Source: Lexington Herald-Leader Friday, June 22, 2001 By Heather Svokos
The youngsters smiled patiently for the camera at the Beaumont Centre YMCA yesterday. They thought they were just posing for a photo shoot.
Then without warning, a whirlwind in shorts and a blue T-shirt whirled in and took a place in the front row, alongside Courtney O'Dell, a grinning 11-year-old.
Surprise! It was the founder of the Brian Littrell Healthy Heart Club for Kids: Mr. Backstreet himself.
He and the children posed for the cover of the Heart Club's new brochure, then did a basketball layup drill. Later, he signed autographs for the quietly appreciative crowd.
There with the famous singer were his parents, Jackie and Harold, and his wife, Leighanne Wallace.
``It's absolutely incredible that he can touch so many people's lives like this,'' Wallace said as her husband posed with the kids. ``It's great that he uses his free time for something like this.''
She and Littrell live in Atlanta.
Littrell, a Tates Creek grad, founded the Heart Club in 1998, in partnership with St. Joseph Hospital.
The program offers education, exercise and nutrition for children with congenital heart problems or those at risk to develop heart conditions. Littrell was born with a heart defect and had successful corrective surgery in 1998.
Straight from the horse's mouth, the Boys are not splitting up, Littrell said, despite rumors published in the London papers.
``Backstreet Boys have a saying we call it `damage control,''' Littrell said. ``We have to talk to everybody and do press, letting people know that we're not breaking up.''
After stops in Europe and the Far East, the Boys plan to head back into the studio in December or January.