Backstreet Mom: A Mother's Tale of Backstreet Boy AJ McLean's Rise to Fame, Struggle With Addiction, and Ultimate Triumph (13 page)

We introduced ourselves to everyone. The boys seemed to hit it off
right away and greeted Alex with hearty handshakes. The introductions
finished and I found a seat. Suddenly, Lou's office door opened and he
stepped out with a mother and son that I remembered from the auditions. I found out later that Lou had been torn between two of the boys
and wanted to speak to them both before we started our meeting. It was
at that point that one boy and his mother left the house. I couldn't really
tell from their expressions what had taken place but that was all to be
revealed soon enough.

There was a small electronic keyboard in the room that was not there
the last time we came. I wondered if they were going to be using it today.
Lou walked into the room and called the boys over to him. He introduced
himself again and told them how happy he was to finally have his new
family there with him. As he beamed with delight, Lou told the boys
about the music he had been writing. He wanted them to hear it. After
grabbing an acoustic guitar from the other room, he sat down to play.

I quickly understood why he had never pursued a singing career of
his own. His voice was okay, but it was also undeniably weak. He could
carry a tune, that was about it. The boys watched and listened. All of a
sudden, one of them started to sing along. Lou just smiled and kept
going. Before long all of the boys were singing along with Lou. Then
they started experimenting with harmonies. We parents looked at one
another in amazement. Something really incredible was taking place
right before our eyes. All we could do was smile as the group and Lou
continued singing.

When they were done, they shook hands, gave high fives and jumped
around the room like they had just won a championship ball game. I
must admit that it was pretty cool to watch those six boys join in without trying to out-do or out-sing each other in any way. They just seemed
to blend naturally.

Once the room settled down, Lou outlined his master plan for the
group. He told us he had decided on six boys instead of seven. He also
said he had come to terms with a pair of local talent agents who had
agreed to take the boys under their wing for rehearsals and singing lessons. This was the team of Jean Tanzy and Sybil Galler, who had helped
with the auditions.

Jean smoked heavily and had chiseled features that looked older than
her years. She had long salt-and-pepper hair and a very husky voice.
Sybil was the opposite of Jean-a short, young woman with well-kept
blonde hair who was always dressed nicely. She had a perky attitude
and was usually smiling. I suppose they complemented each other.

Alex and one of the other boys, Nick Carter, had been signed with
Jean and Sybil for acting lessons. I had never heard them speak about
any experience in the music business, but apparently jean had done
some singing professionally in the past. She told Lou that she had contacts in New York who could help with getting the new group a record
deal. That confused me a bit since Lou had always spoken of starting his
own label in Orlando.

After the little sing-along session, Lou showed the boys some videos
of performances by the New Kids. He explained how he had met their
manager and picked his brain about how to form a boy band.

We all got to know each other a bit that day and the tension that had
greeted us when we arrived eventually disappeared. I was able to breathe
a bit easier. Our holidays were fine, spent with the family as usual. I
think both Alex and I were eager to get them over with that year so that
we could see what was going to happen next.

At the end of December I got a phone call from Gloria telling us that
Lou wanted to throw a birthday party for Alex on the ninth of January
at his home. That was great news! Given the fact that Alex's birthday
came around right after Christmas I was usually strapped for cash. My
son invariably got a raw deal. Typically, people purchased one gift for
him and said that it was for both Christmas and birthday.

Journal Entry, January 9, 1993: Lou had a cake for AJ's birthday todaywhat a great guy! Alex's fifteenth birthday and last night was the first gathering of the Backstreet Boys. Jean, Sybil and Lou picked seven boys at first.
There was a decision to be made between Damon and David. After a long
time behind closed doors both boys appeared with about the same amount of
confidence and nervousness. We were to find out the next day that Damon
had been picked over David. So, Saturday morning David and his mother
left to return to Miami and the rest of the boys began rehearsing and continuing to get to know each other. Names in order of age youngest to oldest
are: Nick, AJ, Damon, Burk, Howard and Sam. Damon was chosen as the
alternate later that day. He was not very happy about that and I would not
be surprised if he eventually drops out of the group.

WITH THE INITIAL ANXIETIES out of the way, the boys began rehearsing
and learning the words to the songs that Lou had written for them. It
quickly became clear to me that the two partners Lou had enlisted to
help with the boys and their schedules lacked organizational skills. It appeared to me that the boys needed some assistance with the daily
tasks. Having a written schedule of rehearsals, school and homework
would be very helpful to the parents. I spent some time banging on my
trusty word processor and worked up some ideas for forms that would
fit the bill.

When I showed the package to Lou he was impressed. Since I was the
one who would be bringing Alex back and forth, to and from rehearsals,
why not put me to work? It appeared that I was the only parent to come
up with such a plan. No sooner had Lou approved it than I set about
putting my organizational skills into motion.

