Backstreet Mom: A Mother's Tale of Backstreet Boy AJ McLean's Rise to Fame, Struggle With Addiction, and Ultimate Triumph (12 page)

At that point, she asked Alex if he was prepared to sing and do his
dance routine. Alex said yes and we all sat down to wait for Lou. When
he emerged from what appeared to be an office, he asked Alex to sing.

Alex gave it his all that day. When it came time for the dancing, Alex
did a split and then popped back up. He had those moves down! When
he finished, Gloria asked us several questions about what types of roles
and shows Alex had done during his career. Alex told them about his
musical theater background going back to the age of six.

Alex then told them he had always dreamed of being in a group like
this and he was very excited to be auditioning for it. That was news to
me! Alex had never mentioned this to me before, so I had no clue that
he had any interest in this type of thing.

I just sat and listened to my son go on and on about himself, his
career and his dreams of becoming a pop star. It was all very revealing to
me. When Alex was through we were told, "Good job. We'll call you
soon."

Those words had rung in our ears so many times before, with nothing coming of it, that I could see the disappointment in my son's eyes as
we left to get into the car. On the way home he confessed that he had a very good feeling about all of this. I tried to be just as positive, but [ was
very confused about the whole situation. My mind kept going back to
the reading and the psychic telling me how this man was going to change
my life. I just kept praying it would be sooner rather than later.

After a few anxious weeks of waiting, Alex convinced me to call for
an update. Gloria informed me that Alex had definitely been chosen for
the group, but had to wait while they continued their search for the rest
of the members. At that point I felt it was necessary to have a serious
talk with my son. We had to decide if this was going to be a genuine
opportunity or just another dead end.

I told Alex the good news about the phone call with Gloria but then
asked him to think long and hard about the direction he wanted his
career to take. Up until now his goals had been on theater and his dreams
had been Broadway bound. Alex thought for a moment and then looked
me straight in the eye as he told me how it had always been his secret
desire to dance and sing on MTV, just like all his pop idols. "The theater
is a nice goal," he said, "but music has always fascinated me in ways I
can't really explain."

Alex said that being in a group with other guys like him would be
like having the brothers that he never had; it would be an extension of
our little family. At that, my heartstrings gave a tug. Alex was as serious
as I had ever seen him. He wanted to do this more than anything. It was
almost like he instinctively knew what was ahead of him. I got a very
weird feeling about that conversation. It was like the feeling I got when
we drove up to that big white house.

SEVERAL FOLLOW-UP PHONE CALLS with Gloria revealed a bit more
about the mysterious Lou Pearlman. He was cousin to pop legend Art
Garfunkel, but the references were so vague that we never knew for
certain. For years Lou had written music with the hope of breaking into
the industry, but with no success. Luckily, he had another passion: airships, commonly known as blimps. With the help of a financial backer
in Germany, Lou had built a successful airship company.

Originally from New York, Lou and a few childhood friends moved
to Orlando to start up a billboard business that used airships. They
worked with theme parks and large companies until the company began making a profit. Despite that accomplishment, Lou's real dream was
to enter the music industry Before we met him, he had spent much of
the previous year researching how the New Kids had become such a
household name. It was obvious to him that a winning formula was at
work. All he needed to do was copy it.

In his opinion, the timing was right for a new boy band. Lou did his
homework and decided to pull in some shareholders to front him the
money he needed for the venture. Most people were skeptical. It was hard
to believe that this man, a titan in the airship industry, could deliver the next teen sensation. But he was persuasive and managed to raise the
initial capital he needed.

After learning about Lou and his dreams of stardom with this boyband idea, I decided not to quit my day job just yet. I continued to plug
away with my kids and computer classes. Alex kept up with his acting
and singing lessons. Not much changed until the next time I spoke to
Gloria. She said they had held more auditions and were pretty much set
on a boy named Tony Donetti.

Gloria asked me if I knew him and I told her about the Latin carnival.
She asked if we had any contact information for Tony, as she had misplaced it and Lou really wanted him for the group. I told Gloria that I
would do my best to locate a telephone number or address. When I
asked Alex, he said he thought that Tony Donetti was actually his stage
name. I got in contact with Alex's old voice teacher, who also had worked
with Tony, and he told me that Tony's real name was Howard Dorough.

By April 1992, Alex had become the first Backstreet Boy. It would be
another year before the final five members were in full swing. That was
our first introduction to the well-worn mantra of "hurry up and wait."
All we knew for sure was that, with the addition of Howard Dorough,
there were now two members of this boy band.

Alex and I went through the anticipation-elation-frustration cycle
many times over the course of that year. Each time the phone rang, Alex
got his hopes up about being called to start rehearsals. I checked in
periodically with Gloria for updates. However, as time passed, I got the
impression that there was a stumbling block in the way.

