Backstreet Boys is a Grammy-nominated American boy band. They were the first group launched by boy band mogul Lou Pearlman, and have been together since April 20, 1993. They have had 13 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and have sold over 100 million albums making them the best selling boy band of all time.
After returning to the music scene in 2005, their sound changed dramatically, incorporating only live instruments (some of which they play themselves) and a more guitar and piano driven pop rock sound. The four-member group consists of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and A. J. McLean. Original member Kevin Richardson left the group on June 23, 2006 to start a family, but the four-piece refused to rule out a possible return for the singer.
Musical career
Beginnings and international successes: 1993–1996
Lou Pearlman was inspired by New Kids on the Block in the 1980s to create his own clean-cut boy band. After a series of newspaper advertisements and auditions in 1992 and 1993, he recruited A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, and Nick Carter who met each other in several auditions and became friends. Following the departure of two previous members, Sam Licata (later performing as Phoenix Stone) and Charles Edwards, Kevin Richardson came on board. He met the other guys through a co-worker, and the four decided to form a group, naming themselves after an Orlando flea market. The group took its final member on April 19, 1993, when Brian Littrell, Richardson's cousin, joined the group after a phone audition. Pearlman had spent around $3.5 million of fraudulently obtained money (he has been convicted of operating a Ponzi scheme during this time frame) on his search to form the group, and then spent more to launch their career.
Afterward Pearlman called on his friend Bob Curiano to be the first to write and produce for the Backstreet Boys. Their first two songs ever recorded were "Lover Boy", written and produced by Curiano, and "Get Ready", a cover tune. The hit, 'Lover Boy' was inspired by Ana Legen, Bob Curiano's, first teenage crush, later Ana came back into the picture when she became a short term girlfriend to Howie in 1995. Their first concert, on July 8, 1993, was performed for 3,000 teenagers at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. Pearlman later booked them at grade-school assemblies and shopping malls, and assigned management duties to Johnny Wright and Donna Wright, who had worked with New Kids on the Block. Wright is often credited by industry insiders for being the man who actually made the Boys famous.
European popularity grew, and the Backstreet Boys kicked off 1996 being voted the No. 1 international group by TV viewers in Germany - "I'll Never Break Your Heart" went gold there and hit No. 1 in Austria. The group earned their first platinum record in Germany and toured Asia and Canada. They became one of the most successful debut artists in the world.
Breakthrough in the United States: 1997–1999
By 1997, pop music was returning to the forefront in United States with the likes of the Spice Girls and Hanson. Jive Records and Pearlman decided to bring the boys back to their home country. They began recording their second album in January 1997, Backstreet's Back , releasing "Quit Playing Games With My Heart" in June. They also recorded the song, If You Stay, for the Booty Call soundtrack in January 1997. Coinciding with the release of their second international album, the band released a self-titled album in the US which collected songs from both international albums. They hit big on the U.S. charts and debuted at No .1 in Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Finland and Austria. The two albums sold more than 28 million copies worldwide (14 million copies in the U.S.)
In December 1997, the band embarked on a 60-city, 20-country tour.
In 1997, Littrell (soon joined by McLean, Richardson and Dorough) brought a lawsuit against Lou Pearlman, as he was taking an unusually high percentage of the profits made by the band (75 percent), leaving the Boys barely enough to survive after credits to writers and performers were given separately. The lawsuit also claimed that Pearlman had hidden and misused money earned by the band and prompted similar lawsuits from other prominent boy bands such as 'N Sync. The case was settled in 1998.
In 1998, Littrell underwent open-heart surgery in the middle of their sold-out US 39-city tour, at the insistence of his then girlfriend (and now wife) Leighanne Wallace; he had twice postponed the surgery in the past. He had been struggling with a heart murmur since he was born, almost dying at the age of 4 due to a bacterial infection. Shortly after, the Backstreet Boys cancelled an appearance in Minnesota after learning that Howie Dorough's sister had died of lupus. In September 1998 the group began work on their next album. In October 1998, the band received the keys to the city from the mayor of Orlando in honor of the tornado relief concert the group headlined in March that raised over $250,000.
On February 17, 1999, the Boys received their first Diamond award from the RIAA for shipment of 10 million copies of their self-titled album. At that time, they had hired a new manager team called "The Firm", famous for managing bands including Limp Bizkit and Korn. Along with their new management team, the Backstreet Boys sued Pearlman several more times, until he renegotiated the settlement on terms more favorable to the band. Executives of the Firm stated that the Backstreet Boys had bought out Pearlman's stake in the band.
Millennium and Superstardom: 1999–2000
Main article: Millennium (Backstreet Boys album)Work on Millennium began in September 1998, with recording taking place from October 3, 1998 to March 1, 1999 in multiple cities. A sneak preview of the tracks "The One", "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely", and "I Need You Tonight" was released on November 17, 1998 on the A Night Out with the Backstreet Boys concert video, as well as on the All I Have To Give U.S. single in December 1998. Preceded by the worldwide hit single "I Want It That Way", anticipation for Millennium was high. On May 18, 1999, Millennium was released. The day of the album's release, the Backstreet Boys made a heavily publicized appearance on MTV's Total Request Live. Millennium entered the Billboard 200 at #1, where it remained for 10 non-consecutive weeks. It sold 1,134,000 copies in its first week of release, breaking the previous Nielsen SoundScan record held by Garth Brooks for single-week record sales. Millennium sold nearly 500,000 copies in the U.S. on its first day alone, setting a record for first-day sales. This record was subsequently overtaken in 2000 by Britney Spears, and then again by 'N Sync with No Strings Attached . Four singles were released from Millennium : "I Want It That Way", "Larger Than Life", "Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely", and "The One".
Millennium became the best-selling album of 1999 in the U.S., selling 9,445,732 albums. Millennium remained on the Billboard chart for 93 weeks, eventually selling over 12 million copies in the United States and being certified 13 times platinum. As of the end of December 2007, the album stands as the fourth best selling album in the US of the SoundScan era. In 2003 it was also reported as being the fourth biggest seller for Music Club sales in the US over the past 14 years with sales of 1.59 million. In Canada, the album is seventh biggest selling album since 1995 in the Canadian Soundscan sales era up to end of December 2007. The album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide.
Impressed by the success of the Backstreet Boys, Sony BMG, which already owned 20 percent of Jive's parent company, purchased the remainder for $3 billion, the most ever paid for an independent record company. In the meantime, The Firm negotiated tens of millions of dollars in advance payments for recordings and performances from Jive and the concert promoter Clear Channel. Also by the end of 1999, the Backstreet Boys faced new problems declaring their current Jive contract null and void, soon striking one of the largest record deals ever valued at $60 million with Jive.
Black & Blue : 2000–2001
Main article: Black & BlueIn November 2000, the group released a new album, Black & Blue , with the idea of the title of the album coming from Brian as the boys were in Los Angeles for a photoshoot. To promote the release of Black & Blue , the boys traveled around the world in 100 hours to Sweden, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, and the US; 55 of the hours were spent traveling and 45 were spent making public appearances. The album debuted with 1.9 million units sold in the first week in America, making the band the first ever artist to have two albums sell a million or more copies in the first week. In November 2000, Black & Blue had sold more than five million copies worldwide in its initial week, setting a new first-week record in international sales. Globally, Black & Blue — whose 13-son
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