ tickets ] got its start with 58 contestants vying for stardom on P. Diddy's MTV reality show "Making the Band 4." Now, nearly two years later, the quintet--made up of Robert Curry, Brian Andrews, Willie Taylor, Michael McCluney and Qwanell "Que" Mosley--is enjoying the fame and fortune that comes with hit singles and No. 1 albums.

The R&B supergroup hit the ground running with their self-titled debut, which grabbed the No. 1 spot on The Billboard 200 its first week out last spring, a full nine months after Diddy cherry-picked the five members.

During a recent interview with LiveDaily, Mosley and Andrews talked about the group's successful 2008 debut.

"We hoped and prayed for No. 1. Not to be cocky, but I think when you're talented and you've got God in your corner ... we had almost prepared ourselves for it," Mosley explained.

Andrews, however, wasn't so sure. "I'm not gonna lie. I was shocked and excited at the same time because I know a lot of albums come out and it's hard to get that No. 1 spot."

The band's sophomore album, "Forever in a Day," hit shelves April 14 and has big shoes to fill following their successful first record.

The approach to the two albums was "way different," revealed Mosley. "The first one was given to us. Diddy had the five guys so he already knew who the band was and he'd been picking songs for us to sing. That first album was amazing. Diddy is a genius and we love what he does, but this time he put the ball in our court."

If the music mogul didn't like what they brought to the table, Mosley explained, the group would be given music to record and perform. "He said, 'Let's see what you guys will come up with and basically if you guys don't come up with something, then I'm going to do it."

Diddy, the founder of Bad Boy Records and an award-winning hip-hop musician in his own right, approved of the group's creations.

"When it was time to go show him what we'd come up with, I'd never seen him smile so hard and get up and dance so long," recalled Mosley. "I guess I was shocked. He didn’t know he'd picked artists like he'd picked. This album is the start of Day26--the arrival."

And, despite knowing their work would be critiqued by one of mainstream music's biggest stars, the group didn't feel much pressure. Instead, they focused on their drive.

"I don't think there was a lot of pressure this time," Mosley said. "We really want this. There's a difference when somebody really wants something and they hustle for it and I think he saw that in us this time when he gave us the ball and he let us make our own shot and we made a great album."

In Mosley's eyes, the end result proves the band's legitimacy as artists. "I think we proved to him that we really want this," he said. "I think he didn't know that we could do it without him. I think he thought that we needed him to be in the studio or that we needed him for guidance to pick tracks, but because we did it ourselves, we proved to everybody that we're real artists, that this is what artists do. Give us the respect. Don't look at us as just TV stars anymore; give us respect as regular artists."

The new album's first single, "Imma Put It On Her," which features Diddy and fellow Bad Boy Records rapper Yung Joc, is already making the rounds in clubs and climbing Billboard's Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop chart. The first time Diddy heard the track, his reaction told the quintet they had a keeper.

"That was one of the songs we showed him at his house and that's one of the songs that he stood up and was dancing around to," Mosley said. "After that, he wanted to jump on the record, and then Joc heard and Joc wanted to jump on the record."

Soon, other special guests were on board, including established rappers Jermaine Dupri and T-Pain.

"T-Pain, he's killing the game right now, and JD's just a legend in the game, so just to be in his presence and recording at So So Def Studios [Dupri's label and studio] and the whole nine yards--it was just crazy chemistry. JD opened his arms up to us. T-Pain had written it for us and had already laid his part, so we didn't actually get a chance to work in the studio with T-Pain on that record, but it was hand-written for us and he definitely wanted us to do it and we did it and it came out crazy."

Willie Taylor quickly added, "We have to give some more respect to Jermaine Dupri. That man is so humble and cool. He really accepted us with open arms. People who have a lot of money or a lot of fame, they don't act like that usually. You don't find many like that, so I just want to give a lot of respect to Jermaine Dupri. He came to us with open arms and so we were really comfortable in his studio."

The group's rise to celebrity status isn't without pitfalls, particularly when their lives are filmed 24/7 and aired on national television for the third season of "Making the Band 4." This installment, which wraps up April 22, follows Day26 and fellow Diddy-created acts Danity Kane and Donnie Klang while on the "Making the Band Tour." Heated disagreements among the five rising stars led to a lot of personal growth, Mosley explained, and that honesty leads to a bigger connection between the audience and the band.

"We're so honest," he said. "I think that's what makes our show great and that's what makes us great as artists. Just to be honest with your fans and have them grow with you, even through your mistakes, even through your fights, even through the good and the bad. Our fans are growing with us and are getting to know us."

Taylor explained his perspective on the band's on-camera honesty.

"Like Que was saying, our fans get to grow with us. It could have hurt us [the fighting on film], but on the flipside, we had to be honest with ourselves. You can't keep faking it with somebody. I think that's what led to the breakup of Danity Kane. They weren't real with each other or in front of the cameras. They hid everything and then when they had a meeting with Diddy, it seemed like the band was just over with. Nobody knew what was going on. When you hide it, people don't know."

Danity Kane--another "Making the Band" creation of Diddy's that formed in 2005 and peaked at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 last year with their sophomore effort entitled "Welcome to the Dollhouse"--originally featured five women, though the group recently split due to in-fighting.

Regardless of the struggles, though, the R&B singers still strive to perform. When asked if touring is their favorite part of a musician's life, Mosley was quick to respond.

"Performing period is exciting. It's like we get onstage and the fans give it to us so hard. That's the part right there. You've been in the studio. You did the grind work. You made the music. And then to be able to go out there and have people take the songs personally and make them their own and live it with you and sing it word for word--that's the part: just delivering the message back to the people. It's the best."