Backstreet Boys

Assembled in 1993, Backstreet Boys were primary in spearheading the Y2K boy-band revival with smooth harmonies, precision-grade pop songs, and pinup-ready looks. Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, AJ McLean, and Kevin Richardson began their career playing amusement parks and shopping malls around Orlando, FL, releasing their first single, the swaggering “We’ve Got It Goin’ On,” in 1995. That song was a hit in Europe, but their first taste of U.S. success came in 1997, when the sparkling ballad “Quit Playing Games With My Heart” established the quintet as teen idols; their first U.S. album, Backstreet Boys, came out in August of that year. The 1999 follow-up Millennium was stuffed with hits that would help define turn-of-the-century pop, including the swaying “I Want It That Way” and the despairing “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely.” Black & Blue, released in 2000, maintained the Boys’ position in Top 40 royalty, with singles like the pulsing confessional “The Call” and the wide-eyed “Shape of My Heart.” Following a brief hiatus in the early 2000s, the group returned in 2005 with Never Gone, which featured a more grown-up sound that peaked on the crashing power ballad “Incomplete.” Richardson left the band the following year, but BSB soldiered on in the years that followed, releasing albums that showed off their still-strong harmonies, headlining cruises, and sharing a headlining slot with New Kids on the Block on the arena-filling NKOTBSB tour. Since Richardson’s return in 2012, Backstreet Boys have continued to tour and release albums. In 2020, they began hosting All I Have To Give Radio on Apple Music Hits. Even though their name remains the same, they’ve proved that the evolution from “boy band” to “man band” can result in pop bliss.