**April 22**- The release of Around The World, a 90-minute documentary-style film which follows the Boys on their 100 hour promotional tour has been pushed back a couple of months to June 5.
Krystal the Super Girl by Chris Lamb
Some girls get all the luck and singer Krystal Harris probably has the largest lucky streak going in 2001, she’s the opening act on the Backstreet Boys’ world tour.
Krystal’s relationship with the Backstreet Boys began when the Kevin, Howie, Nick, Brian, and A.J. decided they would start their own record company called The Firm. Looking for new talent the BSB’s found Krystal, a talented, struggling singer/songwriter searching for a record deal.
"It all got started through my manager Jonathan Rant," says Krystal. "He’s my best friend and we’re kind of like Sonny and Cher, partners in everything. He’s known the Backstreet Boys since they first started and even wrote three or four songs on their first album. He was on the phone with Kevin telling him about all our experiences with the major labels and Kevin says, ‘look, we’re going to be starting our own label and we would love to have Krystal.’ He’d heard some of my music and had met me once in passing so he wanted to be the one who broke it open for us.”
Now Krystal is playing sold out arenas across North America with the boy band and will be included in an autumn jaunt into Europe. Not bad at all. Krystal, however, realizes her luck and is capable of living up to her unique expectations. Born into a musical family, Krystal has been playing piano since the age of three and first began recording in a music studio at seven. Chatting happily with TeenMusic.com from her hotel room, Krystal maintains that she was born to be a musician and would have achieved success regardless of the eventual path taken.
“(My situation) is really a blessing because I’ve heard that when you’re a new artist you go on tours that aren’t necessarily that great. I’m a hard worker and I was prepared for that…but this tour is so awesome.”
Let’s go back to the beginning. Born in Indiana, Krystal’s youth was unconventional and more than a little bohemian. She never had true roots and spent most of her childhood traveling with her musician parents, moving from town to town, singing and playing in churches and with other music groups. Since she was an only child, Krystal got a lot of encouragement.
“They prepared me from a very young age to do this and still are very supportive and are there when I need them,” says Krystal.
“But Krystal,” says this puzzled interviewer, “you understand that most parents try and keep their kids as far away from the music business as possible, don’t you?”
She laughs, “Yeah, well they wanted me to have a backup plan but they also knew that this is what I was meant to do.”
Being the Backstreet Boys opening act isn’t an easy task. Put yourself in Krystal’s shoes for a moment and consider what it must be like. Thousands of maniacal fans literally passing out in anticipation of seeing their heroes, waving fluorescent glow-sticks and generally creating a scene usually reserved for Beatlemania. Then you have to get up and sing your songs first because you’re the opening act. Now that’s pressure! “Well, so far the fans have been screaming their guts out, which is a good sign I guess,” says Krystal.
The word is that she’s gaining a large fan base; her first single Supergirl has attracted fans to her web site bulletin board as they write in to support her talent. Questions about her debut album Me & My Piano are common and altogether, this opening act is earning her due quickly. In fact, the adoration coupled with this ‘chance of a lifetime tour’ has often made Krystal feel like Supergirl.
“People ask me if I feel like I’m a super girl because of the situation that I’m in and sometimes I do. The reason for that is, gosh, I’m just a regular girl who’s got a shot. Basically I believe that there’s a super girl inside of everybody. So this is an anthem for me and for everybody so they can change the world that they’re in and they can accomplish the dreams that they have.”
A singer, a songwriter, a superhero fan, Krystal says she fits right in with the close-knit friends who double as the BSB’s touring entourage. “They’re like a family,” she says.
And what about the Backstreet Boys themselves?
“They’re really awesome people and not just some guys who sold a ridiculous amount of albums, and that means a lot to me,” she says. “Kevin in particular always encourages me to be myself. They’ve never tried to put me in some kind of box, they’re just there to let Krystal be Krystal.”
Krystal’s debut album Me & My Piano will be released this summer.
