"Ninteen Ninety-Eight was our most successful year," Brian Littrell told Rolling Stone. "It was also the hardest year of my life." Without a doubt, Brian is the guy that has had the biggest personal obstacle to overcome for his fame. you see, Brian was born with a heart murmer that wasn't discovered until he was five years old, when his heard actually stopped! Brian had to stay in the hospital for two months, an experience he still has nightmares about. he seemed to be doing fine after that-up until he started touring heavily with the Boys and working all the time. Then, his health took a change for the worse.
"After six yeares of a schedule that was pretty much horrendous, he went for his annual checkup and the doctors noticed tht his heart was getting quite large, like one for a 300-pound linebacder," Brian's mom, Jackie, said in Rolling Stone . There was no choice. Brian needed surgery-and fast. He put the surgery off to fulfill some commitments with the band, but soon enough he found he couldn't hold out anymore. It was less than two months after his open-heart surgery that he joined the guys onthe road again. Whoud he put something so serious like that off again for work? Not a chance. The experience taught Brian what his priorities are. "Music is my love," he told Rolling Stone, "but it's my job. Ther are things that used to be taken for granted taht aren't now: time with your family, time to enjoy the fruits of your labor."
Brian grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, where his family was very active in the church. his mother sang at services, which is how Brian got his start singing. When he was six he sang his first solo in front of the congregation and brought down the house. He continued to pursue singing and performing, but more so as a hobby than a serious vocation. In fact, he was on his way to college at the University of Cincinnati Bible College ona scholarship for singing when he got the news that he had made it into the Backstreet Boys.
Brian is known as "the shy one" and this could not be more true. It even comes out in his performance style. For instance, during the show he likes singing his solo while sitting in a chair, strumming his guitar. "It's a very personal experience and that's what I wanted it to be," he told Teen Beat. "Sitting down-if they didn't want to scream then they didn't have to, they could just sit and listen and watch. That was my whole idea because the show was so bing, bang, boom, and then we have the five solos, and even those are bing, bang, boom, and im not really like that...when it can be really personal, I just walk out, show people who I am."
Brian certainly like the attention of this fans, but, like Nick, as well as the other guys he wants to be appreciated for his talent, not just his sex appeal. Sometimes he doesn't even understand why girls get themselves so worked up with they see him. He told Rolling Stone that when they approach him, "[I] say, 'I'm human, it's no big deal.'"
Brian pals around with all the guys, but Nick Carter is definitely his best friend-despite their age difference and the way Nick has picked on his accent: "When I first met [Brian], i though, COUNTRY BUMPKIN! It was crazy! 'Heyyy, howww ya'lll doooin'? My name's Briaaan Littrell,'" Nick laughed, in Super Teen . When Howie, Kevin, and AJ hit the club scene, Brian stays in with Nick-who's under twenty-one-and the two play video games. They have become such great friends, in fact, that they are known in the band-and to their fans-as Frick and Frack.