Backstreet Mom: A Mother's Tale of Backstreet Boy AJ McLean's Rise to Fame, Struggle With Addiction, and Ultimate Triumph (38 page)

As we approached the venue, we saw fans lining the banks. At some
spots they were even jumping into the water as they tried to take pictures of the boys while screaming their names. Once we arrived backstage, everyone breathed a bit easier. The show was wild! The stage was
covered, but the 20,000-member audience was seated outdoors.

The show went fine until Kevin had a slight mishap. Apparently, when
he adjusted his battery pack for his microphone, he cut his hand without realizing it. He was in the middle of a song and reached out to a fan.
Suddenly, she jumped back as she saw his bloody hand approach. Realizing that something was wrong, Kevin looked at his hand in horror and
ran to the side of the stage, where Nina grabbed a towel and wrapped it
around the wound. He finished the show and we ran his cut under some
water to see the damage. It was actually just a small nick, so with some
quick bandaging we were off.

We headed straight for the airport to make our flight. Most of the
people at the show had not realized that we were leaving right away.
They had gathered around to wait for the boys to come out, sign autographs and take pictures. The boys actually did stop for a minute to do
that, but we had to rush them along in order to meet our departure
time. Since we had finished on schedule, we were able to spend two
extra days in Buenos Aires before we flew home. We all needed the
short break.

It was during that time that Nina came to my room and informed me
that she was leaving the boys once we got back to the States. I was
shocked by the news and begged her to stay. She said that the boys had
become too big-headed for her. She felt she could no longer be an effective tour manager for them. I was devastated.

I called Alex and pleaded with him to get the boys together and try to
come to some understanding with Nina. He made a valiant effort, but
some of the other boys did not agree, so Nina left in September 1998.

FOR THE NEXT FIVE MONTHS, it took every waking moment of every day
for Nicole and Ito maintain the boys' monumental schedule. There were
still two major trips to plan for overseas, as well as several promotional events in the States. We were barely able to keep things going, even
with the support now of my family and Nicole. I was beginning to feel
the stress with anxiety attacks and many sleepless nights. I began having headaches. Fearing that I would have a breakdown, Nicole constantly urged me to relax.

Grammys after-party, with Chevy Chase, his daughter and Ann, Kevin's mom

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Alex and I were still living in his house. During that time a number of
strange events had occurred in our home that I was not very happy
about, not the least of which was the gradual infringement of Amanda's
family into our lives.

Amanda had slowly moved her belongings into the house. She seemed
to stay overnight for longer periods of time. Somehow that indicated to
her family that they had the right to come and go as they pleased. That
really upset me. Alex spent more time with Amanda and her family than
with his own.

They told me on more than one occasion that they did not care that
their daughter was dating a Backstreet Boy. As the relationship between
Alex and Amanda grew, so did the gap between Alex and me. It appeared that my son had again aligned himself with a family whose matriarch was only interested in advising him how to live, especially if it
benefited her daughter's singing career and her family.

I became less and less tolerant of Amanda and her mother. That was
especially true during the several weeks I spent recovering from unexpected surgery. I got no help from any of them, including my son. Had it
not been for Nicole, my family and friends, my recovery would have
been a lot longer.

During that time of extreme craziness, Alex's behavior began to worry me. He became more withdrawn. Most of his time was spent out at
night until the early hours with Amanda and her brother. Alex claimed
he was playing pool or visiting with friends. But I did not like the way
he looked or acted. His face had taken on a tired drawn look. It seemed
that all Alex was interested in was sleeping all day and partying all night.
That caused quite a few arguments between the two of us.

We spent the rest of that year promoting the band at home. The boys
went back into the studio to record their next album. Many of the photo
shoots and interviews that were scheduled were done with one thought
in mind: it was important to position the boys in a way calculated to
push them over the top in the U.S. market.

Even though the boys had conquered most of the world, they still felt
that they needed to win over the American audience in order to make
their success complete. To this day, I am amused by the fact that one of
the most successful years in the boys' history was set up and marketed from the spare bedroom office in my house. I am quite certain that nobody ever knew that. Everyone looked at the jive office in New York as
the headquarters. In reality, it was our tiny makeshift office.

