Six months ago, Jordan Knight's daily trop to Dunkin' Donuts involved little more than buying some pastries and coffee. Then his single "Give It To You" hit the airwaves. After that, the kitchen workers went crazy. Recalls the soft-spoken former New Kid on the Block: "Everyone in the store started looking at me like 'Who's this guy?' Then it was 'That's him! AAAAAH!'" Like his fellow comeback kid, Jordan was discovering that the days of anonymous breakfast had ended. "There were girls screaming, and I was just standing in line going 'Oh my goodness, I guess I asked for this.'" Jordan says.
A couple of months later, more than screaming surrounds Jordan, 28, at his Milton, Mass., home. This time, it's his neices and nephews. (Jordan has five siblings: Allison, 37, Sharon, 35, David, 33, Christopher, 32, and fellow ex-New Kid and current real estate developer Jonathan, 30.) And once again, the former Kid is questioning his decision to return to the spotlight. "Do I really want to do this again?" he asks. Then he answers his own question: "I've been through it before. It ain't so bad."
It was, in fact, pretty great. A decade ago, the name Jordan Nathaniel Marcel Knight-the youngest child of Allan Knight, an Episcopal priest, and Marlene Putman, a horse breeder-was everywhere, from music charts (nine consecutive Top 10 singles for the New Kids) to TV (they had their own cartoon) to phone hot lines and trading cards. Such saturation made the quintet very rich: In 1991, their earnings were estimated at $115 million. But the Kids-who began calling themselves NKOTB in 1992, to sound more mature-hit the skids, even becoming the objects of a Saturday Night Live parody. In 1994, they called it quits.
"I was cool [with it]," Jordan says, relaxing at home as his nephews play nearby; he'd always been interested in a solo career. "[But] there was a tremendous backlash against the New Kids," he says, "so I was, like, I don't need to rush into this. Let me take my time."
Although Jordan's face soon disappeared from magazine covers and MTV, many of his followers remained-for awhile anyway. "In the summer, fans would be off from school or work," he recalls, "and they'd come to my house [or] constantly send letters. I knew there was a fan base out there that would be ready when I was."
That time came in 1996. To fire-up record company interest, he put together a video showcasing his soaring falsetto vocals and catchy dance moves. "I got all the footage that was just me alone onstage without the other New Kids, spliced it together like a music video and set it to fast music." It did the trick: Interscope Records signed him up.
But after a two-year hiatus from performing, Jordan began to wonder if he could do it on his own. As a test, he played open-mic nights at Diamond Jim's Piano Bar in Boston's Hotel Lenox. There, he found the anonymity he sought. The bar's older patrons had no idea a teen idol was in their midst. All they knew was the young guy in the baseball cap and the fake prescription glasses singing Elton John tunes at the piano had a soulful voice. "People said, 'You should do that professionally; you sound pretty good,'" Jordan says.
Rejuvenated, Jordan spent most of '97 and '98 in the recording studio with writing partner Robin Thicke, 22, actor Alan Thicke's son, and Janet Jackson's superstar producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. But by then, the New Kids were ancient history, and Interscope had lost interest. Undaunted, Jordan took charge of his destiny. He brought his songs to Miami radio station WPOW-Power 96, which flipped for the up-tempo Give It To You and added the song to its playlist.
"The record company was like,'Wow,'" says Jordan of his sly self-promotion. Realizing that they had an artist who was capable of joining the lucrative new wave of boy bands curently enjoying chart glory, Interscope lost its apathy. They made Jordan's self-titled album a priority, even financing a video for Give It To You. The "Grease"-inspired dance clip has since become an MTV staple. "It made me [feel] really relieved-I was like, 'Thank God!'" says Jordan, who admits that there were times he feared he'd never appear on MTV again-except, maybe, as a punch line.
Jordan's mom, Marlene, had more confidence, "I knew he had the talent, the drive and the determination to [make a comeback]-it was just a question of when," she says.
Similar sentiments were no doubt expressed by Joey McIntyre's mom. After all, their sons' solo careers had progressed along nearly identical lines. While Joey admits to some feelings of friendly competition, Jordan dismisses the notion, saying, "Any competition issues me and Joe had were worked out when we were fifteen." But sharing your comeback with an old bandmate also has disadvantages. "The thing that's getting to me is that everyone keeps saying, 'The New Kids On The Block are back!' That's not what I wanted," he says. "I wanted 'Jordan Knight is coming out with a solo album.' The same with Joe. Then everyone wanted to pair us off. We were like, 'Whatever, we'll just go with it.'"
Another thing that Jordan will go with: sharing the bill on 'N Sync and 5ive's blockbuster "Boys of Summer" tour (a gig that was originally offered to Joey). Jordan's got a great vibe," says 'N Sync's JC Chasez, who once performed to a New Kids tune in a dance competition. I'm more a fan of his than the [New Kids]. He was the glue of that team. I look up to him."
As the tour's self-proclaimed elder statesman, Jordan-once the New Kids' most accomplished dancer-hopes the younger performers' boundless energy will rub off on him. "When I started the choreography for 'Give It To You,' and we started practicing with the dancers, I was like 'I am not in shape!' I was gasping for breath! On the video set, I was yelling 'Cut!' every five seconds." Sounds like it's going to be a tough tour. "I'll be all right." he says good-naturedly. "I'll just have an oxygen tank at the side of the stage."
