New Kids on the Block
Biography
New Kids On The Block (NKOTB) are a very successful boy band from the late 80s and early 90s, and are still performing to this day. Assembled in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr, the members consist of brothers Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. The group went on to sell over 70 million albums worldwide, generated hundreds of million of dollars of concert revenues, and roughly paved the way for acts like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC.
NKOTB were awkward and enthusiastic on their 1986 self-titled debut album, which wasnt surprising considering that the oldest members were barely 16 years old. Music impresario Maurice Starr, struggling for years as a sporadic solo artist, had some success with African-American group New Edition in terms of bringing the sunny pop and smooth rnb vocal group sound of the early 70s (as played by The Jackson 5, The Osmonds, and others) to an 80s audience. He aimed to do the same thing with NKOTB, but this time to a more white audience.
Read full biography ↓
With their next album, 1988s Hangin Tough, the groups image had toughened up and they had the material to support it. From the saccharine ballad "Ill Be Loving You Forever" to the title tracks stab at something like white funk, the band had a seemingly endless streak of hits in 1988 and 1989. Their Christmas album even went double platinum. NKOTB mania continued with 1990s Step by Step; even if it sold five million copies less than Hangin Tough, it still sold three million copies. Tracks such as "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" and "Step by Step" were pop staples on the radio. But that was the end of the road for their short time in the sun— they were the subject of an endless amount of jokes and were getting no respect as they faced a critical backlash.
Besides, their audience was growing up. In 1994, they returned with the Starr-less Face the Music, which actually showed a remarkable musical maturity— they were arguably a credible urban rnb outfit by this point— but hardly sold anything, even if they were packing theaters on tour. In June of 1994, the band announced that it had acrimoniously parted ways and all of the members were pursuing solo careers
In 2008, the members regrouped, and they soon recorded and released their first single together as New Kids On The Block titled "Summertime" from a new album titled simply The Block. That album featured artists such as Ne-Yo, Lady Gaga, New Edition, and Akon. Success touring alongside (and generally hanging out) the members of the Backstreet Boys also led to the creation of the NKOTBSB project.
Their latest album was 2013s 10, which showed a sound influenced by dance pop and adult contemporary styles and also involved working with a set of hit producers. They released the bouncy single "Remix (I Like The)". Supported by a deliberately campy music video, that track hit #38 in the U.S. Adult Top 40 chart. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.
