In elementary school and middle school (the girls were) like, ' Oh you sing? Big whoop.' In church it was, ' Man, you're good, you have a really nice voice,' and that was pretty much it. I would get compliments like that, but it never really set in. I always knew I wanted to sing, but I never really took it seriously until my junior year of high school.
My school had a talent show... This girl and I got up there and sang a spiritual song in front of school- I mean the whole school was there. It was a song called "Another Time, Another Place.' She comes on and sings the first line and then I come into the song; I get like two or three words out of my mouth, and right then is when all the girls in the audience, start to scream! I mean, I was all decked out in a suit and tie, and there were spotlights, so I couldn't even see the audience, because the lights were so bright. I heard the first three words I sang and then couldn't even hear myself. It just blew me away. I was like, "Oh my Goodness!"
I had just gotten out of my chorus class earlier in the day and I was a nobody. But yet, when I stepped up on-stape and got behind those lights it was totally different. I was just ans instant star. I think that was the point in my life when I kew that if I could pull something off like that with my peers, then there definitely had to be people out in the world who would like it as well. And from then on, it was such a rush!
I had a lot of girl friends in school. One of my realtionships lasted like three months and three days in my junior year in high school. I went out with this girl who was going to a different church, and I started going to church with her and getting involved in her youth group. I'd liked her since 9th grade and she would never give me the time of day, and then finally in my junio year she (notice me ) and I'm like, " I can't believe..." I think I learned from the experience, I think I was just infatuated with her, because she was a very pretty girl and when I found out about her inner self, I wasn't that attracted to her anymore. My friends had been saying, "She's so mean, sh's not personable, she's doesn't talk.' I was just like, " I just love her to death!" Then I finally got my chance and it just didn't turn out. When I look back on it, it was just an experience...
We always had to take out the trash and run the dishwasher, because my mom and dad worked at the time. Growing up, my mom was always involved with the churche. When I was dealing with the stuff in the hospital (Brian had been hospitalzed with a potentially deadly infection), we were all surviving off my dad's income. I always had everything I needed : But when I was 16, I wanted an automobile. My older brother was 19 and he was driving a little, old car that he was paying for because he was working a job. I was like, ' I want to be like that, have a car, go on dates, do what I want to do." And so for a year I was debating with my mom because she was like, " You're not getting a car until you get a job, save some money, put a nice down payment on it and pay it off." So I did it!
That's where Long John Siver's came in, it's a fast food chain. I worked there for about a year and a half. I was saving some money, showing some reponsibility, working, keeping up with my school work and church, trying to manage all of my time; trying to venture off into adulthood. I proved to my mom that I was reliable and the she could trust me. I believe you have to work hard...
when we would have family outings (kevin) would always go hang out with my brother. It was like my brother and him were real tight, because they were the same age. I was the baby of the family...
My brother sings also, but he doesn't really sing te pop, R&B style we have; he likes heavy metal, rock'n rool. They would get together and sing and pretend they were rock stars and my brother would beat on the drums. My brother never took it seriously like I didn't really take it seriously-until I was just thrown into it.
Everyone knows about the day Kevin called me from Orlando for Backstreet Boys. I was sitting in my U.S. History class, it was the last class of the day, 6th hour, and it was April, 1993... So I get home and right when I walk in the door I'm like, " Mom, I gotta tell ya, I gotta tell ya!" and she was like " Yeah, Kevin called about the group and told me all about it!" and I was like." What?!" he had called both my parents, given them the low down and I was the last one to hear about it. I was just in disbelief! I was like, there's no way! This can't be happening! My mom's main concern was my education...
So she got on the phone and talked to Denise, Aj's mom, and Denise told her about the tutor, hombe schooling, how they go about their days getting their studies done. I would just fall right in with Aj and Nick and be tutored together with them. That was her main concern, and it was all worked out. To make a long story short, we talked to management that night and they sayd, " You gotta get down here and audition. We've heard a lot of great things about you and you gotta give it a shot!" I was on plane at 6 am the very next day!
I flew down to Orlando by myself. Kevin and a limo were there to pick me up at the airport. My jaw was hitting the floor. I was scared half to death. Here I was and hours before I was talking to him on the phone! Now I'm down in Orlando, I'm in a limo...I was like, "Wooahh, what have gotten myself into? Here I am, from Lexingto, a middle class guy who is growing up and worked hard and pow, overnight my life has been changed." Right when I met mangagement I was like. " This is for me, I can fit into this, I love this" I was nothing like I had expedted. I expected it to be all formal, cause I didn't know what it was going to be like.
I love being in Backstreet Boys! I wouldn't change a thing in my life! It's a blessing, I thank God for everything.
I think this group has a lot of potential. I think this group has longevity. We're for real- what you see is what you get. We're five solo artists put together ans we love to do what we do.
