Backstreet Mom: A Mother's Tale of Backstreet Boy AJ McLean's Rise to Fame, Struggle With Addiction, and Ultimate Triumph (16 page)

The next day was a long one. The boys sang and danced hour after
hour for anyone who showed up at the showcase. I was a little disappointed at the small number of record executives who accepted our invitation to meet the boys. Based on the responses we had gotten from the
school tour, along with the feedback from everyone else that had heard
the boys sing, I assumed that they would be knocking down our door.

It was just a bit hard to watch the boys' faces when they were told
that they had received no offers, but Lou gave them a pep talk and made
sure they understood that this was only the beginning. He made it clear
that he had no intention of giving up. That made all of us feel better.

LESS THAN SIX MONTHS AFTER THE SHOWCASE, we returned to
New York City, where we met with executives at jive Records. It was
actually the second record company to make an offer. As Lou had predicted, a record contract did come through following the showcase. The
boys were signed to Mercury Records.

However, as the weeks went by, it became obvious that Mercury had
no intention of picking up its option to record the boys. They let the
offer expire without ever sending the boys into the studio. As luck would
have it, the Mercury executive who signed them subsequently resigned
and took a position with jive Records, where he found co-workers that
believed in the Backstreet Boys as much as he did.

All of which landed us in the conference room of jive Records. There
we sat gathered around the negotiating table, hacking through mounds
of legal mumbo-jumbo with an attorney that Lou had hired for us. As
the saying goes, "If I only knew then what I know now," that scene
would have ended quite differently.

I learned a few very important things as a result of that meeting. Never, ever sign a contract without having your attorney look at it and without having a complete understanding of the document. Never allow yourself or your child to be bullied into something without having all of
your questions answered. By that point, we had put all of our trust in
Lou. He had taken a big risk financially and, by that time, we felt that
we owed him so much. On more than one occasion, Lou told the boys
how he was going to make them into millionaires. The way he lived was
the way we all wanted to live. Nice house, nice car, fame, fortune. What
parent would turn that down for their child?

After we signed the contracts that day at jive Records, we went out
on the town to celebrate. The celebration lasted well into night. It began
with a wonderful dinner, after which we went to the Copa Cabana and
then strolled through Times Square. It was a night I will never forget.
The boys stopped in front of Virgin Records and began harmonizing
right there on the street. Lou grinned ear-to-ear as passersby formed a
crowd around them.

When they finished singing, the crowd applauded.

With that, one of the boys yelled out, "There will be more to come
from jive's newest recording artists, the Backstreet Boys."

Once the record company took over, life became a whirlwind of performing, recording and "imaging." The main goal was to have that wholesome boy-next-door look at all times. They were expected to adhere to
that image, even on their days off. The Jive stylist helped us a great deal
when it came to the look and feel they wanted to portray. However, the
task of running from store to store with the boys, hemming pants and
putting buttons back on, still lay with den mothers like me.

From the word go, Alex wanted to be the odd man out when it came
to wardrobe, hair and personality. He wanted to be the bad boy. Every
time we went into a store there would be an argument between him and
Kevin. Why did Alex need that extra piece of clothing? Why didn't he
want to wear the same colors as the other boys? Whatever the case
seemed to be, those two repeatedly knocked heads. It was a sibling rivalry of sorts. In the end, they either compromised or Lou was called in
to make a decision.

Even as a child, my son had a wonderful sense of color and style. As
I recall, Alex didn't even own a pair of blue jeans until he was about
twelve years old. That was pretty unheard of for his generation. He preferred the preppie look of polo shirts and cotton trousers to jeans and Tshirts. By the time he turned six, I had very little say about what he
wore every day to school. He was very opinionated about his attire.

By the time Alex turned sixteen, he had become a bit of a rebel when
it came to his clothing. He was the first of the boys to get his cars pierced.
At first, the style was for one earring, but soon after that he decided on both. That caused a problem with his grandmother and me. We felt it
was a bit too feminine. Even some of the boys were against it. But, in the
end, Alex's stubbornness won out.

It was around that time that the boys received their first payment
from the record label. The amount of money they advance is geared to
how many CDs the record company thinks it will sell.