In some ways, the first five months after Nina left were the worst and
the best in my memory. I felt closer to all of the boys during that time
since they had no one else, besides family, to talk to. Sadly though, Alex's
attitude toward me vacillated. He went from worrying about my health,
due to all of the stress, to resenting me for trying to act as a manager for
his group. The fact was, I never wanted to be their manager.

There was a very weird vibe hanging in the air. I noticed that none of
the boys ever approached me and asked about my salary or asked if
Nicole should get a raise for her efforts. I knew that the current situation could not go on indefinitely. Finally, the boys and I had a meeting,
during which I told them that I would help them find new management
by setting up appointments for them with prospective candidates.

Over the next few months, Nicole and I, with the help of David Zedeck, our booking agent in New York, screened managers for the boys.
Once word got out that the Backstreet Boys were looking for new management, we were inundated with inquiries. David had been the boys'
booking agent from the very beginning, so there was a time when some of the boys wanted him to become their manager. Oddly, they were never able to come to terms.

Clive Calder, Kevin and David Zedeck

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As the year wore on, several meetings were held with prospective
managers. One management group in particular rose from the heap,
The Firm. They were a duo that had split from a well-known agency in
Los Angeles to form their own company. Their client list included Korn,
Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube and television's Party of Five actress Lacey Chab-
ert. That was an odd mix of clients, but The Firm seemed to have all the
right answers and they were obviously eager to work with boys. Of
course, who would not want to represent a group that was as successful
as the Backstreet Boys?

By the end of the year, my cellular phone would not stop ringing and
my nerves were completely shot. During that time, Nicole was about to
become engaged to her future husband, Dr. Douglas Gotlin. We were all
thrilled for her.

I had no life of my own any more. Alex and I spent more time not
speaking than we did speaking. My parents were concerned about me
having a nervous breakdown. I prodded the boys endlessly to make a
decision about management.

As time passed, it got more difficult to get them together in one room
to discuss anything. There was always a reason someone could not attend. They had become strangely ambivalent about their careers.

Finally, I had enough. In a last-ditch attempt at keeping them together, I called David and asked him to come down from New York and meet
with the boys to try and talk some sense into them about their future.
They were on the brink of superstardom and couldn't seem to get their
heads out of the clouds long enough to focus on their careers. Luckily,
David got through to them and things appeared to get back on track.

Our schedule at the end of that year was horrific. The boys were
booked for a huge New Year's Eve concert and Showtime special in the
largest auditorium in Orlando. Since the boys would not be able to celebrate the New Year, given the fact that the concert would end too late
for them to go anywhere, they decided to have a party at the arena after
the show.

On top of all that, Doug asked me if I would arrange for the boys to
sing a song to Nicole at the after-show party so that he could propose
marriage to her. At that point, I was ready to be taken away in a padded
wagon. I had television producers, concert promoters, our booking agent,
media and event planners and Nicole's future husband all breathing down
my neck. I wondered how I would possibly make it through the night.

It was always a challenge to put on a concert in Orlando, since it is
the boys' hometown. We had to put up with entourages the size of a
small country and guest lists from hell. I recruited the help of my niece,
Kelly Cline, to work with the party people and Nicole, as well as to
handle the guests and VIPs for the night. I had to focus on being sure
that the boys met their deadlines with the producers from Showtime. It
was very scary to have a packed house of screaming frenzied fans surrounded by camera teams on all sides. I was positive that someone was
going to get hurt.

The Showtime feature had to be shot with two endings since the producers did not want the television audience to know it was a New Year's
Eve concert. The boys ended the show with a chorus from the Prince hit
"1999" and then re-ended the show with the usual encore for the cameras. Of course, the audience did not care since that meant they got to
spend extra time with their favorite five.

Before the boys went on stage that night, the management team that
they had pretty much decided on came backstage to talk with us. I still
remember the wave of relief that swept over me as I heard the boys say
that they were definitely hiring them. They wanted them to start in
January. I broke down and cried tears of joy. Kevin came and gave me a
big hug. One or two of the other boys thanked me for my efforts over
the past months. A kind word goes a long way, especially in the music
business.

Looking back, the show
was, without a doubt, one
of the most energetic concerts the boys ever did. My
son was in rare form as he
bounced from one end of
the stage to the other and
the crowd screamed for
more. They played to all of
the cameras and made sure
the home audience would
get as much out of the
show as the people in front
of them. It was a great performance.

Me, Nicole and Kelly at the
New Year's Eve concert