Backstreet Mom: A Mother's Tale of Backstreet Boy AJ McLean's Rise to Fame, Struggle With Addiction, and Ultimate Triumph (11 page)

After a few minutes I felt a bit calmer. Luckily, the man did not ask
me to leave him alone with my son. We talked for a bit and he explained
what was needed to enter the talent show. He also mentioned that the
first prizewinner would receive one thousand dollars. That did the trick
with Alex!

After Alex finished singing, the producer remarked that he was a bit
overwhelmed to hear such a deep, booming voice coming out of this
pipsqueak of a thirteen-year-old. He hired Alex on the spot.

"Okay, what exactly does that mean?" I asked.

I was told that Alex had to devise a forty-five minute one-man show,
which he would perform every few hours over the course of the carnival. That was fine with Alex. It would give him an opportunity to show
off his talents and someone in the audience might notice. Alex wanted
to showcase all of his talents, from singing and dancing to rock, show
tunes and pop songs all the way to the big finale of his puppet show.

We had about a month to get ready for the event. With my schedule
I did not know how we would do it, but I really didn't want to disappoint Alex. The first task was to find enough music to fill the time. Alex
feverishly went through hundreds of cassette tapes in a search for the
right songs.

Once we had the music timed out, remembering to allow for costume
changes, we put together a wardrobe. Alex decided on one basic costume, with a couple of changes toward the end of the show. One was
pretty simple, just a cape, mask and white gloves for his Phantom of the
Opera song. He had always loved singing "Music of the Night." Now he
wanted to do it for an audience. For some reason, Alex had become
enamored of magic tricks. He learned a sleight-of-hand routine that he
could do while setting off pyrotechnics. It was harmless really, just a
puff of smoke.

We worked so hard on the project that I decided to dig up some
dollars to hire a professional video company to shoot a couple of the
shows and edit them together for a video resume. It was a good move
given the fact that the performance really did end up showcasing all of
Alex's talents.

The carnival weekend started out very slowly. That was all right with
us because it gave us the opportunity to work out some of the bugs, as
well as get a few good video shots in from different angles without getting in front of an audience. By late afternoon on the first day, word had
spread about Alex's show.

One of the people who kept coming by was Tony Donetti, a young
man just out of junior college. He had a handsome Latin complexion
and a sweet personality. I spoke to him for a few minutes and he told me
that he was performing in another part of the carnival. Tony did a dance
routine with a partner, using mostly Latin-style music.

After Tony headed back to his partner, I told Alex about my conversation with him. He said he recognized him from the singing classes
they had taken a while back. If he remembered correctly, Tony had been
at a couple of the same auditions at the Nickelodeon studios. Suddenly,
Orlando was becoming a smaller town.

For the rest of the weekend, Alex put on show after show. It didn't
matter if there were five or fifty people in the audience, Alex just kept
on singing and dancing for anyone who would watch. This time his
efforts paid off. He beat Tony and everyone else for the thousand-dollar
grand prize. He was beside himself when they announced his name as
the winner. If I remember correctly, Tony ended up with second prize
and congratulated Alex on his winning performance. Little did either of them know, but they were both destined for much, much more and very
soon.

We were all so proud of Alex and
how well he had done. I took him
to the bank and he opened his first
savings account. I made a photocopy
of the check and had it framed for
him to keep as a reminder of his first
sweet victory in Orlando.

Top: Alex displays his puppetry skills at
the Latin Carnival

Right: Alex wins first place at the Latin
Carnival

IN MARCH 1992, shortly after Alex turned fourteen, I read an ad in the
local trade paper calling for young men between the ages of twelve and
eighteen for a five-member vocal group. I called the number and got all
of the information from a very pleasant young woman named Gloria
Sicoli. She told me that a local businessman was looking for young men
to form a pop singing group that he could sign to his record company.

When I told Alex about the ad, he was thrilled and said he couldn't
wait to go. I told him that he had to be able to sing two songs from the
New Kids on the Block album and perform a five-minute dance routine.
That made Alex even more excited. He asked if we could go to the record
store right away so he could find the music and begin practicing that
night. Alex had never been a big fan of the New Kids, but he was familiar with both of the songs. Alex practiced every day, until he knew all of
the lyrics and had his dance routine down pat.

On the day of the audition, we followed Gloria's directions to a wellknown golf community that I had heard of but never visited. When we
pulled up in front of the house-a large, white structure with a circular
driveway and a fountain in the front yard-my eyes widened in shock.

Alex looked at me and said, "Mom, what's wrong? Isn't this the house?"

"Alex," I said in a calm voice, "this is the exact type of house that the
psychic described to me in the reading I told you about."

I suddenly felt as if I was in a dream. All the words the psychic had
said to me about the house came rushing into my head. As we pulled
into the driveway, the front doors opened and a large man with glasses
and light hair stepped out and quickly walked up to the car. I was speechless.

"Hi," the man said, opening Alex's car door and extending his hand.
"I am Lou Pearlman and this is my house. Please come in."

As we made our introductions, Lou walked us into his house. He was
very warm and relaxed, dressed casually in a sports shirt and slacks.
After entering the house, he led us down a small hallway with three
rooms off to the side. I noted that the combination of eggshell-colored
carpeting and tile made for a crisp and clean impression.

The furniture was patterned in tropical colors and shapes. A couple
of solid pastel side chairs accented the room. Next to the living room
was a nicely appointed dining area. Six high-back chairs surrounded a
large glass-topped table. There were lots of large potted plants scattered
tastefully throughout the rooms. We continued until we reached a small
sitting area adorned with two brightly-colored loveseats and a coffee table. On one side was a guest bath, on the other was what appeared to
be a sunken bedroom.

The next room we entered stood out in stark contrast to the others.
We walked down a couple of short steps and into a room that would be
any guy's dream. It was a large game room complete with a pool table and an old-fashioned Coke machine. Everywhere you looked there were
all sorts of movie memorabilia and toys. It was like a mini museum.
There was also a long bar that curved around the side of the room. The
barstools were chrome and black leather.

Alex's promo page when he auditioned for Lou

To the right was a group of couches in front of an entertainment
center; behind that was an atrium with plants and a small pond. The
walls were covered with gold records and plaques. Other than the gold
records I saw nothing that had anything to do with the music business.
It made me wonder what line of work this Mr. Pearlman was in.

There was such a diverse collection of things in that one room that
my head was spinning. Alex was in awe. The look on his face was priceless. He had the wild look in his eyes of a small child who wanted to
touch and try everything. Instead, he held back and stood with his hands
folded in front of him.

We were asked to sit in the entertainment nook, where I noticed a
video camera set up on a tripod. Lou disappeared into a back room and
then an attractive young woman dressed in a nice suit entered. It was
Gloria. Her face seemed of Italian descent; she had dark-brown hair and
eyes. She conducted herself in a professional manner as she explained
that Lou wanted to form a singing group fashioned after New Kids on
the Block. He planned to form his own record label in order to back
them financially.