Happy Birthday, Backstreet Boy!
Date:January,30 2002
Source:from Backstreetnews Yahoo group / katrillion.com
Nick Carter celebrates his 22nd birthday Jan. 28.
The youngest Backstreet Boy picked showbiz at a young age. First starring in local commercials, the eldest Carter got into the Backstreet Boys at age 11 during which time he auditioned for "The Mickey Mouse Club."
"We showed everyone the tape and they just loved him," casting director Matt Casella says. "But at the same time he was involved with a major group -- the Backstreet Boys."
Though he and Justin Timberlake didn't sing together back then, who knew that the two would become the hotties of two rival boy bands?
Nowadays Nick can coast on the fame he's achieved with the Backstreet Boys, who have released three full-length albums and a greatest-hits compilation. In 2001, the group managed to squeeze out the third-highest grossing trek of the year.
Years before America embraced the group, Europe made them stars in 1995 with the track "We've Got It Goin' On."
The Backstreet Boys finally took off in America in 1997 when Carter was just 17. At first lumped into a pop revolution that began with the Spice Girls and Hanson, Backstreet is the only group still churning out the hits.
"I think it's a cycle that's coming back around or has come and is staying for a while," Nick told MTV News about the Backstreet Boys' pop sound that year.
What a cycle. Backstreet Boys spawned competitors in *NSYNC, 98 Degrees, LFO -- even O-Town, which made room for Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Jessica Simpson
The group's second album, 1999's "Millennium," held the record for highest-selling debut ever, which was 1.1 million copies. Though they don't own a Grammy, Backstreet Boys are seen as the grandfather of the late-'90s pop craze.
Big brother Nick inspired a family of pop stars to get into showbiz.
"Just watching Nick was advice for me," Aaron Carter, 14, told Katrillion. "Because every time I would go to rehearsals with him he would (explain to me), 'This is what were doing now, we're doing choreography.'"
"Nick says, 'Sometimes I feel like I'm so tired, I don't want to do this, but it's all worth it in the end'," Leslie Carter, 15, told MTV News.
"You just have to do it and it will be all good."
Other members of the family are getting in on the act as well. According to Carter Connection, a website run by the Carter kids' uncle Steve, BJ is in acting school and Angel can be seen in commercials.
Nick may make teens swoon all over the globe, but one girl who's gotten over him is "Bad" girl Willa Ford.
She says dating Nick in no way enhanced her chance at stardom, and now she has to prove she's not a "monster."
The fans made up stories, like that I gave Nick a black eye," Willa told Katrillion. "It was mean, stupid stuff."
But Nick doesn't let lost loves get in his way.
The future is bright for this Carter, who has a solo album planned for release in 2002.
-- Valerie Nome