Bye bye Backstreet Boys
06/29/2006 - iafrica
The oldest member of the band claimed he was departing to pursue personal interests. 'After 13 years of what can only be described as a dream come true, I have decided that it is time to leave the Backstreet Boys,' the singer said in a statement. 'It was a very tough decision for me but one that was necessary in order to move on with the next chapter of my life. 'I would like to thank the Backstreet fans for all the beautiful memories we have shared together and look forward to including you in the next phase of my life.' The remaining members — AJ McLean, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, and Brian Littrell — had no intention of replacing Richardson. 'The door will always be open for him to return to the Backstreet Boys. We wish him the all the best in his future endeavours,' said the band. The also revealed that Richardson had been unsure about his future in the band for some time. 'Earlier this year, after much soul searching, Kevin Richardson came to us and told us that he had decided to leave the group and pursue other interests. He gave his blessing to continue the music without him.' The band will continue as a four-piece without him, as they are scheduled to record and release an album before the end of the year. The band rose to fame with a series of hit singles in the late '90s, selling more than 30 million copies of their three albums. The group took a break in 2001 when McLean entered rehab but reunited in 2005 to release the album 'Never Gone'.

From Boys to men
09/13/2005 - ottawasun
And all the more loveable as far as the 8,000 glowstick-waving teenaged girls were concerned at last night's Corel Centre show. For the first time in five years, the Backstreet Boys have a new album, ironically titled Never Gone. Their first since 2000's Black and Blue, proves that, love 'em or hate 'em, the Boys have transcended the genre they helped to create in the first place. POP WENT THE WORLD I'm not going to argue about whether bubblegum boy bands in general -- and BSB in particular -- is the best or worst thing to happen to American pop music, at least since Mitsou or the CB radio song craze of the mid-1970s. For the more than 8,000 fans, the question is not why, but why not? Between 1996 and 2000, the year of their last release, these five cuter-than-a-basket-of-puppies vocalists sold an astounding 73 million records, thanks to a string of infectiously hummable hits such as Everybody, I Want It That Way and Quit Playing Games with My Heart. And now, they're back on this Never Gone tour with more songs about boys, girls and crushes. But if that's the worst thing about the Backstreet Boys, spare your sympathy. Without question, the Backstreets delivered a fantastic Vegas-style show, beginning with a high-speed video of themselves as young boys just starting out while all five members -- Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, A.J. McLean, Kevin Richardson and Howie Dorough -- stepped choreographically down a spectacular stairwell of lights. With their first sighting, the loudest shriek of girl-power I've ever heard drowned out their opening tune The Call. If the boys really are a pre-packaged entertainment commodity, at least they are a very good one, as their opening set proved, delivering three torch-songs in quick succession in three-, four- and even five-part harmonies with quick-stepping choreography and special effects that continuously drove the fans into a frenzy while making their floorshow appear as easy and spontaneous when it was, in reality, tightly rehearsed and slickly packaged to tease and please. Backed by a funky live band, BSB turned out to be one of the better bubblegum pop shows on the market today. Covering many of the new songs, the Boys created a smooth, seamless flow between the new material and the older hits, Climbing the Walls, Shape of my Heart, The One, I Still ... , I Want It That Way, Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely, As Long As You Love Me, I'll Never Break Your Heart and Quit Playing Games. While the older material got the loudest cheers, the new songs, I thought, had more edge and showed how far the band has come since they were poster children for the terminally cute. SIBERIA HOT NUMBER One of the standouts was Siberia, complete with clouds of dry ice and snow as well as My Beautiful Woman, Crawling Back to You, Weird World and their encore Incomplete with A.J. and Nick singing around the piano joined by a chorus of 8,000. They might look a little older, a tad rougher around the edges, but as the 20-songs in their setlist showed, they're still teddy-bears inside. Opening was the next-generation boy band du jour The Click Five. With their Beatle-esque matching suits, mop-top hair, frisky personality and head-shaking, power-pop sound, The Click Five just might be the next band to watch if you're into that 1980s sound. You know, The Knack, Blondie and Cheap Trick, when music could still be loud and fun. Although they occasionally came dangerously close to parodying The Beatles, their tightly knit set, which included covers of I Think We're Alone Now and She's a Girl knocked me off my feet for their energy and style. But then, I'm a sucker for retro-pop.