Doubts again clouded my mind. Had we done the right thing by moving here? Was this the best way to go with my son's career? I had come
to realize that my son had developed very good instincts as well. Even
with all the doubts that I was suffering he never seemed to flinch. He
kept insisting this was the right thing to do. Not entirely convinced, I
called some friends in Los Angeles to see if their children were faring
any better. They told me that a few parts had come their way, but nothing substantial. Maybe moving again was not the right thing at that
point, but I was getting ants}' and needed something to break. Some
light at the end of the tunnel. A crumb ... anything! Then the call came.
Sadly, it was not the one my son was hoping for.

Gloria called to ask for my help once again. Lou wanted to hold a
final casting call to search for the remaining group members. They both
felt that if the call were large enough they would find who they were
looking for. Putting my reservations aside, I called all of the contacts I
could think of. My list included talent agents, casting directors and even former acting coaches that Alex had worked with over the past couple
of years.

Then Lou, Gloria and I sat down and made up an ad to place in newspapers and trade journals. We enlisted the help of talent agents Jean
Tanzy and Sybil Galler, with whom Alex had been taking classes for a
few months. They had never actually gotten him any work, but they
talked like they knew a lot of people in the industry. At that point, I
figured we could use all the help we could get.

Lou cleared out a blimp warehouse for us to use as a temporary stage
and holding area. I helped design some forms for the kids to fill out
when they got there. Lou, Jean, Sybil and Gloria made up the panel to
evaluate the talent. We got video equipment and sound equipment set
up. Alex choreographed a dance routine for the candidates to try. All we
needed were the bodies.

As I worked more closely with Gloria I asked her what the hold up
had been. She told me that Lou had decided to go with seven young
men instead of five-and for two reasons. First, he wanted to make sure
he had a backup if it turned out that the commitment level of the boys
ever wavered. Second, he wasn't completely sold that five was the magic
number. For some reason, he had it in his head that six boys would
round out the harmonies better.

I wasn't too happy about that as I felt it would really slow down the
process. Finding five boys who could sing together was going to be
difficult enough. Now we had to choose seven young men who sounded
great together and two of them were going to have to settle for being
used as "backup." Based on my son's growing trust in Lou, I decided to
stick with it.

Once word got out, the phone calls started rolling in. We tried to do
some screening over the phone to make sure that the boys knew exactly
what they were getting into. Finally, after days of preparation, the weekend arrived and it was time to begin the auditions. Thankfully, the weather cooled off somewhat. That was a blessing since the warehouse was
not air-conditioned.

We all got there early to set up our tables, chairs and equipment. I
could tell from the long list of names that Gloria had collected that we
were in for a long weekend. One after another they came. They danced,
they sang, they left. It seemed endless and some were not very easy to
listen to. Finally, after two days of auditions, Lou announced that he
had the group that he wanted. Waiting for the next step was torture.

ABOUT A WEEK LATER, we went to Lou's house to meet the other boys.
Alex barely slept the night before. Watching him, it was hard for me to
not get enthused as well. As we approached the "big, white house," it
dawned on me that the holidays were upon us. The coming year could
be one that I would never forget. But was I getting too excited?

Lou's faith in the project had never wavered. He was always encouraging and he stayed focused on his goals. He was one of those people
who made you feel like family from the first moment you met him. He
had a knack for making you believe in him and his dream. It was no
wonder that he had convinced the airship shareholders to invest in the
group. I could tell by talking with Alex that he was developing a deep
respect for Lou and what he had accomplished so far in his life. That
growing respect made Alex very passionate about becoming a member
of the group.

Despite all our warm-and-fuzzy feelings, the question remained, did
this man that we had come to trust have the ability to make my son's
dream come true? Whenever I discussed the project with friends and
agents, it was clear to me that they were skeptical. More than once I
heard about just how fickle the music business could be. Countless bands
each year tried to make it and failed.

But every time someone condemned the project, I found myself defending it. Maybe it was the trusting glow I saw in my son's eyes. Throughout my life I have had premonitions about things. Gut feelings that I
learned to follow after many years of learning to read them. This was
definitely one of those times. I sensed that this was the beginning of
something big. I thought back to the reading with Matthew. He had
been so emphatic about how this man would change our lives.

All of those things flashed through my mind as we got out of the car
and began the walk into our future. I just kept praying this was the right
decision. I remembered watching Alex at the auditions as he worked
with the other boys. He demonstrated enormous confidence and seriousness as he showed them the dance moves they had to learn. He had
patience when they made mistakes and worked with them over and
over until they felt good enough to try it on their own.

When we walked into the house there was a lot of tension in the air.
Gloria looked nervous, sort of edgy. She greeted us hastily and led us
into the game room, where there were a lot of people sitting around. I
recognized some of the boys from the auditions. It appeared they were
all with their parents. Not everyone looked happy. I wondered what we
had missed. The scene did not look promising and Lou was nowhere to
be seen.