In the beginning

Alexander James McLean (A.J.) and Howie Dwaine Dorough (Howie D) got to know each other at an audition and soon became friends. One day A.J. had the glorious idea of forming a band. They had enough time to think about their own band while attending auditions together. They used the waiting time in the seemingly endless lines at auditions to sing old Temptations songs. Inspired by their singing, they were approached by Nick Gene Carter and got into a conversation with him. It was clearly a very fruitful conversation since the duo from then on became a trio.

Destiny was obviously on their side, too, as they discovered an extremely promising announcement: Louis Pearlman is looking for young talent to form a band. This was their big chance. They won over Louis Pearlmann with an a cappella rendition of Boyz II Men's 'It's Hard To Say Goodbye'. Pearlmann had, however, a quintet in mind. He already had the necessary bass voice and his name was Kevin Richard.

He therefore brought the four lads together and they discovered not only that the chemistry between them was right but also that the problem of the fifth member had been solved. Without delay Kevin telephoned his cousin Brian Thomas Littrell (B-Rok) in Lexington. The very next day Brian was sitting nervously on a plane. Brian convinced both the producer and the other three of his suitability and so the Backstreet Boys were born. (The inspiration for the name came from the Orlando Backstreet Market.)

Through Pearlman they also got to know the husband and wife management team of Donna and Johnny Wright. The Wrights had already helped make New Kids On The Block world famous and immediately recognised that the five of them were no naive amateurs. While the Boys sang and danced their way across innumerable stages in high schools and small halls the Wrights invited along the best talent scouts. In this way Dave McPherson became aware of the BSB and this led directly to the record contract with Jive Records.

They began their conquest of the European charts with 'We've Got It Going On'. The biggest breakthrough was straight away in Germany where their debut single quickly achieved platinum disc status. Two gold-selling singles soon followed in the shape of 'I'll Never Break Your Heart' and 'I Go Anywhere For You'. The self-titled debut album was released in May 1996 and within two weeks had reached number one on the German album chart. A unique and triumphant tour through Europe and Canada followed. Not only were their shows completely sold out, they were also accompanied by row upon row of fainting female fans. By this time, as well as the to-be-expected teenie magazines, daily newspapers and other magazines were busying themselves with the question of how this Backstreet Boys Mania could have arisen. The BSB went from Newcomers of the Year to the by far most adored Boygoup in Europe. And all of this although the term 'Boygroup' had originally meant little to the lads. As Kevin said at the time in an interview: "We don't mind being categorised as a Boygroup because given time we will free ourselves from this image."