At 18, Nickolas Gene Carter is the group's youngest member. He's also the
tallest (six-feet-one), the blondest and the most popular. Which is why
he's having a hard time convincing a record company rep to let him wear
his hair in a multitude of funky braids for the band's new video.
"It'll look phat," Nick insists, intent on modeling his look on Cloud,
a character in PlayStation's Final Fantasy VII game. Finally, a compromise
was reached: no braids, but a definitely more edgier-than-usual 'do
that complements Nick's futuristic get-up and plastic bubble gun.
With his cherubic face and his obsession with toys and comic books (he
plans on drawing the official Backstreet Boys series), Nick is every inch
the baby boy. But he's not as innocent as he seems. A five-year music industry
veteran, he's more business-minded and more worldly than his band
mates were when they were 18.
" I can't imagine having to deal with what we have to deal with now at
his age," says Nick's best pal Brian Littrell, 23. "When I was eighteen,
we weren't a hot commodity. I got to ease into it."
Nick, on the other hand, has a hard time remembering what it was
like not to be in high demand. Only 13 when he joined up with the
Boys, Nick worked with a full-time tutor from junior high on; this past
spring, he received his high school diploma in a hotel room while the group
was on the road.
Missing out on high school doesn't bother Nick, but missing out on every
day things--- like shooting hoops--- does. " I love basketball. Just to
play, period," says Nick, who once dreamed of playing college ball. " I
could be so much better, but I don't have the time."
He lamenets not having time for a girlfriend either. "Takes devotion,"
he says of a relationship, adding " A few of the other guys have had girlfriends
in the past, and it just didn't work."
Nevertheless, the Carter home near Tampa, Fla., remains a magnet for girls
who sit----sometimes all day long----with their faces pressed against the
eight-foot-high fence. Nick takes advantage of nearby Tampa Bay for his
escape from all the attention, spending time aboard his boat. Sometimes
he brings his family----sisters Bobbi Jean, 16 ; Lesley, 12 ; and Angel,
10 (whose twin brother, Aaron , is the clan's newest singing sensation);
dad Bob, his career advisor; and mom Jane, who manages Aaron. But often,
he sets sail alone.
"The ocean
does something to me that is unexplainable," Nick says. "Just being out
there and realizing I'm alive."
Brian Littrell
Brian Littrell is lucky to be alive. When he was five years old, his heart
suddenly stopped beating for about 30 seconds.
"I remember them taking me out of bed and putting me n a tub of ice to
cool my body off." the Lexington, KY., native says of the nightmarish hospital
stay that doctors said should have been his last. "Then they put me back
in bed with only a sheet to cover me.. Ten minutes later, they put me back
in the ice. This kept up for an hour. Then I blacked out."
His mom, Jackie, watched as her son's eyes rolled back in his head. Warned
that Brian, his heart weakend and infected, probably wasn't going to make
it, she did the only thing she could: pray. "I just had faith inside that
this wasn't the end for Brian," says Jackie. "God just reached down and
touched that child, and he started on his way up."
Eighteen years later, the Littrells, Jackie and Harold, found themselves
once again worrying about their youngest son (Brian's brother, Harold Jr.,
is 26). Last November, doctors discovered that a congenital hole in Brian's
heart had caused the organ to enlarge considerably: If it wasn't operated
on soon, his life could be in danger.
"My initial thought was, ' Great timing !' " Brian says, sighing. The Boys
were finally successful in the U.S., thanks to their first chart-topping
single, "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)." Two months without a lead
singer would seriously impact the group. So, for the benefit of the band----and
against the will of his parents' wishes---- Brian put off the procedure
for six months. ( He finally underwent surgery in May and is now fully
recovered.) Brian's mom resigned herself to his decision: "He's always
been a team player."
And a fighter. Jackie recalls Brian's annual attempts to join his high
school basketball team : "He never made it, because of his size." Finally
after gettin cut yet again his junior year, the church choirboy made an
announcement. "I learned something today," he said. "I can play ball as
good as any of those guys, but none of them can sing like me."
And now he's got the fans to prove it.
Howie Dorough
Howard Dorough, Howie D. for short, is known to other as Sweet D. "Once,
when we couldn't sign autographs because there were too many fans, he was
too nice and stopped, and got trampled by them," says A.J. McLean, Howie's
pal of 10 years and his BSB cofounder. " He fell down like a turtle on
his back, his feet kicking up.
Good-natured Howie, 24, loves to give back to his fans. While the other
Boys vacationed during Brian's recovery this past spring, Howie made appearances
in South America, where his Puerto Rican Heritage (on his mom's side) and
his Spanish speaking skills (he's even appeared on Spanish soap operas)
have made him incredibly popular.
Howie has been acting and singing since he was a kid, but his first real
love was dancing. "I was in an all-boy ballet group one time," says the
Orlando native (and arguably the Boys' best dancer) "It was cool as heck."
