news archives

December 29, 2001 - Well again Mariah Carey dominated one of our polls, this time asking the favorite song of the year. Carey came out on top with her hit, Loverboy, which beat out the Christina Aguilera, Mya, Pink, and Lil' Kim collaboration, 'Lady Marmalade' and Backstreet Boys' 'Drowning'. Popdirt.com's latest poll asks which official site's message board is best. Vote for BackstreetBoys.com here.

December 27, 2001 - Jamie Foxx recounted his MTV Video Music Awards hosting to the Tonight Show's Jay Leno Thursday night as he joked about how the Backstreet Boys were upset with him but he wasn't worried about a boy band. Foxx revealed even though he tried to say the champagne he offered A.J. was apple cider, it really wasn't.

December 27, 2001 - Apparently Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean called in to the JoJo radio program on KIIS FM in Los Angeles to break news that he has asked Sarah Martin to marry him. AJ revealed, "I just popped the question. I just wanna let everybody know that the Backstreet Boys are not ones to hide anything. I mean obviously, especially with me going into rehab. I came out and told everybody the truth and told everybody that I had a problem and I went and fixed it, and I've got 5 ½ months sober."

December 26, 2001 - The Enquirer reports Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean is plotting to ask 26 year-old girfriend and live-in lover Sarah Martin to marry him on New Year's Eve. An insider reports, "He called Sarah's mom and asked for permission to marry her daughter. Sarah's mom almost dropped the phone in shock, but she quickly gave her consent." Read more.

December 22, 2001 - Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough called into Orlando radio station WXXL 106.7 FM earlier this week and was confronted with reports that bandmate A.J. McLean and an ex-girlfriend were going to be appearing in Hustler. Howie responded by laughing about it and saying, "Honestly, I don’t know, I swear to God that’s the first time I heard about that, and I think I’ll have to give AJ a call, to see first of all which girlfriend it was (laughs) and second of all why would he dumb-butt to let a picture get out there."

December 22, 2001 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell and his wife Leighanne surprised Star 94 studios when they came to visit Sarah Ussery, who's mother has been battling cancer and her stepdad, Steve Ussery, had been recently downsized from his job. Sarah's friend Danielle Kowalewicz read Sarah's "Wish Upon a Star" letter to listeners prompting Littrell to bring a bunch of gifts to surprise Sarah and family. Read more.

December 22, 2001 - Star reports Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough is searching for a home in the Los Angeles area in the $1 million range for himself and new girlfriend Leigh Boniello.

December 22, 2001 - Thor Chistensen of the Dallas Morning News gave his thoughts on the year in music saying, "Music critics crossed their fingers and prayed 2001 would be the year the Backstreet Boys bit the dust, Britney [Spears] went bye-bye, and *NSYNC sank. Alas, it was not to be." Read more.

December 21, 2001 - AOL revealed Thursday that *NSYNC was the most searched band on their website for the year beating out the Backstreet Boys at #2 and O-Town at #3.

December 18, 2001 - The Stranger reports Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson and his wife were spotted at the known gay bar Manray during the pair's trip to Seattle. The visit had some talking as an insider revealed, "What would a straight boy and his beard be doing at Manray? Everyone knows in Seattle that the straights and gays mix only at the REBAR or Neighbours, not Manray. If he thought he was cruising quietly in Seattle, he was sooo very misguided." More on the club here.

December 12, 2001 - Hits Daily Double shows Britney Spears' latest effort 'Britney' receiving a 10% jump in sales for the week as she climbs back up 2 to the #4 spot behind heavyweight Creed and the always popular NOW series and the NOW Xmas special compilation. Other pop acts in the charts are Enrique slipping to #12, Shakira holding at #15 and Backstreet Boys' Hits outpacing *NSYNC's Celebrity. Michael Jackson's Invincible continued to show vincibility, dropping to #27, just ahead of the Madonna GHV2 album. Mariah's Greatest Hits album on Columbia debuted so low it may fall of some observer's radars clocking in at a pathetic #44 with 64,000 sales.

December 10, 2001 - Aaron Carter spoke with LiveDaily.com about his older brother and Backstreet Boys Nick's advice on avoiding stage fright while performing. Aaron says, "He taught me -- when I'm really scared of the audience and there's a lot of people there -- to just pick out two or three [people] and visually get everybody else out of your sight." As for his sister Leslie, he said, "She's 15 and going through that time where she's beating up everybody."

December 8, 2001 - Jean Godden of The Seattle Times reports Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson and his wife Christy were in Seattle last Saturday where Kevin helped raise $11,000 offering his services at last Saturday's Hutch Holiday Gala as a companion on a Mount Rainier day hike. He and Christy were also spotted dining on stuffed prawns at the Broadway Grill. Spencer Fairbanks, manager of the restaurant told Godden, "I took Kevin his dessert. He told me about his father (who died of cancer last year) and I told him about my mother, a breast-cancer survivor."

December 6, 2001 - Craig Seymour of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution followed up on reports by Jeannette Walls that the Backstreet Boys are again subject to breakup rumors. But according to their spokeswoman, Marcee Rondan, the band is doing fine having just returned from touring in Japan. She says they do plan on taking the holidays off as they do every year. Read more.

December 5, 2001 - Bernie Mac gave the Backstreet Boys a hard time during his opening monologue to the Billboard Music Awards Tuesday night where he joked, "First of all, this is the Billboard Awards. That means this show is about the charts. If you ain't number one, you ain't got nothing coming," adding "And just because you didn't sell a lot of records don't mean you ain't good. You just missed the mark... Backstreet Boys. Where they at? Back on the street. But that's all right. You ain't got no reason to be ashamed. Next year, try something different."

December 5, 2001 - MSNBC's Jeannette Walls reports the Backstreet Boys are pondering whether to call it a day following recent band member marriages, A.J. McLean's substance abuse, and a "really low" moral on their past tour, according to a source. The source says, "Their fan base isn't what it used to be and they're not having as much fun as they did. They're tired of being also-rans to 'N Sync. They've come to the conclusion that they don't really want to do this anymore." A spokeswoman for the band was unaware of any conversations regarding a split.

December 2, 2001 - Backstreet Boys are included in the latest Popdirt.com poll asking "What Was The Top Pop Song Of 2001?" for "Drowning". Vote here.

December 1, 2001 - During his Friday night monologue, Jay Leno joked about *NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and Mariah Carey. Read here for a rundown.

December 1, 2001 - Pink revealed on the Howard Stern show Friday that during the 9-11 benefit concert at RFK (What More Can I Give), she and the Backstreet Boys went to the event by train but were on opposite ends of the train. When she tried to get them to sign a guitar that was being auctioned off to benefit families of the terror victims, she only managed to get Kevin and Howie to sign the guitar. Pink was pissed off that AJ McLean, Nick Carter, and Brian Littrell wouldn't sign the guitar as the groups handlers said they were too tired. Pink shouted that 8,000 people who died that day were sleeping forever. Pink then said she forged their names on the guitar so this may be news to whomever won the ebay auction. Pink and BSB don't appear to be good friends anymore. Read more.

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