Backstreet Boys

The Backstreet Boys, or BSB, are a Grammy-nominated boy band and pop group that rose to considerable popularity in the late 1990s, and has since broken music and concert sales records, having reported sales of more than 87 million albums (38 million in U.S. more...

) to make them the highest-selling boy band on record. The five-member group consists of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean and Kevin Richardson.

History

Early beginnings: 1992–1996

Lou Pearlman, an aviation entrepreneur based in Florida, was inspired by the success of the New Kids on the Block in the 1980s to create his own clean-cut boy bands. After a series of auditions in 1992 and 1993, he recruited Nick Carter (at 12, the band's youngest member), Howie Dorough, 19, Alexander James McLean, 14 and following the departure of two members - Sam Licata and Charles Edwards - Kevin Richardson came aboard in March 1993, who was 20. The group took its final shape on April 19, 1993, when Brian Littrell - cousin of Richardson - joined the group after a phone audition. Their first concert on May 8, 1993 was performed in front of 3,000 teenagers at Sea World in Orlando, FL. Pearlman later booked them at grade-school assemblies and shopping malls, and assigned management duties to Johnny Wright, who had worked with New Kids on the Block.

After a possible Mercury Record deal failed, the band was spotted in Cleveland, Ohio by Jive Records, an independent label best known for its hip-hop acts in February 1994. By June, they were recording their first single "We've Got It Goin' On" an urban pop song by writer/producer Denniz PoP. The single struggled in the US and reached only #69 on the Billboard charts, but it sold well in Europe, later earning the band their first Gold disc in Germany. In 1995 the band's first album, Backstreet Boys, was released in Europe and Canada, hitting the top 10 in numerous countries. Jive and Pearlman kept the band busy overseas for the next two years, sometimes putting it on tour for five months straight.

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