Boy band veterans, Backstreet Boys, will color the Palace ‘Black & Blue’

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Feb 15, 2001 Source: The Detroit News Submitted By: Newsdiva D By Wendy Case / The Detroit News Concert preview, Backstreet Boys, 7:30 p.m. Thursday Feb 15, 2001 @ the Pontiac Silverdome Individually, they look like the boys next door — the young men who might change your oil or deliver your pizza. But together as pop singing sensations, the Backstreet Boys — Kevin, Nick, Howie, A.J. and Brian — are international mega-stars — hunky song and dance heartthrobs whose screaming fans can’t get enough. Currently on tour in support of their latest album, Black & Blue, the Backstreet Boys will bring their explosive live show to the Pontiac Silverdome on Thursday . And fans like Danica Kasner can’t wait. “I like their songs; they’re really cool,” 11-year-old Danica says. She says she likes to listen to a lot of different music with her middle-school friends in Rochester. Danica, who also says Nick is her favorite Backstreet Boy, has seen the group perform on the Disney Channel. “Nick picked a girl out of the audience and sang to her,” Danica says, “They really get into the crowd.” Fans are the essence of what the Backstreet Boys do. In the fickle world of boy bands, they are the patriarchs of the current crop. Predating ’N Sync, 98 Degrees and countless others, they are also pre-Britney, pre-Christina and pre-Spice Girls. The band’s oldest member, Kevin Richardson, is only 29. But in boy band years, that’s more like 49. The band came together in Orlando, Fla., in the early ’90s. There, they came under the guidance of boy band svengali Lou Pearlman and New Kids on the Block management team Donna and Johnny Block. Sporting the smooth pop harmonies and R&B-inflected dance numbers and ballads that brought success to the New Kids, the Backstreet Boys (named for an Orlando flea market) scored their first hit in Germany with 1995’s “We’ve Got It Goin’ On.” The group next conquered England and Canada, finally hitting in the United States when they charted with “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” in 1997. Though in ’98 the Backstreet Boys squared off in a legal battle with their management and then band member Brian Littrell underwent surgery for a congenital heart condition, the ups far outnumbered the downs in the group’s career. In 1999, they released Millennium, which spawned the mega-hits “I Want It That Way,” “Larger Than Life” and “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely.” Fall of 2000 saw the release of the Boys’ third album for Jive, Black & Blue, which, while it didn’t eclipse ’N Sync’s record-breaking opening week numbers for No Strings Attached (2.4 million), it did turn in a respectful 1.6 million its first week of release in the United States. According to SoundScan, which monitors retail sales, Black & Blue has since topped the 4.5 million mark. The group’s debut, Backstreet Boys, and its Millennium album have both sold more than 10 million copies in the United States alone. But the Boys never forget for a moment what made their enormous success possible. "I’m so humble and so happy that our fans are there for us,” Backstreet Boy Nick Carter told MTV in November. “It’s a great feeling.” Littrell, who married last year, says the production for this tour is the biggest that it’s ever been. “There’s 20 or 30 (semis worth of equipment),” he told MTV. “But the main concern is to get out there and put on a good show for our fans. That’s why we put the extra time, effort and money into making everything as good as it can be.” And does the group feel any pressure from the constant waves of new, young boy bands nipping at their heels? “We’ve always tried to create something for ourselves,” Littrell told MTV. “There’s been so many groups, and the market and the music scene have changed so much just in the past five years. We always look ahead. There’s really no now; we’re always preparing for tomorrow.” You can reach Wendy Case at wcase@detnews.com Comment on this item. Recent Comments Submitted by: good backlinks 7ss6wO I've read several good stuff here. Definitely value bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how a lot attempt you place to make such a fantastic informative web site. Submitted by: Paulo Submitted by: Monika Submitted by: John Submitted by: Monika Submitted by: Eugene Submitted by: Mary Comment on this item. Next Item: Bkstreet Boys Leave DA Out Of Sync Prev Item: We want it that way: Fashioning a new Backstreet look