Brian Littrell

Brian Littrell
Image:BrianLittrell.jpg Brian Littrell performing in December 2005
Background information
Birth name	Brian Thomas Littrell
Born	February 20 1975 (age 33) Lexington, Kentucky  United States
Genre(s)	Pop, Christian contemporary
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instrument(s)	Acoustic Guitar
Years active	1993 to present
Label(s)	Reunion / Jive (2006)
Associated acts	Backstreet Boys
Website	http://www.brianlittrell.com

Brian Thomas Littrell (born February 20, 1975^[1]) is an American musician and member and the lead singer of the Backstreet Boys.

Biography

Early life

Littrell was born in Lexington, Kentucky to Jackie and Harold Littrell.^[1] He has an older brother, Harold Littrell, Jr. He went to Tates Creek High School in Lexington, and began singing as a child in church. Littrell's cousin, Kevin Richardson, moved to Orlando, Florida, during Littrell's teenage years. Richardson had gone to Orlando to find a job in the entertainment industry; after being chosen as one of the Backstreet Boys, he recommended his cousin to the band members and management. Littrell was convinced by Richardson to go to Florida and audition. Soon, he was chosen as the fifth member of the band.

Career

Right from the start he was the band's main lead singer, in some cases doing over half of the songs himself (e.g. 'As Long As You Love Me', 'I'll Never Break Your Heart'), and having solo parts in all of their singles except for 'The Call' and 'Incomplete', both of which were done by Nick and AJ, with the other three adding harmonies. Besides being a pop singer, Brian explored other musical skills, being a reasonably good guitar player and co-writing some of the group's numbers (including 'Larger Than Life', 'The One' and 'The Perfect Fan').

The Backstreet Boys began to gain fame in 1995; by 1998, the group had teenaged female fans around the world. However, Littrell was soon faced with a serious problem because of his congenital heart problem, which nearly took his life at age five, had caused his heart to grow dangerously large. He was sent in and out of hospital through childhood. Doctors decided in May of that year to correct his problem by performing open heart surgery. His heart was enlarging due to the hole. Littrell was forced to cancel some concert tour dates as the doctors had warned him that if he kept on delaying the surgery, he would slowly kill himself.

After their success of the late 1990s, the Backstreet Boys went on a hiatus. Littrell, meanwhile, became committed to a number of other show business activities, most of them for charity. He joined other celebrities, such as Bow Wow, Frankie Muniz, Beyoncé Knowles, Usher, Jake Thomas and others, in a yearly NBA tour where he plays basketball in every NBA city before a game. Aside from that, he has also played charity baseball games and remains highly active in the charity he founded, the Brian Littrell Healthy Heart Club for Kids. In 2000, he won the Teen People's 25 Hottest People Under 25, tying with Justin Timberlake.

The Backstreet Boys reunited in 2004 to start recording their new album, Never Gone. It was released in 2005, with their first single "Incomplete." The album "Never Gone" debuted at #1 in various countries and the single "Incomplete" became the Backstreet Boys' first #1 in Australia's ARIA chart. "Never Gone" was quickly certified platinum in the US and selling over 3 million copies worldwide.

Solo career

In the summer of 2005 Brian's solo single "In Christ Alone" went to #1 on the Christian Charts on July 4th and Littrell was the winner of the 2006 GMA Music Award for Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year, "In Christ Alone," which won both the 1993 award in this category (when recorded by Michael English) and the 1994 Song of the Year at the GMA Music Awards.

Brian's first solo album, Welcome Home (You) was released on May 2, 2006, which like the Backstreet Boys projects, is a Sony BMG release. The album, peaking at #74 on the Billboard 200 and #3 on the Christian Charts, currently has sold over 75,000 copies. The single "Welcome Home (You)" reaches #2 on the US Christian Charts and #1 on Reach FM's Top 40 chart and the R&R Christian Inspirational chart staying there for 3 weeks.

Personal life

In 1997, Littrell met model and actress, Leighanne Wallace, at the video shoot for their single "As Long As You Love Me." He proposed on Christmas Eve of 1999 and they were married on September 2, 2000. Their first child, son Baylee Thomas Wylee Littrell, was born on November 26, 2002.

Discography

Footnotes

Wikipedia information about Brian Littrell This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Brian Littrell". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.