Not long after that, Lou called me and asked me to gather some background information about the boys. We needed to write bios for the
press packet. I was thrilled! The weekend of Alex's fifteenth birthday
had been one of the most enjoyable weekends for me in a long time. I
finally felt like something was beginning happen.

My son and I were a part of it. I could not help but think that going
back to work on Monday would be difficult. I did not relish the thought
of returning to the same day-to-day grind. On the bright side, I did have
the following weekend to look forward to. And so my role with the
Backstreet Boys began to take shape.

IT DID NOT TAKE LONG for me to figure out that there were problems that
had nothing to do with organization. There were problems with parents, contracts and egos. Damon, the alternate, became angry when he
was told that he could not perform in the first show that Backstreet
landed. That caused a major argument and after several closed-door
sessions with Lou, Damon quit.

More problems arose with Burk. I don't know exactly what happened
there, but Lou and Burk's mother had some terrible shouting matches.
Whatever the reasons, he also ended up leaving.

Lou went back to his audition-tape vault and found a young man
named Charles. Unfortunately, he did not last very long either. He had a
hard time staying on key with the other boys and had been in an auto
accident that left him with scars across his chest. The fact that the boys
at some point may have to bare their chests for a photo shoot was a
reality. It was a sad day when he was let go.

All of us so desperately wanted the group to work that we chalked
the problems up to the obvious age differences that existed, along with
the differences in the boys' family backgrounds. It was our hope that the
problems would heal themselves.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. One day, moments before they went
on stage at a small nightclub, Sam decided that the group could not sing
a song that he had written. Tempers flared and another member was
gone. To our surprise, Lou reacted very calmly. Later that night we found
out why. In the audience was a young man that Lou had been priming
for the group. His name was Kevin Richardson.

When Kevin sang with the other boys, it was clear that he was just
what we had been looking for. He was tall, dark and handsome. With
his chiseled looks and a model's build, Kevin was just the ticket to drive
the older teen market crazy.

With his high-cut cheekbones (that would make any woman jealous)
and Tom-Cruise-like good looks, it was no wonder that he had spent
some time playing Aladdin over at Disney. Topping off his muscular
frame was a head full of silky dark-brown hair.

If you ever found yourself deep in conversation with Kev, he would
fix his piercing eyes on you and make you feel as though you were the
only one in the room. He was intense for a man of his age, but he had
been through a lot in his young life and never took his good fortune for
granted.

When the smoke cleared, there were four boys left: Kevin, Howard
(who we called Howie), Alex and Nick. Lou deliberately set out to have
each member of the group appeal to a certain demographic. The way he
envisioned it, there should be something for everyone, from preteen to
adult.

Alex had grown into a rather gangly young man of five-foot-seven. He
had very thick dark-brown hair and inky black, long-lashed eyes. There
was no denying his Latino background. It was the same with Howie, but
in a more mature way. Even though he was shorter than the other boys,
Howie made his mark with his huge smile and the charming way he had
with the ladies. Where Alex had straight hair, Howie's was curly, creating
a nice contrast among the four boys. And then there was Nicky.

Immediately tagged as the baby of the group, Nick Carter was only
twelve when he joined the other three boys on their strange and wonderful journey. He was your typical tow-headed blond with big baby
blues. Since he had not yet hit puberty, Nick was able to hit the high
notes with relatively little trouble.

Much to everyone's dismay, even though we seemed to be back on
track, something was still missing. It was an intangible something at first,
but then it became quite clear. There had to be five members in the group.
Everything that had been written for them thus far consisted of five-part
harmony. And so it began ... the desperate search for that fifth member.

The next few months were a blur. We once again went through audition tapes, and held new auditions with the hope that someone who fit
the part would materialize. The pressure was on as the deadline of their
first show approached.

The boys rehearsed the best they could. It had been a very emotional
few months for all of us. It had been really disheartening to have three
of the original members leave, with no backup in sight. It was only after
Kevin talked to the boys one night after rehearsals that our spirits picked
up a bit. He told them about his cousin Brian who was in his last year of
high school back in their home state of Kentucky.

Kevin explained that Brian could sing gospel and soul like an angel.
Being blond and fair-skinned with bright blue eyes, he also had a good
"look" to add to the group. Up until that point, the dark-haired outnumbered the fair-haired, three to one, with Nicky being the odd man
out. It seemed worth a shot.

Kevin said Brian was your typical "boy next door." Since the idea
behind the group was to bring about a new image for mothers and daughters to swoon over, that seemed like a good fit as well. So with the boys'
blessing, Kevin made a phone call home. The die was cast for what
would ultimately culminate in the grouping of the final five members of
the Backstreet Boys.