The Backstreet Boys' story is a tale of two cities.
City number one is Lexington, Kentucky, home of cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell. Both from musical families, the boys loved to harmonize. They had grown up together and were always close, sharing a common interest in music and perfoming in church choir together.
City number two is Orlando, Florida, where three local performers, AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, and Nick Carter kept on bumping into each other at various auditions.
"It was kinda funny meeting the same people," Howie remembers. "Especially AJ, who I kept bumping into a lot. He and I would always be there at different agents' offices. I got to know him through a vocal coach we both used. He introduced the two of us."
There can be a lot of downtime at auditions, and it can get quite boring. So while they waited to be called, the three started hanging out together and quickly became friends. They discovered that they had the same musical tastes.
One day, the trio started harmonizing to an old Temptation song. Their voices fit together so well that they decided to form an a cappella group.
Flashback to Lexington for a sec, where Kevin decided to leave the group he was performing with and go down to Orlando on a whim. He was dying to get into show business and had heard that there were a lot of opportunities in Orlando since a few movie and television studios had moved down there.
Kevin landed a job as a Disney World tour guide. One day, Kevin and a Disney World co-worker were on a break, talking about what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives, Kevin said he wanted to hook up with a singing group again, and his friend suggested he meet "these three guys who harmonize all the time."
When Kevin first heard the three's a cappella harmonies and saw their dance floor moves, he knew he had found a home. And the boys teamed up. But something was missing --- a fifth voice.
Despite auditioning singers from all over Florida, they just couldn't find someone who clicked That's when Brian decided to call his cousin Brian Littrell, back in Lexington.
Kevin remembered how he and Brian would entertain family members by singing doo-wop and old-time barbershop quartet numbers. He thought Brian would be the perfect fifth member of the group.
Enter Brian, he was sitting in class when his name was called out over the PA system. He was convinced it was bad news-- but it turned out to be Kevin telling him about the group he had just joined and invited him to come to Orlando to check it out. He jumped at the chance audition for the group and the very next day Brian headed to the airport and took off for Orlando...
The rest of the group loved his gospel-influenced vocal style. Brian was in.
The only thing left to do was pick a name. They took their name from the landmark Backstreet Market, a local teenage hangout in downtown Orlando, and became the Backstreet Boys.
The Boys' voices meshed perfectly without the help of instruments or hi-tech recording tricks. They did mostly covers (other bands songs) at first, but added their own brand of groove, energy, and emotion. The Boys' dance moves made the package complete.<.P>At first, they played at high schools, clubs, at Sea World, and even over the loudspeaker in a pet store. People immediately responded to their sound and the Boys quickly became one of Florida's hottest bands. They started singing original material and released a single, "Tell Me That I'm Dreaming," on an independant label.
They secured a manager, Donna Wright, and started getting bigger gigs at theme parks, state fairs, and music festivals throughout the US. The Boys' fan base started to grow and they opened for more famous acts, such as Brandy.
Even though the Boys had cut a single, it wasn't getting much airplay. They desperately wanted a record deal with a larger company. "We'd go to local labels and sing a cappella in their foyers," Howie recalls. "We'd sing anywhere, for anybody."
Their manager knew just what to do. During one of the Backstreet Boys' live appearances, she called a friend at Jive Records. She held up her cellular phone so the record company executive could hear them perform.
Jive Records liked what they heard. And it wasn't just the music that caught their attention. The fervor of the fans signaled to them that they were a hot commodity.
The Boys' wish came true, and Jive immediately signed them on. Jive had high hopes for the combo, and the company wouldn't be dissappointed.
That day they took off for stardom.
According to Howie, Brian is definitely the group funnyman. "He keeps us laughing," says Howie. The funny thing is that Brian's first exposure to music and performing was anything but on the light side. He spent his early years in Lexington, KY< singing in his local church, and other regional churches, revivials, and even weddings.
Brian feels he has a lot to thank God for. You see, as a young child he was very ill and didn't even know it. "I was born with a heart murmur. I have a hole in my heart and the doctors didn't know."
It wasn't until 1980, when Brian cracked his head on the sidewalk and was rushed to the hospital, that his parents found out that their boy was seriously ill. At the hospital, complications set in and Brian got a blood infection. "I had no chance of living whatsoever. The doctors were telling my mother and father to go ahead and make arrangements."
But then the unexpected happened --- Brian surprised everyone and recovered.
However, in May 1998, it was announced that Brian would have to undergo heart surgery. But fans blew a big sigh of relief when he came through the surgery just fine. He requested that instead of cards and flowers, his well-wishers send donations to the Brian Littrell Fund for Pediatric Cardiology at St. Joseph Hospital in lexington.
Brian is cheerful and energetic. When he's onstage, he looks as if he is truly having the time of his life.
His trademark is his great sense of humor. He loves to laugh, make people laugh, and flash his heart-stopping smile. Mostly, he likes to make others laugh by making faces, telling jokes, or pulling pranks. He counts funnyman Jim Carrey as one of his idols.
He was born on the cusp of Aquarius and Pisces, and it's obvious that he has the best of both of these highly creative, fiercely independent signs.
Brian is a traditional and
old-fashioned kind of guy, and would
like to settle down (and he just may,
click here).
---more to come---
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