Album Nkotb

[Karina Edling]

TheAmerican boy band New Kids on the Block has released eight studio albums, seven compilation albums, one EP, thirty-two singles, and five video albums. As of 2005, they had sold more than 17.5 million albums in the United States alone[1] and to date, over 80 million records worldwide.[2]

The New Kids on the Block released their debut single, "Be My Girl", in 1986. It peaked at number 90 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[3] Their first album was released the same year, and although not a big success at the time, it managed to sell three million copies in the United States after almost four years, being certified three times platinum by the RIAA.[4][5] In 1988, they released their second and most successful album to date, Hangin' Tough, which peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold more than eight million copies in the United States alone.[4] After a Christmas album, they released the song "Step by Step", from the album of the same name; it remains the band's biggest-selling single to date.[6] New Kids on the Block have since released three more studio albums and eight compilations.

New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block enjoyed success in the late 1980s and early 1990s and have sold more than 80 million records worldwide, and are often credited for paving the way for future boy bands such as Take That, Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.[2] They won two American Music Awards in 1990 for Favorite Pop/Rock Band, Duo, or Group and Favorite Pop/Rock Album.[3] In 1991, they performed the halftime show at Super Bowl XXV, a first for a popular music group.

Formed in 1984, New Kids on the Block achieved stardom in 1989, an achievement listed as number 16 on Rolling Stone's "Top 25 Teen Idol Breakout Moments".[4] The group disbanded in 1994. In 2007, the group reunited to record an album and mount a concert tour in 2008. Since then the group has released two more studio albums and have continued to tour.

In the early 1980s, Maurice Starr discovered pop/R&B quintet New Edition, and guided their early success. After breaking ties with them, Starr and his business partner, Mary Alford, sought to create a white counterpart act. Fifteen-year-old Donnie Wahlberg impressed Starr and Alford with his rapping skills, becoming the group's first member.[7][8][9] He was initially joined by his younger brother Mark, who left the group after only a few months.[7][10][11][12] Donnie then recruited his school friends Jamie Kelly, Jordan Knight and Danny Wood to join the group; Knight was followed into the group by his older brother Jonathan Knight, while Kelly left the group early on.[1][7][10]

When a search was made to find a Michael Jackson-esque singer to replace Kelly, Starr recruited 12-year-old Joey McIntyre, who initially struggled to fit in with the group.[7][10][13] With the final lineup in place, Starr rehearsed the boys after school and on weekends, and eventually secured the group a recording contract at Columbia Records.[7][8][10][12]

Originally, the group was called Nynuk (pronounced "na-nook").[10][11] Nikki Van Noy, author of the group's official biography, wrote in 2012 that the name Nynuk is "meaningless",[12] although a 1989 article by Rolling Stone suggested a possible connection to Nanook of the North.[9] Columbia demanded Starr change the name of the group. Subsequently, they settled on New Kids on the Block, after a rap song that Donnie Wahlberg had written and arranged for their first album.[7] The group was signed to Columbia's black music division and originally marketed to black audiences.[7][11][12][1]

In April 1986, Columbia Records released the group's self-titled debut album. The album, almost exclusively written and produced by Maurice Starr, featured mid-1980s bubblegum pop material. The first single, "Be My Girl", received minor airplay around the group's native Boston but failed to capture nationwide attention. The album's second single, "Stop It Girl", fared even worse. The New Kids went on tour around the New England states, singing wherever Starr could book them: in bars, school dances, and clubs. Nevertheless, Starr remained diligent and persuaded the label to allow the group to record a second album.

