TORONTO -- Former New Kid Jordan Knight could have been forgiven for wanting to turn his back on his boy band past with the release of his self-titled debut solo album.

But instead, the 29-year-old singer -- dubbed "the cute one" by rabid fans of the late '80s-early '90s pin-ups New Kids On The Block -- seems to be embracing the good old days.

Knight, who got major buzz on his first solo single, Give It To You, and gets 3,000 fan visits to his Web page every week, is touring with late '90s boy band sensations 'N Sync in July and August. He'll also likely be on board for 'N Sync's Sept. 4 show at the Molson Amphitheatre.

"At first I was like, 'I don't know if that's a good idea,' " said Knight, relaxing yesterday afternoon in a box at the SkyDome, the site of two sold-out New Kids concerts in 1990.

"Because I want the association of myself being past the boy band thing. But then I said, 'If I go on stage and I just am myself, that will just show everybody that I've grown up.' Plus I figured it's a great way to launch, I believe, my new career. To touch the built-in audience and move from there."

Seems reports of Knight's stage fright in his post-NKOTB life -- as detailed in People magazine -- are a bit overblown. He did admit there was some anxiety after signing a solo deal with Interscope in 1996.

"I felt pressured. I felt like, 'Oh, man, they expect me to be really, really great.' I just felt nervous," said Knight.

To work through those jitters, he played a handful of times on open-mike nights in a Boston piano bar, just around the corner from his house. Knight performed under an assumed name and in disguise.

"That was to kind of get over the antsiness of doing it by myself," he explained.

On his new album, a fairly straight-ahead mix of pop and R&B, half of the tracks are produced by Minneapolis studio czars Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (Janet Jackson).

"It was awesome," said Knight. "I pushed hard to get into the studio with them. I've wanted to work with them since I was 17 or 18. They were my No. 1 pick for producers."

Two Jam suggestions led to interesting samples.  Sugarloaf's 1970 song Green-Eyed Lady is heard throughout A Different Party, and the 1978 Kansas hit Dust In The Wind weaves its way through Close My Eyes. It wasn't a Jam & Lewis idea, however, for Knight to cover the Prince song I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man. That was the suggestion of Knight's chief songwriting and producing collaborator, Robin Thicke -- son of Kirkland Lake's own Alan Thicke.

"Sometimes you think it's easy, and then sometimes it's diffcult to tap into what people want to hear," said Knight of his chances for solo success. "I always aim for the best. I'm truly just grateful for what's happening right now. I feel that it's going to be a successful record, but I'm not expecting, 'I deserve four million, I deserve eight million or blah, blah, blah.' I'm just like going along with the ride and just trying to work hard."

Knight said he always wanted to go solo even when he was still with the New Kids. After they split in 1994, he took a few years off and then went shopping for a new deal.

Now, ironically, Knight and fellow NKOTB member Joey McIntyre -- who released his solo debut album, Stay The Same, a month earlier -- are competing against each other. They also both employed NKOTB's Donnie Wahlberg as a producer.

Knight said he regularly sees McIntyre doing radio promotion shows and the timing of their releases was just a coincidence.

"I think it's cool," he said of McIntyre's Stay The Same. "I was surprised because I didn't know him as the writer that he is now. I guess he's really worked on writing and coming up with music and lyrics and stuff like that. I think he did a real good job.