The group, which hasn't released a collection of new music since 2000's Black & Blue, just wrapped sessions for the as-yet-untitled album, which might surprise people expecting the same pop sound of old, according to member Howie Dorough.

"We've been working on it for more than a year now, but it really started taking shape and changing over the past six months," Dorough said. "It's going in a more pop/rock direction, kind of us-meets-Matchbox Twenty /Goo Goo Dolls /Train." Sifting through a pile of 100-150 songs that were written for them, the band recorded 40, including "I Still," "Weird World" and "Incomplete."

"The content of what they're singing about is more serious," co-manager Johnny Wright said of the group, which also includes Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean and Nick Carter. "Two of them are married now, so the subject matter is not, 'I saw you at the drive-in, let's go get a soda,' or 'Go to a club and party all night.' They're singing about relationships and what men go through, not boys."

Dorough said the group purposely took its time on the tracks, even though there was pressure to release an album last year. With the pop music world moving in a more rock-oriented direction since BSB last released an album, Dorough said the extra time was necessary to make sure they fit in with the current scene. "With the direction we're going in now, I think some of these songs you could put on the radio and listen to three or four times and you wouldn't know it was us," he said. "I played some of them for my guy friends who are not into our music at all, and are more into Blink-182 type bands, and they listened to it and dug it."

Coming off a decade-long run of nearly nonstop touring, Dorough said the break they took was also necessary for the group to recharge its batteries. "It gave us more to write about," he said. "You have to experience life to be able to write about it."

The final track listing hasn't been set yet, but the sessions marked a reconnection with uber-pop songwriter Max Martin (Britney Spears, 'NSYNC), who wrote and produced three songs that could make the album (see "What Year Is It? Backstreet Boys Planning World Tour, Working With Max Martin"). Dorough said "Climbing the Walls," "I Still" and the ballad "Siberia" have a harder edge than such memorable Martin-penned BSB hits as "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)."

Backstreet also hooked up with some new, less likely collaborators.

"Weird World," a "message song" written by Five for Fighting's John Ondrasik, sounds very different for a BSB song at first. "Sent a message to a GI today/ Thank you, man, for sending us another dawn," is one of the lyrics Dorough quoted, explaining, "You can get so caught up in your own world, and on the other side of the world, people are fighting for our freedom. So it's a very timely song with the war going on."

The band has also hooked up with former Savage Garden singer Darren Hayes on the midtempo song "Lift Me Up," as well as the a cappella group Take 6, who produced a song written by Dorough called "Moving On." Their musical heroes, Boyz II Men, collaborated on "Jealous" and Dorough described the Underdogs-produced "Not No More" as "us meets R. Kelly."

Other songs recorded for the album include the uptempo, early Michael Jackson-style "Beautiful Woman" and "Rushing Through Me," which Dorough said was inspired by the "tribal African" feel of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes."

Many of the songs feature live instrumentation and the familiar multi-voice harmonies are less prevalent than in the past. Dorough, 31, said the group — which wrote or co-wrote 10 songs — has enough material that it could release separate pop/rock and R&B albums if it wanted to, but he suspects the 10-to-15-track final result will be a mix of the two sounds.

The first single, slated for release in mid-February, will be chosen next week, with Dorough pulling for the uptempo, feel-good pop-rocker "I Still." The album is due in early June, with a major tour starting on the Fourth of July weekend. But before that, the Boys are scheduled to play a series of warm-up radio promo dates and House of Blues gigs during the first week of March to reconnect with their audience, according to Wright.

"These guys have been around for 13 years and the fans who were with them 13 years ago grew up like the Backstreet Boys did, and they have different things happening in their lives now," Wright said of the potential for the group's fans to have moved on to other kinds of music. "If younger fans want to jump on, that's great, but we're making a record for the fans who were always there."

Source: Brian Littrell Healthy Heart Club for Kids
12/8/2004 -

The Littrell family would like to express their sincere thanks to everyone who has supported their careers and charitable endeavors thus far. Brian and Leighanne enjoy a special relationship with their fans. It is this special relationship, along with the grace of God, which allows Brian and Leighanne to continue the successful pursuit of their creative and artistic goals. As a gift to their wonderful fans, the Littrell family has granted the Healthy Heart Club access to several individual and family photographs that will be posted throughout the year on the official Healthy Heart Club web site. Brian and Leighanne have authorized these pictures for use by their fans so long as they are not used for monetary gain. With that being said, the Littrell family has one request of their fans. Many of you have asked if Brian and Leighanne are bothered by pictures of Baylee being displayed on the Internet. Brian and Leighanne understand that they cannot prohibit pictures of Baylee from surfacing on the Internet. They do, however, feel as parents it is wrong to look on the Internet and see pictures of their child without one or both of them accompanying him. >From this moment forward, Brian and Leighanne ask that you do not post pictures of Baylee, without one or both of them accompanying him, on any type of web site. It is Brian and Leighanne's hope that out of respect for them and their family you, the fans, will honor this one personal request.

Thank you and please feel free to contact Brandon Edgington, Coordinator for the Brian Littrell Healthy Heart Club for Kids®, if you have any questions regarding the Littrell family's request.

Backstreet Boys' Brian Littrell Partners With Provident Label Group's Reunion Records

Source: Reunion Records
12/8/2004 -

12/8/2004 - Backstreet Boys' Brian Littrell Partners With Provident Label Group's Reunion Records Terry Hemmings, president and CEO of Provident Music Group, today announced the signing of Brian Littrell, one of the five members of pop super-group Backstreet Boys, to Provident Label Group’s Reunion Records.