**August 1st**-'It's True: I Want It The Burger King Way'
Backstreet's back in Toronto filming a series of commercials for an up and coming Burger King promotion. They'll be in town until Friday but are not scheduled to make any public appearances. According to Bill Gray of Burger King Canada, nearly a mile of downtown streets had to be closed down on Thursday to accommodate over a thousand fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the Boys while they were filming at a new and yet to be opened restaurant in downtown Toronto. The promotion will run for 6 weeks in Canada and the USA. It starts on Monday, August 28 and ends on Sunday October 1. BK will be serving up a whopping amount of new material from the Boys including a 45 minute video and 3 CD's containing 12 songs in all. Each CD will feature the world premiere of the next BSB single entitled It's True. The promotion will target younger fans as well. Each week, Kid's Club meals will include a different interactive BSB Cyber Crusader figure made famous by Stan Lee's Backstreet Project. Something tells us that kids won't be the only ones munching on Kid's Club meals this fall. Here's the release schedule for the promotion:
Week #1
The first week will feature an audio CD and a 45 minute video complete with live performances and backstage coverage of the Spring 2000 Into The Millennium tour. The video is entitled For The Fans and will cost $4.49 ($2.99 in the USA). When asked if this video was in any way related to the mysterious/phantom release of "Standing Room Only", Gray suggested that it was possible that "some" of the material may have originally been shot with that project in mind. CD #1 will contain the following tracks:
Larger Than Life (Live)
Back To Your Heart (Live)
All I Have To Give (Live)
It's True (World Premiere, Studio)
That's What She Said (Studio)
All I Have To Give (Acapella)
Week #2
CD #2 will contain the following tracks:
The One (Live)
SMTMOBL (Live)
Quit Play Games (Live)
It's True (World Premiere, Studio)
That's What She Said (Studio)
All I Have To Give (Acapella)
Week #3
CD #3 will contain the following tracks:
I Want It That Way (Live)
Don't Want To Lose You Now (Live)
It's True (World Premiere, Studio)
That's What She Said (Studio)
All I Have To Give (Acapella)
Gray suggested to us that there will be plenty of copies to go around for everyone, saying that they had "ordered heavily this time" based on their experience with a recent and unexpectedly popular Pokemon promotion. He also told us to expect the new BSB album on October 10, a date that BMG is trying hard to keep. BK is also sponsoring the Boys next tour which is slated to begin later this year and cover a minimum of 50 cities in the USA and Canada. They'll have 25 backstage passes to give away for each and every show, some of which will be available in online contests.
**July 22nd**- *From Mtv.com*
BACKSTEERT BOY LITTRELL FALLS VICTIM TO DOGNAPPING
Two tiny blond Chihuahuas belonging to Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell and his actress fiancée, Leighanne Wallace, have been snatched from the couple's home near Atlanta. At press time, a spokesperson for the band confirmed that the couple's dogs, a 4 lb. male named Lil' Tyk Thomas and a 3 lb. female named Litty Leigh, were still missing. According to Littrell, who called Atlanta radio station Star 94 on Friday morning to talk about the theft, the dogs were taken on Wednesday, apparently by two teenage girls who trespassed onto the couple's property. Littrell told the station that a "generous reward" was being offered for the dogs' safe return. Anybody with any information with regard to the missing dogs is being asked to call Suzanne Lear or Kristi Clark at the Atlanta Police Department at 404-350-9212. (Please note that this is a toll call.) Tyk is the canine star of the soon-to-be-released movie "Olive Juice," which features Wallace in the lead role and includes cameos from Littrell and fellow Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean. A plea for the dogs' return, along with a photo of Tyk and e-mail contacts for anyone with information about the dognapping, can be found at the movie's official Web site, www.olive-juice.com). The movie's producer, Nick Karvounis, told MTV News that Wallace had been playing with the dogs in the couple's yard when she was summoned away by the buzzer that signaled a visitor at the property's gate. No one was at the gate, but when Wallace returned to the yard, the dogs were gone. Later, a witness reportedly told Wallace that two teenage girls had put the canines in a car. Littrell and Wallace moved into their Atlanta home just four months ago and are expected to marry in September. Tyk has been in the family for almost four years, while Litty was adopted last year. As for "Olive Juice," no release date has been set as of yet. Karvounis said that the movie's soundtrack, produced by Littrell and Wallace, has now been completed, but he declined to release any further details. -- Sorelle Saidman
