Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell is close to signing a deal with Provident Music Group that would instantly make him one of Christian music's highest-profile singers.
''It intrigues me,'' Littrell said yesterday in Franklin, where he was playing host to a charity golf tournament. ''When the Backstreet Boys were riding high, my mom said, 'The Backstreet Boys are a mere steppingstone for you.' I didn't know what she meant then, but now I think I do. We've sold 68 million albums, and I would never have imagined selling that many. Why not use that as a tool?''
Littrell played the Legends Club of Tennessee course yesterday with a group that included Backstreet companions A.J. McLean and Kevin Richardson, manager Johnny Wright and Provident Music Group President and CEO Terry Hemmings.
''I see it as being a new day for Brian,'' said Hemmings, who added that the Littrell album would be released on Franklin-based Provident's Reunion Records label. ''It's something he's always wanted to do, and I think people will respond.''
Eleven years ago, Littrell was a Kentucky teenager planning to attend Cincinnati Bible College and major in music (''I wanted to either be a minister or a youth minister,'' he said) when he was asked by Richardson, his cousin, to join the Backstreet Boys.
''For Brian, this is a natural progression,'' Wright said. ''It's where he was headed before he became a Backstreet Boy.''
None of this means Littrell's obligations with the Boys are ending. He has completed demonstration versions of many songs he'd like to record on the solo album, but his album will not be released until after the group tours in support of its own upcoming album. Hemmings said that he hopes Littrell will be able to go into the studio late this year and that the solo album probably won't be released until spring of 2005. After that Littrell would like to embark on a solo tour.
Hemmings could not recall another instance in which a member of such a high-profile group has entered the Christian market.
''It'll be interesting to see how the marketplace responds,'' Hemmings said. ''This has never happened before. Our market is not automatically drawn to someone's celebrity or someone's success, but they'll see how serious he is about this. And, obviously, he's a fantastic singer.''
Littrell expects to include versions of some Gospel songs that he grew up singing, though the album will have a contemporary pop flavor.
He also hinted that he'd like to try a spiritually minded version of the Marvin Gaye/James Taylor staple How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), and he said he might also record a duet with McLean, his tattooed, recovering alcoholic, bad-boy bandmate.
''A.J. and I have talked about doing a duet,'' Littrell said. ''I'm not trying to dirty up the Christian market, though. He'll have to behave.''
BRIAN Thomas Littrell ~ The Golden Voiced Backstreet Boy
- Established Jan 1999 -