~Backstreet Boys_Taiwan~

The Boys are back in town
'90s pop sensations reunite for Backstreet Boys tour


EDMONTON - Boy band member -- now there's a designation not many self-respecting musicians would ever want to be saddled with.

Yet how many of those same musicians are filling hockey arenas -- like Brian Littrell and the rest of the Backstreet Boys?

Almost 16 years after the Boys were formed by self-styled svengali Lou Pearlman, Backstreet is still a going concern. Littrell -- no longer a boy at the age of 33 -- seems to have a refreshingly levelheaded view of what he does. "That's my job," he says. "It's how I make my living -- but it's wonderful that I also love what I do."

He could've been working in youth ministry, and very seriously considered it, but Littrell -- along with Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, A. J. McLean, and Kevin Richardson -- signed up with Pearlman for a run of albums in the late '90s. On the strength of hits such as Quit Playing Games (With My Heart), Everybody (Backstreet's Back) and I Want It That Way, the Boys became one of the most successful pop acts of all time.

Their hiatus in the early '00s -- just as the band's popularity was starting to wane -- gave Littrell the chance to work on a solo Christian contemporary album. A year after they regrouped in 2005, Richardson decided to opt out. The remaining four have since released a new album, Unbreakable.

Littrell and the rest of Backstreet are treating their former bandmate's decision with equanimity, even leaving the door open for a possible return.

"We're a family," he says. "If we didn't have each other, we wouldn't have a group, and we couldn't have any success without each other."

It's not the first time the Backstreet Boys have had to regroup.

"I'll never forget one night in Boston, years ago," Littrell sighs.

"We were supposed to go to a Red Sox game and sing the anthem, and A.J. had been out all night. I didn't know he'd had a problem. I was a hermit at that point -- I'd leave the stage and go to my room while A.J. was drinking. He tried to cancel on us that morning, and we knew he had a problem."

Littrell admits the group seriously considered giving McLean the boot -- both for his and their sake -- but they decided to stand together and give full disclosure of the group's problems.

"We're only as good as our weakest link and that link changes all the time," he laughs. "This was all before reality television. It would've been a great reality show, No. 1 in the ratings."

They wouldn't be lacking plot twists. Back in May, their original manager Lou Pearlman was sentenced to 25 years in prison for one of the biggest sustained scams in American history -- defrauding investors for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Pearlman has also had to deal with accusations of "inappropriate behaviour" from a few of his former charges. Littrell is indifferent to these developments and well he should be. Free of the shadow of their slimy former manager, Backstreet is now able to move on past the dreaded boy band designation.

According to Littrell, the ups and downs in their career have only served to strengthen the bond felt between the four. He's also quick to point out that his life isn't really bounded by the usual concerns of the famous. He's just as familiar with the mundane problems encountered by the rest of us.

"It all depends on how you look at it -- yes, I'm Brian from the Backstreet Boys, but off the road, I live a relatively normal life," he says. "I'm also a father and a husband; I'm a homebody. And really, while I get to work at something I love, I'd give it up in a heartbeat to be my boy's hero."

來源:http://www.canada.com/edmontonjourna...3a4e200320&p=2