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Even if the name Backstreet Boys sounds foreign, chances are you know their music. The group shot to fame in the late 90s with hits like “Quit Playing Games With My Heart,” and “I Want It That Way.” Six of the group's albums have been in the Billboard 200 Top 10. It has recorded numerous hit songs and has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards.
When BSB's first U.S. album debuted in 1997, Littrell’s photo made elementary students squeal. Now, 14 years later, those same kids are adults — and many have kept on screaming.
The band has done a fair bit of growing as well. Their music has changed from standard boy band pop to acoustic rock to dance and they lost a member, Kevin Richardson. Littrell has shed his nickname “B-Rock,” in favor of his first name. “I’ve kinda out grown that phase,” he says.
“I got that title growing up as a Backstreet Boy, being a young man,” he says. “That’s not really my title now. I’m a grown man, husband, father.”
He could also add to that lyricist and song writer, as many BSB fans know. Littrell co-wrote the hit “Larger than Life,” in addition to “The One” and “The Answer to Our Life,” among others.
“I hear melodies in my head and I write about what I feel,” he says. “It’s a way for me to tell the fans, tell the public, what’s going on in my head and what’s going on at that time.
His favorite song he’s written, however, cannot be found on any Backstreet Boy album. That honor goes to the title song from his 2006 solo record, “Welcome Home.” “I wrote that song in Norway, I was on tour with the Backstreet Boys and I was really missing my family: my wife and my son,” he says. “So I laid down on my bed and I wrote a song.”
Family is important to Littrell, and closely intertwined with his music. It was on the set of the music video for “As Long As You Love Me” that he met his wife, Leighanne Wallace. Littrell still remembers the date that he set eyes on her: June 15, 1997. The song, needless to say, is one of his favorites.
Another on his top ten list is the monster hit, “I Want It That Way.” Earning three Grammy nominations and staying on the Billboard Pop chart for 26 weeks it may be the band’s most popular song. “Everybody’s favorite was ‘I Want It That Way,’” he says.
The chart topping success of the Backstreet Boys has continued into the 2000s and beyond. Since the group’s self-titled U.S. Debut album in 1997 they have made five more albums, all of which have been in the top ten of the Billboard 200.
What is the key to their success? According to Littrell, it is all about the music.
“People probably don’t want to read that as a particular answer,” he says. “But I really believe that in my heart.”
“With Backstreet Boys music we’ve found our place in a lot of people’s hearts and minds across the globe,” he says.
It has not been all smooth sailing for Littrell, who had to overcome several obstacles on his road to fame. In 1998, during the height of the Backstreet Boy success Littrell underwent open heart surgery. He was just 23.
“There was really no where to go to find answers or even to field questions or talk about what I was going through,” he says.
The experience motivated him to create Brian Littrell’s Healthy Heart Club, a charity that helps those with heart conditions. “We’re able to reach all over the world and teach people how to live healthy and live strong and not to let an unhealthy heart hold you back,” he says.
It has definitely not held Littrell back. The New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys tour is full of rigorous dance routines and loaded with testosterone, according to Littrell. With nine men dancing on stage that hardly comes as a surprise. And the fans, well, they love it.
“We see a lot of hard core New Kids fans singing Backstreet Boys songs, and a lot of hard core Backstreet fans singing New Kids songs,” he says. “Seeing the two generations of fans come together to sing our songs — that’s what we are all about.”
The fans are not the only ones singing along. Littrell can be heard singing the New Kids on the Block song “Valentine Girl,” backstage.
“I love Jordan’s part in the song,” he says. “It just sticks in my head and every night when I’m showering after the show I have to sing it.”
“Jordan probably thinks I’m making fun of him,” he says. “But I just can’t get it out of my head.”
The two bands get along well, despite the rumors that they were rivals. Littrell insists the New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys never really competed against each other. “We were really out at different times,” he says.
But what about that other famed rivalry with *NSYNC? Will the Backstreet Boys be touring around with them anytime soon? “No,” Littrell says immediately. There’s a half second pause before he laughs and continues.
“It’s not about *NSYNC,” he says. “It’s about New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys. And if it was with anybody else I don’t think it would work as well.”
What’s next for the Backstreet Boys?
The band is heading back to the studio this fall hard at work on another album. “We have a lot of surprises in store,” Littrell says before teasing, “Obviously, they won’t be surprises if I tell them now.”
A.J. McLean is returning to the studio, re-cutting his previous record.
Brian Littrell is working a solo record, but he is not forcing the process. He hopes it will be out next year.
Howie Dorough‘s first solo record Back to Me, is due out in November this year.
Nick Carter is promoting his latest record, I’m Taking Off, which was released on May 24.
Kevin Richardson is embracing his acting career after leaving the Backstreet Boys. He recently won the Independent Vision Award for Best Actor for his role in the 2011 film “The Casserole Club.” His next project is vampire movie musical, “The Bloody Indulgent.”
IF YOU GO
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Hersheypark Stadium, 100 W Hershey Park Drive, Hershey.
COST: $94.50, $74.50, $54.50 and $34.50
INFO: www.hersheyparkstadium.com; 717-534-3911
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