The debut single from the album, “Quit Playing Games With My Heart”, shot to number 2 on the Billboard 100 list and went on to sell over a million copies alone. Their second album, “Backstreet’s Back”, stormed the US market in mid-1997 eventually selling over a million copies. It would take the band another 12 months to conquer the US market and achieve the kind of success they were seeing elsewhere in the world.

They released their first album “Backstreet Boys” in May 1996, which became an instant success, particularly in Germany but was never released in the US. Capitalising on this interest, the Backstreet Boys toured the continent over the summer of 1995 gaining fans wherever they went. Their first single “We’ve Got It Goin’ On” barely made an impression on the Billboard charts although it did fare better overseas, particularly in European markets.

All five shared a love of soul music but success did not come easily in their home country. McLean was the first member of the band and an extensive audition process saw Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson and Howie Dorough join the fledgling group. It all began in Florida in the early 1990s when music mogul Lou Pearlman decided to put together a boy-band with the intent of emulating the success of New Kids on the Block. Not that they are not without their battle scars: They might have sold over 130 million records globally but it has not always been an easy ride for the band. New Kids on the Block are the badass boys of pop whilst their Southern cousins, the Backstreet Boys present the more soulful side of music. The Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block performed a medley of their songs to a capacity crowd, as a taster of their forthcoming 2011 joint tour.

The closing ceremony of the American Music Awards in November 2010 saw two of the country’s biggest boy bands join forces on stage.

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