When Lou told us that the record company had given the boys a
$25,000 signing bonus, we had no idea what that meant. It did seem
like a low amount, but Lou said that neither he nor the Wrights took
their percentage, which seemed to us, at the time at least, to be a generous gesture. That meant that each boy received $5,000.

From that point on, the new accountant that Lou hired kept track of
every penny that he spent on the boys. What he did not list as an expense, the record company did. The word "recoupable" became an integral part of our vocabularies that year. We learned very quickly just how
much Lou had spent on getting those boys where they were at that point
in their careers because once the "signing bonus" was paid, the boys
started getting bills from Lou's office.

The Backstreet Boys backstage at Sea World

I had known all along that time would come, but none of us were
prepared for what we saw. It was absolutely staggering. I had never seen
so many zeroes on one piece of paper before in my life. It was downright
shocking what we owed that man. All the dinners, limo rides, plane
trips, parties, clothes, etc. were itemized for each boy. Alex and Nick
incurred a larger bill than the other boys due to the years of tutoring
they had.

Of course, none of us were able to begin paying any of it off. As I
looked at the bill, I realized how little the boys would actually make
over the coming years. I felt like I would be in someone's debt for the
rest of my life. Once again those little demons perched themselves on
my shoulders and started picking away at my brain.

Had I clone the right thing for Alex? Sure, he seemed to be having a
great time traveling, shopping and coming into his manhood with the
other boys. There was a lot of good stuff happening here. Was it worth
the huge price tag? That question gnawed away at me unrelentingly.

THE BOYS' FIRST VIDEO SHOOT took place at a small nightclub in Orlando.
I had been handing out flyers for weeks at every appearance, trying to
get young girls to show up at the club. To direct the video, Donna had
hired Ken West, a young man she had met a few months earlier while
attending film school. When we first met, I thought he was a bit quiet
and reserved. Once he went to work, his personality changed and he
took command of the shoot. It was obvious that he knew what he was
doing.

I actually felt a bit sorry for him after a while. Donna seemed to give
him more direction than he needed. Ken took it in stride, but by the
time the shoot was done, he seemed relieved. I heard him say that he
had to get the equipment back at a certain time and was running late. It
might have been true.

Since that video was strictly for promotional purposes, we didn't have
a big budget. We searched the boys' wardrobes for some hot outfits.
They had been wearing quite a bit of black and white lately as it seemed
to be a crowd pleaser. Crisp, white dress shirts, black jeans and black
quilted vests served them well.

The stage was small, which made it difficult for the boys to do most of
their choreography, but somehow they managed not to fall off of the stage.
I found it very interesting that the girls in the audience never tired of
hearing the same songs over and over that day. In fact, as the day went on,
they memorized the words and began to sing along. Alex had taken to sitting at the edge of the stage and holding a girl's hand as he sang his
piece of the ballad. Once again I saw just how comfortable he was in his
surroundings. He reveled in the screaming adoration of the girls.

The reaction by the audience was all very encouraging, considering
that the girls were not paid for the shoot. They were just given a quick
fast-food lunch. The fact that they stayed hour after hour, screaming so
genuinely at the boys was a sight to see. It was the first time I saw the
phenomenon that was the Backstreet Boys take hold in earnest. Some
were in love with Nick, some with Howie and some with all the others
at the same time. It was really difficult to imagine hordes of girls going
so crazy over my little boy. Heart-warming, but a bit scary at the same
time. He was in his element, so how could it be bad? I would not find
the answer to that question for a long time.

No sooner had the video wrapped than it was time to pack our bags
again. This time we were off to Seattle. It was our first trip with an
actual bodyguard along. Randy Jones was a very large black man with a
shiny, bald head. The boys fell in love with him from day one. Randy
had spent many years as a bodyguard for New Kids on the Block and he
knew what to expect out on the road. Though he looked fierce on the
outside, he was a real pussycat through and through. That seems to be
the rule for most of the men who travel with pop stars. I mean, really.
How threatening do you have to be to ward off a screaming fifteen-yearold girl?

Alex and I had never been to Seattle, so I was looking forward to a bit
of sightseeing. The next day the boys were not scheduled to rehearse
until nine at night. That gave us the whole day to play. Once up and
showered, Alex called all of the boys and Randy to see if we could go on
an outing.