Backstreet Boys The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson. They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys (1996). In the following year, they released their second international album, Backstreet's Back (1997) and their debut album in the United States which continued the group's success worldwide. They rose to superstardom with their album Millennium (1999) and its follow-up album, Black & Blue (2000). After a three-year hiatus, the band regrouped and have since released three albums: Never Gone (2005), Unbreakable (2007) and This Is Us (2009). Richardson left the group in 2006 to pursue other interests, leaving the band as a four- piece, but the remaining members did not rule out a possible return of the singer. The Backstreet Boys have sold over 130 million records worldwide, making them thebest-selling boy band of all time. According to Billboard, they are the first group since Sade to have their first seven albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200. The Backstreet Boys are sometimes referred to as BSB. 1 Chapter I Formation and early years (1992–1995) Cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell, both of whom came from Lexington, Kentucky, initially began singing in local church choirs and festivals while they were children. Howie Dorough and A.J. McLean were natives of Orlando, Florida, who met each other and later discovered Nick Carter through auditions who joined the two for local commercials, theater, and television. The three, realizing at one audition, that they all shared a great affection for classical soul which they were able to harmonize together, decided to form a trio. Meanwhile, Richardson moved to Orlando, where he took a job as a tour guide at Disney World and concentrated on music at nights. Eventually, he met Dorough, Carter, and McLean through a co-worker, and the four decided to form a group. Brian Littrell was later invited to join, turning the group into a quintet. In the course of all this, Lou Pearlman, in early 1992 had placed an ad in Orlando Sentinel announcing auditions to compose a boy band. A.J., who was the first to audition for Pearlman in his living room, became the group's first member. In January 1993, Pearlman held an open casting call during which hundreds of young performers danced and sang at his blimp hangar in Kissimmee, south of Orlando. Eventually, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, and Howie Dorough were selected meeting Pearlman's expectations. Pearlman decided to call the group Backstreet Boys naming it after 2 Orlando's Backstreet flea market. The group had its very first performance at Sea World Orlando in May 1993. Chapter II Backstreet Boys (1996–1997) The first single that was chosen to be released was "We've Got It Goin' On" which was sent to radio in August and released as a physical single on September 5, 1995. The song was a minor success in the States peaking at only No. 69 by December, the single; however, enjoyed quite a success in Europe entering the top-5 in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and the Netherlands. European success sent them on a summer tour there and shifted the Backstreet Boys' promotion being mostly done in Europe. In November 1995 they filmed their second video music for their second international single, "I'll Never Break Your Heart", which was only issued in Europe on February 12, 1996. They finished recording their first album Backstreet Boys in April 1996 and filmed their fourth music video, "Get Down (You're the One for Me)" in Germany. On May 6, 1996, their debut album was released internationally, with an exception of the US and the Canadian markets; however, it was later released in Canada in October, 1996. European popularity grew and the Backstreet Boys kicked off 1996 being voted the No. 1 international group by TV viewers in Germany, in the meantime, "I'll Never Break Your Heart" reached a Gold status there for selling 250,000 units. The group earned their first platinum record in Germany in 1996 for selling 500,000 units of their debut album Backstreet Boys during which time they began touring Asia and Canada. The Backstreet Boys quickly became one of the most successful debut artists in the world collecting awards such as Germany's Viva Comet Awards in 1996 for the category of Durchstarter (Best Newcomers) Chapter III Backstreet's Back and American success (1997–1998) The Backstreet Boys began recording their second album Backstreet's Back and also recorded the song, "If You Stay", for the Booty Call soundtrack later released in February 1997. They released "Anywhere For You" as the last single off their international album 3 on February 17, 1997. The single "Quit Playing Games With My Heart" released in May 1997 for their upcoming U.S. debut album managed to climb as high as No. 2 on Billboard Hot 100 eventually earning them a platinum-award for selling over one million units. While the album Backstreet's Back was released internationally (with an exception of the US market) in August 1997, their self-titled U.S. debut, which consisted of songs from Backstreet's Back and the previous self-titled international version of Backstreet Boys, was released in U.S. on August 12, 1997. The U.S. self-titled debut peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. album chart, which eventually sold 14 million copies at their home. Meanwhile, the second international release Backstreet's Back had already peaked at No. 1 in Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, selling well over five million units in Europe alone. The two self-titled albums, the international version and the U.S. version of Backstreet Boys sold more than 28 million copies worldwide, 14 million of which were sold in U.S. In 1997, Brian Littrell brought a lawsuit against Lou Pearlman and Trans Continental claiming that Pearlman has not been truthful about the earnings made by the group. In the following year, McLean, Richardson and Dorough joined the lawsuit which eventually resulted in a number of settlements. In 1998, in the course of their US sold-out 39-city tour, Brian Littrell underwent an open- heart surgery (which he had postponed twice in the past) at the insistence of his then girlfriend (and now wife) Leighanne. Littrell 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 canceled an appearance in Minnesota after learning that Howie Dorough's sister had died of lupus. Chapter IV Millennium (1999–2000) While in the middle of a lawsuit, they began recording the follow-up to their 1997 releases at the beginning of October 1998. All versions of Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time album released prior to May 18, 1999 featured previews of tracks from their upcoming album Millennium. The worldwide hit single "I Want It That Way" which topped the single-charts in many countries including the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, New Zealand, made anticipation for Millennium high. Millennium was 4 released on May 18, 1999, on which day the Backstreet Boys made a heavily publicized appearance on MTV's Total Request Live Millennium . The album entered the Billboard 200 at No.1, and managed to sell 1,134,000 copies in its first week of release. 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. It also holds the record for most shipments in one year, with 11 million shipment. 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 2008, the album stands as the fourth best selling album in the US of the Sound Scan era. By October 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. Chapter V Black & Blue and Greatest Hits (2000–2001) A trip to the Bahamas was made by the group members in May 2000 to write songs for their album. They began recording their next album on July 1, 2000 in Stockholm Sweden, which wrapped up its recording sessions in September. A song completed during the July recording sessions, "It's True", was released on August 28, 2000 to a compilation sold by Burger King. They released the album's first single, "Shape of My Heart", to radio on October 3, 2000. The Backstreet Boys released their next studio album Black & Blue on November 21, 2000, and to promote the release of the album, 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. It recorded the best international sales in a week for an album in history by selling over 5 million copies in its first week of sales. In the United States, it sold 1.6 million discs in the first week making them the first artist since The Beatles to achieve back-to-back million plus first week sales.