Backstreet Boys reboot and update their boy-band format
07/25/2005 - sun-sentinel
Light applause followed. It's possible that some people in an outdoor crowd of 10,000 knew and cared about this development. Wright does have a part in the storyline: Boy-band apparatus reboots after long dormancy and seeks to integrate into a changed environment. The tour that opened on Friday in support of Never Gone, the Backstreet Boys' first album in five years, is as much a test of managerial skill as it is of entertainment strategy. The show began with a video montage recalling earlier conquests: Shots of screaming young fans and names of far-flung countries filled a pair of large screens. The Boys -- Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell and Nick Carter -- stepped into view on a lighted ramp and sang a thumping dance track, The Call, from the previous album, 2000's Black and Blue. Right away it appeared this would be a salute to teen-pop's golden years, 1996-2001. The two-hour performance back-tracked plenty, but all in all felt like a vote for continuity over nostalgia. The vocal quintet and a five-piece band offered up several songs from Never Gone, which resembles the old, millions-selling mix of prom pop and frothy r&b, but tinkers with the formula in places. The new ballad Incomplete -- sung late in the show with the quintet seated, unplugged-style -- grabbed a brick from Phil Spector's wall-of-sound productions by mingling high harmonies and a weighty low end trimmed with acoustic guitar strumming. To judge by Friday's tour launch, the Backstreet Boys still do what they do about as well as they did it before they went on sabbatical. And the things they never did well still elude them: They remain perhaps the worst dancers ever to sing while executing synchronized moves, with a wind-up-and-walk obedience to routine suggesting The Wizard of Oz's munchkin troopers. But give them a song, be it the dance-rocking Larger Than Life or the harmonizing Shape of My Heart, and the Backstreet Boys still hit their marks. They did it on Friday with ample energy but a minimum of chatter, declining to milk the occasion for meaning. If 'Backstreet's back,' to quote to the set's last song, it's back wearing a businessman's poker face instead of a boyish smile.

Backstreet Boys, today's Beach Boys?
07/07/2005 - jpost
My friend, Seth, is currently the guitarist in popular New York metal band Gods of Fire, so when the words, 'I wish I'd caught them last month at Irving Plaza,' popped out of his mouth I was shocked. 'You're joking, right,' I replied stunned. 'No, Harry, I'm completely serious. You can't deny that their harmonies are great.' I concurred, but Seth totally lost me when he went on to claim that the Backstreet Boys 'are the Beach Boys of today.' Sure, I can appreciate the vocal prowess and slick production of the Backstreet Boys, but that comparison just doesn't sit well with me; It's like saying Oasis are today's Beatles. (They aren't, by the way). So Backstreet's back, alright? Not really. The shtick this time around is that the band has grown up, and in lieu of attracting its former tween fans, the 'boys' are now going for the adult jugular. A bit more mature, the band ventures into Bryan Adams territory on Never Gone. The bubblegum dance numbers have been replaced by numerous dull and tiring power ballads with quiet verses and loud choruses. 'Incomplete,' the first single and the album's opener, is by far the strongest track. It shows some promise, smartly borrowing a Coldplay-esque piano riff, and it's buoyed by production that provides a cinematic appeal. Possibly the only breath of fresh air is the wacky 'Weird World.' Although the chorus unabashedly borrows from Burt Bacharach's 'Walk on By,' it's a fun, bouncy track anchored by a catchy piano riff, and offers something slightly different amidst the substandard balladry.

Backstreet's Nick Carter Fined for DUI
06/30/2005 - elitestv
The 25-year-old has plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of driving while under the influence, and been ordered to attend an alcohol education course. His license has been restricted for three months, and he must also pay a $1,200 fine. He will be put on probation for three years. Carter's publicist, Juliette Harris said,” We are grateful to his legal team, the court and district attorney. His required fulfillment of the alcohol program will not interfere with Backstreet Boy's current touring and promotions of the new album.' She also indicated that Carter is on prescribed medication, and this may have impacted his driving. The incident occurred on March 5 in Huntington Beach. Carter was pulled over after having been observed driving erratically. Over the course of their career, the Backstreet Boys' have sold over 73 million albums worldwide, and Never Gone seems to be following suit. The album, which was released on June 14, debuted at number three on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, but was number one in Japan, Germany, India, Chile and Korea. It is also near the top of the charts in Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, Mexico, and Brazil. D.R. Boyer

Backstreet Boys Member Becomes Cancer Spokesperson
06/15/2005 - undercover
Richardson became a cancer activist after losing his father Jerald to the disease in 1991. . In 2001, Kevin Richardson joined politicians from New York and other states in Washington, D.C. to introduce the 'Eliminate Colorectal Cancer Act,' which was established to promote education and early detection and treatment of colon cancer. The singer became involved with Provectus via an introduction from company CFO Peter Culpepper whose daughter is a young cancer survivor. Backstreet Boys were scheduled to appear at the Ready for Life cancer support fundraiser last weekend but the show was canceled due to mechanical problems. The event this year had 3 million participants in 4,200 communities and raised millions of dollars for cancer support.

