Pop Mongul Lou Perlman wanted to put together a boyband to rival New Kids On The Block in the early nineties - he came up with The Backstreet Boys, comprising bottle-blonde twelve year old Nikolas Jean Carter, Howie Dwayne Dorough, 14-year old Alexander James McClean, elderly eyebrow man Kevin Richardson (21) and Richardson's cousin, Brian Thomas Literell, who would go on to pen future Backstreet hits "Larger Than Life", "The One" and "The Perfect Fan".

Perlman, who would later finger Jean-Carter's younger brother and one-time dish Aaron for an album, took The Boys round Seaworld and some schools before realising he'd accidentally created the fabbest Boy Band ever (apart from Hanson). Hurrah!

Jive picked up The Backstreet Boys and while first single "We've Got It Goin On" (written by Swedish Pop Prince Max Martin) floppity-flopped in the US, it was a big fat hit in Europe. 8.5 million record sales later, and with the Boys established in Europe, Perlman decided to try and break The Boys in The States with their second album "Backstreet's Back". But not long after, Literell decided to sue Perlman for "hiding money", the scamp.

In 1998, Literell was persuaded to have open-heart surgery to correct a murmur in the middle of a sold-out 39 date US tour, although presumably the operation itself wasn't performed on-stage as this suggests. They sued Perlman twice more before the end of the year for control of their assets, and Marissa Jackson, former squeeze of AJ, released a 'tell all' book, "Loving AJ". Bet that was a bestseller.

In May, 1999 the Backstreet Boys third album "Millennium" once more sold a million copies in its first week in the US. Burger King were snapped up for a huge sponsorship deal, and things had never looked rosier. Just a year later, "Black & Blue" appeared, but cracks were starting to show - AJ McClean began using crack during making the video of "The Call", perhaps his only way of getting through this tedious concept track.

"AJ" McClean claimed to have created an alter-ego "Johnny No Name" who was like him in that he had similar parents, except he'd also gone to prison whereas AJ had not. These were small clues that things were not exactly "tickedy" with him.

The "Black and Blue" Tour was postponed when McClean checked into rehab. On September 11th 2001, a Boys crew member was killed during the World Trade Centre terrorist attacks. The Boys went ahead with a Toronto concert that night, playing to just 5000 and annoying lots of people not really in the mood for singing-a-long to "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)".

A Backstreet Boys fan, yesterday. May not have bought Brian Literell's solo album.

The Boys were irritated when Jive released the foolishly titled "Hits: Chapter 1" in 2001, since firstly they had wanted to wait until the Backstreet 10th Anniversary in 2003 and secondly, they surely knew that anyone who releases a Greatest Hits album with "Chapter One" in the title is doomed never to release "Chapter Two".

In 2001, the Boys decided to leave their management company, "The Firm". Surprisingly, there was little resistance. The canny devils were fingering a solo career for Nick Carter, who stayed on with them. This caused resentment within the band, and the planned 2003 Backstreet album never appeared. Instead, Kevin did "Chicago", Nick released radio-friendly solo album "Now or Never" and AJ appeared on Oprah talking about his addictions. It was ironically this that got the Boys talking again, and eventually led to a new album.

In 2005, a new single emerged, "Incomplete" with a "Coldplay" guitar sound. It fared well, hitting the Top 10 in the UK, but Rolling Stone gave its parent album "Never Gone" a one-star rating, and the record sold only 291,000 copies in its first week, compared to the million-tally of its predecessors. It did make Number 1 in Pakistan and Chile though. Later singles from "Never Gone" performed poorly - "Just Want You To Know" was their lowest performing single in America ever, while "I Still..." only came out in Japan.

Meanwhile Brian Literell scored a Number One solo single...

...on the US Christian Chart, with "In Christ Alone". Parent album "Welcome Home (You)" (oh stop that!) only reached Number Three on the Christian Albums Top 10. He also sired a child, Baylee Wylee.

A new album, with a "Jackswing" sound, is due to "drop" in Spring 2007. However, Kevin has left, returning to "Chicago". If you're going to leave, do it while people still care! It's a bit like Cheryl Baker announcing today that she's quitting Bucks Fizz.

In 2006, "House of Carters", a US reality show, charted the attempts of Nicholas Jean, his grubby but peachy-arsed younger brother and some screechy women to shout at each other for two weeks.

Also last year, The Boys featured in a storyline in "Neighbours", though pointlessly didn't actually appear. Top character Ned did, however, reveal that he'd been "a fan of the Boys" since 1992, one year before they actually formed. The show also features Kyal Marsh, who plays Boyd (below).

There's this thing, which threatens Nick Carter early rarities. The mind boggles as to what it might contain.

Plus all manner of old crap on Ebay, including the "Now or Never" mouse mat, a Nick Carter Coffee Mug and some AJ Fridge Magnets.