Hemmings remarks, “We are very pleased to welcome Brian into the Provident family. I have had the pleasure of getting to know him over the past two years and experience his enthusiasm for entering this chapter of his recording career. Brian will bring a unique perspective on the Christian life to his music and to our market. We are looking forward to introducing him next year.”

Littrell, on recording his first solo album with Provident Label Group shares, “I’ve been a born-again Christian since I was eight years old and I’ve known for a very long time that this has been my calling. I hope to reach listeners in this arena and continue to let Backstreet Boys fans know that it’s okay to stand for what you believe in. If I can do something that opens doors and benefits lives in some way, I hope to be able to do that.”

Littrell’s album is scheduled for release to Christian and general market retail in the fall of 2005, with a radio single slated for Spring, 2005. Littrell’s version of “In Christ Alone” will be made available through the WOW #1s album, releasing to retail through Provident-Integrity Distribution, April 5.

Raised in Lexington, Ky., Brian was brought up attending a Baptist church with his family. At age 18, through cousin, Kevin Richardsn, he relocated to Orlando, Fl. and became part of super pop-group Backstreet Boys. Ten years, multiple worldwide sold-out tours, countless accolades and more than 55 million albums later Littrell is now working on his first Christian market album with Provident.

Backstreet Boys are touring in Europe and also working on an album slated for release in 2005. Further information on the forthcoming project will be made available through Jive Records.

Terry Hemmings, President and CEO of Provident Music Group, today announced the signing of Backstreet Boys’ Brian Littrell to Provident Label Group’s Reunion Records. The attached image was taken following the press conference. Pictured (l-r) are: Leighanne Littrell, Brian’s wife; Brian Littrell; Terry Hemmings; and Johnny Wright, Wright Entertainment Group, Littrell’s manager   Boys Back On the Street

Source: Daily Yomiuri
Paul Jackson Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer   "Backstreet's back!" This was the main point Nick Carter of Backstreet Boys wanted to get across at a press conference attended by the hugely popular boy band in Tokyo last week.   Carter and his four harmonizing partners in song were in Tokyo to perform five straight nights at the 10,000-plus capacity Yoyogi Stadium. The performances represented the start of a comeback by the group, which has taken an extended timeout for the last three years.   With all the nights sold out, according to promoter Kyodo Tokyo, it seems that the group from Orlando, Fla., have pretty much picked things up where they left off--in Japan at any rate.   "Our last concert of our last world tour was here in Japan so we decided to come back and start our world tour here because you guys have been so great to us," said Howie D of the group, who described their Japanese admirers as the "greatest fans in the world."   Such a description is not at all surprising given that Backstreet Boys owe part of their initial success to their fans in Japan, and also in Europe, who supported them in their early years before they broke in the United States in 1997. The group has gone on to sell more than 70 million albums worldwide, becoming one of the biggest boy acts of all time.   In addition to embarking on a new world tour, Backstreet Boys also announced they will release a new CD as they seek to reestablish themselves.   "The new album will be coming out next year, and we're pretty much almost done with it. (We'll complete it) certainly in the next couple of months," Howie D said.   A sneak preview of three tracks from the album--"My Beautiful Woman," "Climbing the Walls" and "Poster Girl"--suggested that the group is looking to embrace more of a rock sound than in the past, an influence acknowledged by Carter, who also referred to the presence of an R&B influence and "a small amount of hip-hop" in their new sound.   "We've really taken some time on it. We've done like 40, 45 songs and we're still not done yet," Carter said of the album. "We're never really satisfied when it comes to being in the studio. So what we did was we took the big adventure of experimenting and trying to do things, and we've been recording for the past eight or nine months with different producers."   Of the producers, Carter mentioned Teddy Riley, Billy Mann, the Underdogs and Max Martin, who has often worked with Backstreet Boys and has penned huge hits for Britney Spears and NSYNC.   "The one good thing about the music is it still sounds like the Backstreet Boys. We have five-part harmonies on top of new music, but our voices haven't changed...well, mine maybe a little bit," said Carter, who was only 13 when the group formed.   Kevin Richardson believes the time off has given the vocalists more perspective and respect for what they had achieved together, something that was necessary for them to reestablish.   "We had pretty much reached a point of some burnout," Richardson said. "It wasn't as joyous as it had been in the past, and on our last tour a lot went on in the world, with 9/11 happening while we were on tour, which made it kind of difficult, and A.J. going through rehab.   "The fact that we have taken time off has been so beneficial for all of us, and A.J. got the time to really work his recovery program like he needed to, and we all got time to recharge our batteries."   A.J., whose dark glasses, baseball cap and tattoos clearly mark him out as the "bad" boy of the group, reportedly spent time in rehab for drinking and depression.   But this has not been the only development during the group's timeout.   In the meantime, Carter launched a solo career with limited success and his own label--the mention of which earned a scowl from A.J. at the press conference.   Howie D, who "does shabu shabu, sukiyaki, teppanyaki and sushi" when he comes to Japan, spoke of how all the band members have become far more aware of the money side of their careers over the years and how they are now investing their money more carefully.   Brian Litrell, meanwhile, became a father and admits that changing diapers has become a form of relaxation for him.   "From a personal standpoint fatherhood has definitely changed my life. Before, Backstreet Boys had always been so important and No.1 in my life," Litrell said, adding that taking on his paternal role had also helped him to take a more responsible role in the band.   Fathers, businessmen and reformed pop stars--these are not words commonly bandied around with the concept of a boy band. And with Howie D and Richardson both in their 30s now, it is clear that Backstreet Boys will have to reinvent themselves to a certain extent if they are to register the sales they have in the past.   Clearly, the 55,000 fans who saw them last week in Tokyo believe they can.   But what if they don't?   "Being a pop idol is one thing," Litrell said. "But being my son's hero--I would take that over anything."   More news to come