By Leah Vigon
By mid 1997, The Backstreet Boys were finally enjoying the up sides of fame. They had young frau’s fainting in Germany, petites filles in a frenzy outside their hotel rooms in France, and even some of us Brits were going ga-ga for these American exports. They also had a huge following in other parts of the world including Australia, Asia and Canada.
During that year the band released their second album Backstreet's Back which featured two of their most successful songs ever. The giddy track Everybody (Rock Your Body) and As Long as You Love Me a heart wrenching ballad so typically emblematic of the boy band offering.
Riding high on their success in many countries across the globe, The Backstreet Boys re-released their first album Backstreet Boys in the USA. This time the album got to number 4 on the Billboard charts and Quit Playing Games with My Heart got to number 2 in the singles chart. Finally the band were getting some recognition in their own country and soon they were appearing in sell out tours throughout the US.
However, whilst the boys were getting the status they weren’t seeing a lot of the money that all their hard work was generating. It seemed that not only was Pearlman’s belly getting fatter so were his pockets. After hiring their own lawyers, the band discovered that he had legally made himself a sixth member of the group and according to court documents Pearlman, who liked to be called “Big Poppa”, was taking up to 75% of the profits that they made. The Backstreet Boys filed suit against the greedy svengali in 1998 and it was to become one of the many law suits that Pearlman would face not just from them but also from a number of other bands that he managed during that time, including N*Sync, the band that catapulted Justin Timberlake to superstardom (well that and the fact that he sh***ed Britney Spears!)
Funnily enough Lou Pearlman is now serving 25 years in prison for his role in one of the largest and longest running Ponzi schemes in American history, which saw many major investments and banks defrauded out of over $300 million during a 20 year period.
Between 1998 and 99 was a turbulent time for The Backstreet Boys, not only were they battling through court cases, one of the band members Brian Littrell underwent open-heart surgery from to fix a heart murmur he had when he was born and Howie Dorough's sister had died of lupus.
It was however, also a big turning point career wise for the band, and after signing up with a new management they went on to record Millennium which was to become one of the world’s bestselling albums of all times. To this date the album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide – 8 million more than The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
When Millennium was released in the US in May 1999, it entered the Billboard charts at number 1 and remained there for a further 10 non-consecutive weeks. The album also dominated the worldwide charts, landing the number-one spot in over 20 other countries including Austria, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden and Thailand.
Millennium went on to spawn 3 chart topping hits in the UK including, I Want It That Way, which went straight in at number one in the top 40. Other hits from the album included Larger Than Life and Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely.
That album truly made the Backstreet Boys a worldwide favourite and with the acclaim came the awards and acclaims. Rolling Stone magazine readers voted the band of the year as did the critics. I Want It That Way won an MTV Video Music Awards and was names by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a song that helped define the 90’s. The group also dominated the UK’s very own Smash Hits Awards event with Nick Carter winning the prestigious award for Best Haircut and Brian Littrell gaining an honour for being the Funniest Person in the World.
Come back tomorrow for Part 3 of 'The History Of The Backstreet Boys'.
Read Part 1 of 'The History Of The Backstreet Boys'
Read Part 3 of 'The History Of The Backstreet Boys'
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