2009 Backstreet Boys

Among the heartthrob boy bands that sprang up like mushrooms in dark cellars in the 1990s, the Backstreet Boys displayed perhaps the most talent and certainly the best staying power. After taking a break from nonstop touring and recording early in the decade, the Backstreet Boys returned in 2004 and regained their status and their ticket-selling abilities. Now you can see the Backstreet Boys live in concert as they tour to promote their most recent album, 2007’s Unbreakable.

The Backstreet Boys formed in Orlando, where Kevin Richardson was working at Disney World. He met a trio formed of two Orlando natives, Howie Dorough and A.J. McLean, and New Yorker Nick Carter, and the Boys pulled in Richardson's cousin, Brian Littrell, to round out the quintet. With the help of producer Louis J. Pearlman, the Backstreet Boys got the exposure they needed to ink a recording deal with Jive Records.

The Boyz II Men-like sound that this middle-class white quintet created proved successful first in Europe, where their debut album was a smash. Their debut single, 'We've Got It Goin' On,' charted well in Europe but not in the United States, where their album had not been released yet. Eventually, the U.S. debut album sold 13 million copies, and the follow-up album, Millennium, sold 12 million. Black & Blue (2000) was the group's final pre-retirement album, and then the Boys did their own thing for a while.

You may be shocked to learn that the Backstreet Boys have won no Grammys. With such talent, it's almost unimaginable. Now that the Backstreet Boys are back together, maybe that will change. In the meantime, you can fulfill your desire to see them if you hurry and get your tickets now.