The Backstreet Boys are one of the few bands in history that managed to achieve initial success on other continents, most notably in parts of Europe and Canada.
This boy band did not enjoy commercial success at first and it took them about 2 years to build up to start talking about them.
By that time, the Backstreet Boys had already topped the European charts several times and had become one of the biggest boy bands in the world.
Along with the popular stars of the time such as Britney Spears, NSYNC, Westlife and the Boys II Men, Westlife came to the fore with their albums, enjoying international success that was just enviable for others.
The Backstreet Boys, made up of members AJ Maclean, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough and Nick Carter, have become one of the biggest-selling boys in history, selling over 130 million records.
BEGINNING AND YOUTH Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys' rise to fame began in high school after Nick Carter, Howie Dorough and AJ McLean ran into each other during local auditions in Orlando.
Backstreet owes much of its success to boy band creator the late Lou Perlman, who died in prison in August 2016 at age 62; he was serving a 25-year sentence for a $300 million fraud. It was he who rallied the boy band, and was also responsible for the creation of NSYNC, later in 1995.
Before the Backstreet Boys became a popular vocal group in the 90s, each of the performers had already discovered their passion for performing in their own way. For example, Kevin Richardson was already singing at Disney World, and Brian Latrell was already an energetic and accomplished performer.
Nick Carter auditioned for local TV commercials and pursued acting and singing careers from the start while Howie and AJ worked for Nickelodeon.
The core of the group was Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell, cousins from Lexington, Kentucky, who had already covered Boyz II Men and
Howie and AJ lived in Orlando, Florida while Nick lived in New York before moving to Orlando to join AJ and Howie. Kevin and Brian joined the group later, moving permanently to Orlando as well.
Backstreet Boys ACHIEVEMENTS
Lou Perlman is credited with bringing five virtually unknown teenage singers together and turning them into a decent musical group. Lou also hired Rights, who previously managed New Kids on the Block in the 80s, to manage the group.
Thanks to the addition of Backstreet to Donna and Johnny Wright, they were able to land a contract with Jive Records in 1994. Jive then introduced the band to producers Tim Allen and Veit Renn, who helped the band find a direction and sound style to create their first album.
Their music was a mix of hip-hop, R&B, ballads and dance-pop, which probably helps explain why he found initial success in Europe and not in the US. The first album was called Backstreet Boys and was released throughout Europe around the end of 1995.
The record was a success and spent several weeks in the top ten of the charts in various European countries. The group was awarded Best Newcomers of 1995 for their single "We Got It Goin' On". After "I'll Never Break Your Heart" became another massive hit in Europe, the band released the album in Canada, where it also began to enjoy great success.
Backstreet Boy's self-titled album sold over 11 million copies worldwide, but struggled to find a place in the US market as well.
In order to promote their music in America, the label focused its marketing efforts on teenagers and underage girls, whereby they distributed the band's music to fan camps and also placed free CDs.
The strategy proved effective and the band rose to the top of the US charts with new singles such as "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)", "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)", "As Long as You Love Me" and "I'll Never Break Your Heart. The American version of the Backstreet Boys has sold over 14 million copies in America alone.
In 1999, the Backstreet Boys released Millennium, and in its first week it debuted at number one on the charts, reaching a million copies sold. It also broke the record for the most records and the number of batches sold in the first week of an album.
The album sold over 40 million copies internationally, while 12 million copies were sold in the US. They contained such hits as "The One", "I Want It This Way", "Larger Than Life" and "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely".
The Backstreet Boys have been widely regarded as the best American boy band of all time and have received 5 Grammy nominations, including a Best Album nomination. At the same time, colleague as well as rival to some extent from the group Pearlman NSYNC gradually gained popularity, unfortunately for Backstreet.
Backstreet released Black & Blue in 2000, which contained the hit "Shape of My Heart". The album sold 5 million copies worldwide within its first week, which was not bad by any measure; but for Backstreet sales were a little disappointing, especially as NSYNC was doing so much better and the albums were selling a lot more.
After 7 years of non-stop touring and performing, Backstreet took a break, resulting in each of the members taking up solo projects. In 2004, the band reunited to release Never Gone in 2005 and Unbreakable in 2007. In 2006, Kevin left the band and the rest stayed to work on their album This Is Us, which was released in 2009.
The band's career remained fairly stable and performed until 2013, so all the members, including Richardson, reunited to celebrate their 20th anniversary with a world tour and a documentary release. In May 2018, Backstreet released their first single in several years called "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" - at the time of writing this song already had 18 million views on YouTube.
Secret facts about the Backstreet Boys
- All the guys in the group were in love with Madonna.
- Their choreographer says that AJ catches and does dance moves faster than anyone, while B-Rok is sometimes lazy.
- Nick likes to spend time on the beach, in the pool, on his boat, and he also likes to go fishing.
- Nick once danced with his fly open.
- Kevin once had his pants torn on stage.
- Nick sometimes calls fans who send him their phone numbers, the only problem is they never believe it's him.
- Howie wants a Catholic wedding and three children.
- AJ admits that he is still nervous before the start of the performance.
- Kevin's secret nicknames are Muddy and Pumpkins.
