TORONTO - Jordan Knight surveys the empty baseball field from an unoccupied private box at Toronto SkyDome, where the stools have legs of baseball bats and seats of bases. He is not a baseball fan, but is impressed by the stadium. Not too many years ago, the former New Kid On The Block performed on a stage erected in its outfield.

"What is the capacity here, do you know," he asks,  perhaps remembering the deafening screams from NKOTB's frenzied fans that once filled its massive confines. "I remember performing here because it's beautiful and I remember people had hotel rooms up there," Knight says, gesturing.

During the New Kids' reign as teen-pop idols in the late eighties and early nineties, the Boston-spawned group had an incredible five albums chart simultaneously on  Billboard and a merchandising empire that included comic strips, books and lunch boxes. Conservative estimates of NKOTB's 1990 income topped $850 million, but by 1995, it was time to disband.

Jordan -- who will perform at Mississauga's Playdium on Wednesday from 4:30 to 5 p.m., followed by a 90-minute autograph session -- still gets fan mail from around the world. His web site (www.jordanknight.com) has amassed over a million visitors since it launched to coincide with the release of his self-titled solo debut.

This summer, he will open for pop-phenoms 'N Sync in amphitheatres across North America, a position he finds slightly amusing, yet an "awesome" opportunity. "It's a flip-flop. It's their tour and they let me on the tour, so naturally I'm going to be opening for them," he acknowledges.

While's Knight's appeal is still to the pre-pubescent girl, his album is a sophisticated collection of beautiful ballads and urban-inflected pop, showcasing his strong, sensuous voice and tasteful arrangements. It is already a hit on the strength of the upbeat single "Give It To You" and will undoubtedly begin to appeal to an older demographic, which may or may not care about his NKOTB legacy.

"I wanted to go to the next level, wanted to feel a part of my music and was willing to take time to do it," says Knight, of co-writing most of the tracks. "I'm very good, I feel, at the tone of the song, the content of the song, the feel of the song. I'm good at giving feedback, 'This melody here doesn't work well, maybe we should try and bring it up so the song has a climax,' kind of like a songwriter/producer both combined."

Jordan, who wasn't given the freedom or encouragement to write and contribute material to New Kids, an entirely orchestrated, hands-on producers' project, acknowledges New Kids' influence on the latest wave of 'boy bands' and the effect that kind of phenomenon and possibility has on would-be producers and singers.

"The comparison is obvious and the influence, to me, is obvious," Knight says. "Definitely not to take away from any of the guys who are in the bands because they're all really talented guys, but I think we had an influence." He pauses, then adds, "I don't really think about it. A lot of people ask me about it, but I don't think a lot of about it. I just think about how we were influenced by a lot of other groups like New Edition and The Jacksons.

"It's a natural thing. You grow up and you see these people performing on TV and you say, 'I want to be like them.'"