Every one of their seven singles has made the top 20 on our national charts. Their home video sold over 100,000 copies, setting a Canadian record. Their one-hour MuchMusic landed the station's biggest audience EVER. And now, the Backstreet Boys are back with the most important album of their career: Millennium. The turn of the century is still six months away, but the boys want to take you there personally. Always leading, never following, the BSBs are heading up the biggest party of 1999-and you have a personal invitation from Brian Littrell.
"We started making the album as of this time last year," Brian relates, calling in to say hi from London, England. "It's been a long time in the making and the planning, and our time to dedicate to it has been few and far between. We all sat down and we were jokingly saying we have to title it Millennium because it was taking so long to finish! But now it's the official title: bringing the millennium in early with the Backstreet Boys!" Brian couldn't be happier with the album. "It's the best stuff we've ever done-so far," he says. "It's more MATURE. It's on a new level, both production-wise and vocally." Millennium is also easily the deepest BSB album (so far): "Thematically, it' s about loss, about losing someone, about the hard and bad and ugly times of life. Life's not all peachy! This album is about growing up and realizing what life's all about." Brian grew up in Kentucky, and realized that his life was all about singing-just like his older cousin and pal, BSB Kevin Richardson. "I've been singing all my life. But I never had lessons," he admits. "just ever since I was 3 or 4, I've been singing in church choir." The cousins split temporarily when Kevin graduated from high school and moved to Orlando, Florida to work at Disney World. Brian, in his last year of high school at the time, won a 4 year scholarship to Cincinnati Bible College. And he was on his way to Ohio when the most important phone call of his life (besides the one he made to Bang) came his way. "The next thing you know, Kevin bumped into Nick, Howie and A.J. and they started singing together," he remembers. "They needed one more member, so Kevin called me and begged me to come to Florida." It was a big decision, but who can say NO when Kevin's begging? Brian headed for Orlando and discovered that he loved the city's unique backstreet. "I spent a week and half with the guys, and everything clicked," he says happily. "The rest is history, I guess. Our lives have been Mach 3 since day one- and it's an experience that I would do all over again if I had to." Brian says that the hardest thing about all of the BSB-hoopla is maintaining his relationship with his girlfriend back home: "It's tough, but if you want something to work bad enough, then you put in the time and the effort to make it work." Brian co-wrote 4 of the twelve tracks on Millennium. But it's the track that he wrote alone that's his favourite: it's a love song-and it's NOT dedicated to his girlfriend! "The Perfect Fan" is about Brian's mom. " It's like a Backstreet Boys version of "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly," he says. If Millennium's lead single "I Want It That Way" is any indication everyone' s gonna believe they can fly before school's even out for summer. The track was co-written by Max Martin, who brought you Robyn's "Do You Know What It Takes," Britney's ".Baby One More Time", and tons of BSB hits, including "Everybody"! What are you gonna be listening to on December 31, 1999? The sound of Millennium, baby, the sound of the Millennium. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~SOURCE: BANG-SUMMER 1999
Brian Thomas Littrell ~ The Golden Voiced Backstreet Boy
- Established Jan 1999 -