A.J.'s Little Secret


Armando Jimenez was born on July 23, 1976 in Havana, Cuba. His parents, Raquel and Diego, belonged to a rebel group that had plans to overthrow the communist government of Cuba.
When Armando was five years old, soldiers raided his house and killed both of his parents. Armando was able to escape and hid on a boat headed for Andros Island, where his aunt and uncle lived. Ynez and Esteban Salazar adopted young Armando and changed his name to Hidalgo Salazar to try to protect him from the Cuban government. The Salazars were wealthy and gave Hidalgo dance lessons because they had hopes of him joining Menudo. At the age of 14, he joined Menudo. After only 2 months in the group, Hidalgo was kicked out. It seems that while on tour in Columbia, Hidalgo was sneaking out of his hotel room to roam the streets in search of crack-cocaine. These nights out led to an addiction to crack and he began to deal while keeping some for himself. But Hidalgo was keeping too much and soon the drug lords were after him for their money. To escape them, Hidalgo left for the United States and found a home in West Palm Beach, Florida. There, Hidalgo was able to get a job at the local McDonald's. Hidalgo needed to change his identity so the drug lords wouldn't find him. He obtained a fake birth certificate with the date January 9, 1978, with the name A.J. McLean. A.J. was for his birth name Armando Jimenez and McLean after his favorite McDonald's sandwich at the time. A.J. began acting in plays and went to several auditions for TV shows. Through these auditions he met Howard Dorough and Nick Carter. Soon they formed a pop group modeled after Menudo and NKOTB with Kevin Richardson and his cousin Brian Littrell. The group was called the Backstreet Boys. They became very popular in Europe and right before they became popular here in the states, A.J. realized that he might be recognized by the drug lords. A.J. tried to change his looks by dying his hair, wearing sunglasses and hats and getting piercings and tattoos. So far A.J.'s disguises have been successful. Other wise he would be dead by now.

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