Howie, Sweet D. of the Backstreet Boys, is one of the older Boys, but that doesn't stop his wild side from showing, which mostly consists of creativity. He likes Oriental foods and his own cooking and enjoys his fans and audiences. Howie is very conciensious when his appearance and preformances are concerned. Once during A.J.'s rap in "Get Down (You're the One for Me)" Nick accidentally caused Howie to lose his balance and almost fall off the catwalk. In the enhanced CD, Nick graciously noted that Howie "turns up alot," when is is needed as well as for random moments of excitement. Howie's hometown is Orlando, Florida, where he often attended auditions. When he was about 19, his old vocal coach introduced him to a new student -- A.J. McLean. They began running into eachother at auditions and soon, along with another person they met-- Nick -- began to sing covers -- a capella -- of hits. They auditioned and formed a group and signed with Lou Pearlman, who was auditioning for a "boy band" group, and soon were joined by Kevin, who had followed his prior band to Orlando, and Brian, whom Kevin called. Sweet D. and Bone have known each other for over 15 years, when they called a truce to their competition. Howie is know in the group as the "Peacemaker" and never takes sides in arguments, which are usually about minor details like what songs to preform or what to wear for preformances. Howie has five siblings (four sisters, one brother), of which he is the youngest. His older sister, Caroline, died in September of 1998 (mayB u heard on the radio that the Boys cancelled their concert for that day because of it). He is half-Irish, half-Puerto Rican, but although he speaks fluent Spanish, none was spoken at his home -- he learned it all at school in Spanish class. Howie enjoys playing watersports and raquetball, and hanging out with the Boys. He has sung in a chior and has a theatrical background from commercials for Disney to community theatre performances to small parts in the movies Parenthood and Cop-and-a-Half. He also is a professionally trained dancer who loves to perform on stage.