BACKSTREET BOYS RUN OVER A FAN
05/31/2005 - contactmusic
The five-piece, NICK CARTER, AJ McCLEAN, HOWIE DOROUGH, KEVIN RICHARDSON and BRIAN LITTRELL, jetted into the German city ready for their gig in Cologne tonight (31MAY05) - their first performance in Germany for five years. But the Boys' return ended in pain and a trip to the hospital for 19-year-old fan JULIA WAGNER - who suffered a fractured leg when she was struck by the band's bus as it fought its way through a huge crowd at the airport. But the band did what they could to make up for the accident - Carter and Richardson visited Wagner in hospital, where she was treated, and promised to make her a VIP guest at tonight's concert. Carter said, 'We are so sorry for what happened. We'll make up for it.'

Backstreet Boys Ready for The Fifth
05/16/2005 - undercover
The album was produced by produced by Dan Muckalaas well as Billy Mann (Pink and Sting), John Ondrasik of Five For Fighting, and John Shanks (2004 Grammy Award Producer of the Year), John Fields (Switchfoot). The album will be released as a DualDisc in the United States with the DVD side featuring the 'Incomplete' video, 'Making Of' 'Incomplete' video, 'in-studio' and 'behind-the-scenes' footage. Track listing for Never Gone is: 1. Incomplete 2. Just Want You To Know 3. Crawling Back To You 4. Weird World 5. I Still ... 6. Poster Girl 7. Lose It All 8. Climbing The Walls 9. My Beautiful Woman 10. Safest Place To Hide 11. Siberia 12. Never Gone

Backstreet Boys hit radio festivals as album release nears
05/02/2005 - livedaily
So far, the vocal quintet has lined up a half-dozen May appearances at festivals throughout the country. Details are shown below. The roadwork hypes the June 14 release of 'Never Gone,' Backstreet Boys' follow-up to 2000's 8-million-selling 'Black & Blue.' The new set features the single 'Incomplete,' the music video for which debuted on MTV's 'Total Request Live' last week, and is currently listed at No. 1 on the Hot 5 Videos list at MTV's website. Meanwhile, pictures taken during the 'Incomplete' video shoot are posted at Backstreet Boys' website. Backstreet Boys plan to launch a summer headlining tour behind 'Never Gone' in mid-July. An itinerary has not been announced. As previously reported, 'Never Gone' features input from Max Martin, who was involved in the writing and production of previous Backstreet Boys hits 'Quit Playing Games (With My Heart),' 'As Long as You Love Me' and 'Everybody (Backstreet's Back).' Other contributors include Mark Taylor, who produced the title track (a cut that Richardson co-wrote as a tribute to his father, according to Jive Records), and Dan Muckala, who produced 'Incomplete,' as well as Billy Mann (Pink, Sting), John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting, John Shanks (2004 Grammy Award Producer of the Year), John Fields (Switchfoot) and Darren Hayes of Savage Garden. Backstreet Boys are scheduled to perform June 10 as part of 'The Today Show' concert series; June 14 on 'Live with Regis and Kelly,' June 16 on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,' and June 17 on 'The CBS Early Show.' The group will also turn up in the pages of People, Entertainment Weekly and Blender magazines.

Backstreet Boys' Carter Pleads Innocent to DUI
04/15/2005 - zap2it
The 'I Want It That Way' singer phoned in his plea through his attorney on Wednesday, April 13, since his presence was not required in court, report news sources. The charges stem from a March 5th incident in which the 25-year-old entertainer was pulled over for allegedly driving drunk after leaving Duke's Restaurant in Huntington Beach, Calif. Although Carter's publicist later released a statement that the singer's impaired state resulted from 'doctor-prescribed medication,' she did not specify what the medication was nor how this could cause his blood-alcohol level to test over the 0.08 limit. The next hearing is scheduled for Monday, May 2. Carter is the youngest boy band member of the Backstreet Boys, which also includes Kevin Scott Richardson, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough and A.J. McLean. After going their separate ways for a few years, the boys are back with their upcoming album 'Never Gone,' to be released in June. The first track, 'Incomplete,' was released on April 4. In the video, Carter is seen torching his bandmate McLean's sports car.