But then came a talent competition in Howie's senior year." When I sang
'Unchained Melody', I hit the high note and got a standing ovation," he
says. "When I was done, they didn't want to [see] any more people. They
were ready to give me the award."
Now the falsetto in a wildly successful singing group, Howie couldn't be
happier. Well, actually he could ---- if BSB's detractors would stop criticizing
them for not playing instruments. "You don't see Boyz II Men playing instruments,"
he says. "We're not like Hanson ---we're not a rock 'n' roll band. We're
an R&B harmony vocalist group."
As one
of the eldest Boys, Howie is focusing on the future: He's started a company,
Sweet D Inc., which is currently developing condominiums on Florida's east
coast. And he hired some of his family (which consists of mom Paula; dad
Hoke; older brother John; and older sisters Pollyanna, Caroline, and Angie)
to run the operation.
Sweet D-eal.
A.J. McLean
Alexander James McLean, known as A.J., is technically an
only child. But he considers the Boys his adopted brothers, and his mom,
Denise, is the group's unofficial den mother. She monitors their schedule,
deals with emergencies (like when Kevin Richardson had to have his appendix
out in Germany last October) and is the liaison for the band's international
fan clubs.
Denise and A.J.'s dad, Robert, got a divorce when A.J. was four years old.
Then, when he was six, A.J. says, "I saw him for about two days at Christmastime.
That was it. I never saw him again." Until he was 18, that is, when A.J.
decided to pay his dad a surprise visit. "This guy opens the door and I'm
like 'Is there a Robert McLean Home?' " says A.J., who earlier the same
morning had discovered that his father lived just a few minutes away from
his own Orlando apartment complex. "He said, 'Alex?' I was like, 'Whoa!
Dad, you recognize me?" I walked in, and there's Backstreet Boys stuff
everywhere ! He'd been keeping up with me since the day I started !"
The most rebellious Boy, 20-year-old A.J. plays up his nonconformist image
with frequent hair color changes, a variety of tattoos, and a gruff, rap-style
singing voice. But he wasn't always so tough, it seems. Laughs Howie, "The
first time I met him at a talent competition he was just a little
pip-squeak, a little geek." Howie and A.J. were both aspiring actors as
kids, and Howie reports that they were often up for the same parts because
of their similar Latin looks. "He was doing this little puppet show to
the Paula Abdul song 'Opposites Attract.'"
A.J.'s still an occasional puppeteer --- and he still loves to be in control.
In fact, although the Boys' record company executives and management
aren't exactly thrilled with his bad-boy look, he keeps pushing the limits.
Even today, with the smell of peroxide perfuming his newly bleached hair,
he's pondering his next style statement : a pierced eyebrow. Why is A.J.
so intent on challenging the powers that be? One good reason : "The fans
love it."
Kevin Richardson
He may not be the flashiest dancer. And of the five Boys, he probably has
the fewest lead parts to sing. But behind the scenes, it is Kevin Richardson,
the one the others sometimes call Freight, who keeps the speeding Backstreet
train on track. A perfectionist, Kevin approaches each task --- whether
it's giving a pep talk to his fellow singers during the TEEN PEOPLE photo
shoot or making sure a steak is barbecued just right --- with the take-charge
manner of a CEO. "My dad was probably the one who instilled that in me,"
says Kevin, 26, taking a break between Walt Disney World's Grad Night shows
underneath Cinderella Castle, the very place he used to suit up as Aladdin
when he worked there in 1993. " He would always say --- pardon my French
--- 'If you're gonna half-ass it, don't do it at all' "
His father Jerald's death from colon cancer six years ago made Kevin "a
lot more serious," says Brian, who's also Kevin's cousin (Brian's dad and
Kevin's mom, Ann , are siblings). A Kentucky native, Kevin joined
the Backstreet Boys soon after moving to Orlando. At 21, the baby of the
family (his brothers are Jerald Jr., 33, and Tim, 30) suddenly found himself
a big brother to his new band mates --- three of whom had yet to finish
high school. But Kevin's self-appointed role as the group watchdog doesn't
always sit well with the others.
"I think deep down inside he feels that his contribution
to the group is to be the oldest and to make sure everything is straight.
That's just the way he is," says Brian. "But here I am, gonna be twenty-four,
and I really don't need Kevin telling me what to do."
"The fellas probably think I'm the hardest or the roughest or the meanest,"
admits Kevin, "but I'll cry at the drop of a hat sometimes."
And in public, no less. When the group played for his home state for the
first time, Kevin teared up upon spotting his family in the audience. He
also wept during a show on their last trip to Montreal: "There was a kid
in the front row and I knew he was blind. He couldn't see us but he was
smiling. I said to A.J., 'He's blind, go and touch his hand,' and A.J.
did. And I just lost it."
Though the cutthroat music business can sometimes be unsettling for this
family-oriented country boy ( record execs have tried on occassion to break
up the group by offering certain members solo contracts), Kevin says fans
like that one make it all worthwhile.
"We're
touching people's lives and making people forget about their problems for
a moment." He pauses. "That's what music's all about, I think."