Backstreet Boys Tickets

Backstreet Boys Schedule

Backstreet Boys - Links

• Official Backstreet Boys Website
• Backstreet Boys BLVD - the Ultimate Backstreet Boys Fan Site
• Backstreet Boys on MySpace

About the Backstreet Boys

The Backstreet Boys were created when Howie Dorough, A.J. McLean (both from Orlando, FL), and Nick Carter (from Tampa, FL) came together after seeing each other frequently as local acting auditions. They eventually recruited Sam Licata and Charles Edwards to complete the group. Shortly after recruiting the latter two, Sam Licata left to perform individually and Charles Edwards left as a result of having problems with his voice. The group, now short two performers, then recruited Kevin Richardson, a friend of a friend. Kevin offered to invite his cousin Brian Littrell to join the group and the others agreed after hearing him sing. The Backstreet Boys, now complete, performed at an open audition held by manager Lou Pearlman, who was looking to put together a new boy band. The Backstreet Boys had their first performance at Sea World for an audience of 3,000 teenagers on July 8, 1993. Moving forward from this performance, Lou Pearlman assigned the management of the group to Johnny and Donna Wright; many credit Johnny Wright as being the person who made the Backstreet Boys a household name.

The group's first album, Backstreet Boys, was released on May 6, 1996. Backstreet Boys was first released internationally, where it became a hit in countries such as Germany and Canada. The album was then released in the United States on August 12, 1997, where it reached #4 on the album charts and eventually achieved the status of platinum, 14 times. The catchy sounds of the Backstreet Boys helped ignite the boy band era of the 90s, as their hits blazed across the radio. After completing a 60-city, 20-country world tour, where ticket sales were incredible, the Backstreet Boys went back into the studio to record their sophomore album. Millennium was released on May 18, 1999, and set several records while topping the Billboard 200 for 10 consecutive weeks. In November 2000, they released their third album, entitled Black & Blue, which was another extremely successful album, reaching #1 in Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Holland. In 2001, the group embarked on the Black & Blue World Tour, but the second leg of the tour was postponed due to A.J. McLean checking into rehab to battle drinking, drug addiction, and depression. The tour was eventually cancelled altogether after the terrorist attacks of September 11.

From 2002 to 2004, the Backstreet Boys struggled a bit while deciding to leave their management company, The Firm, and filing several lawsuits against their record label's parent company, Zomba Music Group. After A.J. McLean made an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show in December 2003, the rest of the Backstreet Boys showed up for support and they then became eager to perform together once again. The group began performing to promote their return to the stage and after completing a small Asian tour, they decided to tour Mexico, where they performed all new material. The Backstreet Boys have always had a very loyal following abroad and at home, and the concerts in Asia and Mexico were a great success, with huge numbers of tickets being sold for the events.

On June 14, 2005, the Backstreet Boys released Never Gone after a three-year hiatus. The album did very well; it debuted at #3 on the U.S. chart and #1 in Japan, Pakistan, Germany, India, Chile, Brazil, and South Korea (once again showing how popular the BSB remained abroad). After the release of Never Gone, Kevin Richardson decided that it was time to pursue other interests and left the group on good terms. To this day, Kevin remains in touch with the members of the group, has started a family, and is engaged in acting projects. The remaining Backstreet Boys went on to record and release another album, Unbreakable, which was released on October 30, 2007, and received very positive reviews.