The Beginning

The Boys

Their Families

Their Team

Contact Them

Their Handwriting

Quotes

Howie Dorough was born in Orlando Florida.  From a young age Howie showed a strong interest in singing and his 4 older siblings encouraged him to pursue it.  Howie's older sister Polly Anna was already involved in the entertainment industry and she helped Howie to get involved with her.  Howie befriended a girl named Sally Wood and the two of them played opposite parts in a countless number of plays and musicals.  When Howie was a teenager he signed with an agent that encouraged Howie to change his name to Tony Donetti.  Howie didn't' particularly like this but his agent believed it would help him to get discovered.  One day Howie was asked to perform the National Anthem at a school basketball game and he agreed but when he stood up to sing his mind went blank!  Howie forgot the words!  Despite the extreme embarrassment, Howie got right back on his horse and began performing again.  Howie's stage name, Tony Donetti, almost prevented him from joining the BSB.  After he auditioned to be in the group the management wanted to contact him but they lost his phone number.  They tried looking it up but of course there was no listing under the name "Donetti".  It took them forever to finally figure out his true name and phone number.  It's lucky for us that they did!

At the auditions for the Backstreet Boys another boys stood out, Nick Carter.  Nick was born in Jamestown, NY and when he was four years old his parents moved to Ruskin Florida to start a new business. When Nick played a small part in the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" he was bit by the acting bug.  When Nick was ten years old his singing teacher got him the chance to sing at a Tampa Bay Buccaneers games.  He had to sing in front of 55,000 people!  Following his amazing performance Nick pursued both acting and singing.  Nick got many small parts in commercials and even a part in "Edward Scissors hands".  When Nick was 12 he went to audition for the Backstreet Boys.  The management was hesitant because he was so young but they were overwhelmed by his talent and wanted him to join the group.  At the same time he was accepted into the Backstreet Boys he was also accepted into the Mickey Mouse Club.  It was a difficult decision for him but he finally made his life changing choice, to become a Backstreet Boy.

At first two other boys were accepted into the group, Sam Licata, and Charles Edwards.  They were two extremely talented boys but they did not have the drive to continue with the group.  Soon after joining they both left.  They quit just before their first performance at Sea World.  This put the management in a bad position.  THey needed to find two more members and they needed to find them quick!

Kevin Richardson was born in Lexington, Kentucky.  From a young age Kevin sang in his church choir and had a strong interest in music.  Kevin's family moved to a long cabin called Cathedral Domain and he lived there for nine years.  It was a children's camp located in the foothills of the Appalachian mountain range.  Kevin made friends with  Keith McGuffrey who was also very interested in music.  They both would try and play their favourite pop songs on the piano by ear.  When Kevin was 13 he received a synthesizer for Christmas and he began to imitate the heavy rock bands of the early 80's.  Kevin and Keith recorded the first song they ever wrote together, "As Time Goes By".  The two boys planned to start their own company, K&K Productions, they completed 20 songs and they had about 30 unfinished.  After seeing the movie Top Gun, Kevin had a new dream to join the air force.  He enlisted to the air force but had to wait for his enlistment date.  Kevin began thinking twice about joining the air force so he asked his recruitment officer to delay his recruitment a little longer but the officer said no!  He told Kevin that he could enlist now or never come back.  Kevin decided to leave.  Kevin decided to follow his musical career to Florid where he heard about a musical group looking for more members.  He decided to audition for the Backstreet Boys. 

After signing Kevin to the team the management still felt the group needed one more member.  Kevin immediately thought of his younger cousin Brian.  Brian was sitting in his American History class when he received a call from his cousin that would change his life.  Brian was born in Lexington Kentucky.  When he was a very young boy it was discovered that Brian had a tiny hole in his heart and was suffering from a rare and life-threathening blood infection.  The doctors gave Brian a zero percent chance of living and told his parents to begin planning his funeral.  But Brians' parents refused to believe it.  They prayed and prayed for their sons life and slowly but surely Brian began getting better.  The doctors then said that Brian would probably never walk like normal children but Brian wouldn't believe them.  He began playing soccer with the kids behind his house.  Brians parents worried that soccer was a little bit to physical so they bought him a basketball.  Brian was an active happy child - the doctors were wrong.  Brian missed so much school due to his illness that he had to be held back a year.  That's how he met his lifelong friend Chris Cawood.  Brian and Chris were inseparable.  When Brian was 10 he began to sing solos at his church for Christmas or Easter.  Brian toured the country with a youth choir from Kentucky.  Brian, Kevin and Brian's older brother would harmonize together fort eh rest of the family.  Though Brian and Kevin were close Kevin  hung out with Brain's brother because they were much closer in age.  When Brian received the phone call  he talked with his parents about the situation and the next day he was on a plane to Florida.  Two weeks after he met the rest of the guys, the band went to their very first big concert at Sea World.  Brian still could not believe what was happening to him.  His dreams were coming true!