Photos of Sweet D

Rare Photos of the BSB in its early days with the member Phoenix Stone, who is no longer with them. For more info regarding the early BSB, scroll further down for the Phoenix Stone Interview.

Rare Facts About the BSB

AJ McLean, Howie Dorough and Nick Carter were the first three members to make it through the audition for the pop group that later came to be known as the Backstreet Boys.

Before Kevin Richardson and his cousin, Brian Littrell, came into the picture-there was Sam Licata who knew Howie from college in Tampa and another Orlando boy, Charles Edwards. Sadly, they were not destined to last the distance. Sam left the group to go solo and record a country music album, while Charles was asked by producer Tim Coons to be replaced because his voice wasn't recording right for the sound that they needed.

The very first song they recorded was Get Ready which was originally a hit for the Temptations back in 1969.

Their second song was entitled Lover Boy, and this was written by Lou Pearlman's close friend from New York, Bob Curiano, who did some early Backstreet Boys producing at that time.

Tell Me That I'm Dreaming was the third song they recorded with Licata and this was included in the CD (compact disc) single of "We've Got It Goin'On" which was released in 1995. This song was penned by Lou Pearlman himself with a little help from Howie.

They also recorded a song which Sam Licata had written, called "Save the World," but Sam suddenly decided he didn't want his song used to promote the group and so they agreed not to, because Sam was more focused then on pursuing a solo career.

Kevin Richardson, who was then working as a tour guide in Disneyland, Orlando, became the fourth member of the group and recommended his cousin Brian Littrell to be the fifth member because because Lou and his staff were running out of time then to scout for a fifth member to complete the group. It was on April 19, 1993 when Brian got a long-distance call from his cousin during an American History class at Tates Creek High School in Lexington, Kentucky that changed his life.

Right after the Boys agreed with the group's name, Lou Pearlman started drawing it in big letters on a notepad which he always carried to keep track of any ideas they all came up with, and the exact way he wrote the name for the first time that night became the Backstreet Boys' official logo.

Howie once came close to joining the popular Spanish group Menudo (where Ricky Martin came from), but that fell through after his second recall because his Spanish was not good enough. He also almost missed out on his chance to become a Backstreet Boy because he auditioned using the stage name Tony Donette which AJ and the rest thought to be his real name then.

Kevin's love and natural talent for music originated from a host of distant relatives on his mom's side who played piano by ear or sing well. Among these relatives is Kevin's grandfather (Ann's dad) who sang in a barbershop quartet, an all-male harmonizing group known for singing romantic songs popular in America in the 1920's and 30's.

Nick almost chose the Mickey Mouse Club over joining the Backstreet Boys because both offers came to him at the same time. Luckily, he and his parents agreed to take the big gamble on possible pop stardom back then, instead of instant TV fame because a few months after they made their decision, the MMC was scrapped and all its cast were back to the demoralizing audition circuit again.

Being short has always been a problem for Brian. He was a late-developer and even into his teens, he was far smaller than all the other guys. He would also usually be challenged by other kids, which happened a lot in basketball (which he loves so much) and though this may be tough on his self-esteem, he often took the challenge to prove himself and made sure he won.

Apart from the jibes, there was another downside to AJ's love of performing - he had developed a bad habit of lying. It was another attention seeking device, but it was something which worried his mom and drove her, as well as some of his friend, to distraction. It even cost him first childhood sweetheart.

The Backstreet Boys had their taste of mania as a group in a gig at the Sea World, which happened in May 8, 1993 where they sang four songs and they were cheered and applauded by the crowd, particularly the girls who loved the way they sang If I Ever Fall In Love a capella style.

The Backstreet Boys were formed on April 20, 1993.

The next step was the record deal. For this, they got Johnny and Donna Wright, who owned the band-managing company Wright Stuff. They Boys signed with Mercury Records and did promotional tours...high schools, malls, anything to get them into the public eye. After a couple of months with Mercury the guys saw that Mercury wasn't planning anything in terms of a CD Single, and so broke the deal with Mercury. Donna knew somebody at Jive Records but the person wouldn't make time to hear BSB sing. So, where there's a problem there's a plan and solution and Donna found it. At one concert the guys was giving somewhere in Orlando she called the person, held up her mobile phone so that he/she could hear the reaction the audience to the BSB's music.
They signed with Jive Records shortly after that. In 1995, they released their first single titled "We've Got It Goin' On" in the United States, where it reached the top spot at #54 on the Billboard Top 100. Despite the fact that the BSB was pleased with that they knew it wasn't going to be a #1 hit and took their music to Europe where they exploded into a phenomenal fame.