In the meantime, the group began making national televised appearances on such music programs as Showtime at the Apollo and Soul Train. Producer Maurice Starr then held auditions to secure a band of musicians suitable for touring with the New Kids, approving musical director and keyboardist Greg McPherson, bassist David Dyson, keyboardist Yasko Kubota, guitarist Nerida Rojas, and drummer Derrick Antunes. The New Kids later landed a spot as an opening act for fellow teen-pop act Tiffany on the U.S. leg of her concert tour. Sales of Hangin' Tough steadily increased as the group's national attention slowly rose. At year's end, the album's second single, "You Got It (The Right Stuff)", was released. The song was given a huge boost when MTV took notice of the group and began playing the video in regular rotation, including an appearance on Club MTV. By early 1989, it cracked the top five.[14] The New Kids hit pay dirt with their next single, "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)", which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart in June.[14] The group had been scheduled to open for Tiffany once again on a second tour, but their sudden popularity caused a reversal, and she wound up opening for them (although the two acts were technically billed as "co-headliners").

More top five singles from Hangin' Tough followed into the summer and fall, including the title track and "Cover Girl". Columbia Records also released the single "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)" (a cover of The Delfonics' classic hit), from the group's previously overlooked debut album. The song went No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles[14] on the strength of the group's popularity and effectively jump-started the sales of that album as well. By the end of 1989, Hangin' Tough had climbed to number one on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and had gone eight-times platinum. They subsequently became the first 'teen' act to garner five top ten hits from a single album.

Columbia Music Video also released a home video, Hangin' Tough, a documentary on the band directed by Doug Nichol and produced by Bryan Johnson that included their four hit music videos and a live concert recorded during their 1989 tour. It achieved massive sales, earning a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video nomination,[15] and was one of the biggest selling music videos of all time.[16]

By early 1990, New Kids on the Block had become one of the most popular acts in the United States. That May, they followed up Hangin' Tough with Step by Step, for which just over half of the songs were cowritten and produced by the members themselves. The first single, the title track, hit number one on the Hot 100 Singles Chart[14] and became their biggest-selling single. It was followed up with their ninth consecutive top-ten single, "Tonight". The group was achieving significant international success, as well: "Let's Try It Again" hit No. 8 on the UK singles chart, while "Baby I Believe in You" went to number one in Japan. The album was eventually certified triple platinum, selling close to 20 million copies worldwide.[18] By late 1990, David Dyson assumed the role of musical director.

The group performed an estimated two hundred concerts a year, with an extravagant worldwide concert tour that summer called The Magic Summer Tour, sponsored by Coke. The tour ultimately grossed $74 million ($133 million adjusted for inflation), making them the top-grossing touring act in the country at the time and one of the highest-grossing concert tours of the decade, with overall attendance of 3.2 million people. Their 1990 pay-per-view special broke records at the time.[clarification needed] During this time, NKOTB licensed merchandise flooded the market, including lunch boxes, buttons, t-shirts, comic books (published by Harvey Comics), and dolls. They inspired a Saturday morning cartoon, developed by the Pangea Corporation and animated by DIC Entertainment. In 1991, sales of the group's merchandise was estimated at US$400 million.[19]

The group released no new material in 1991, and instead toured throughout Europe and Asia. That summer, Wood and Wahlberg cowrote and produced the debut album from Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, headed by Mark Wahlberg, Donnie's brother and a former New Kid. Mark Wahlberg's album, which would end up going platinum, scored a number-one hit with "Good Vibrations".[22][23]

In early 1992, the group released the stand-alone single "If You Go Away", the only new track on the compilation H.I.T.S.. The song peaked at No. 16 on the US charts and No. 9 in the UK. Meanwhile, as the music industry was still reeling from the Milli Vanilli lip-syncing scandal, NKOTB found themselves accused of lip-syncing by Gregory McPherson. Credited as an associate producer and string arranger on the Step by Step album and a music teacher at Berklee College of Music, McPherson alleged that Maurice Starr sang the vocals while the group lip-synced to pre-recorded vocals during their live performances. McPherson also filed a breach of contract and creative infringement lawsuit against Starr.

The group immediately responded to the allegations and interrupted the Australian leg of their tour to fly to Los Angeles to perform live on The Arsenio Hall Show.[24] After performing a medley of their previous hits and their new single, the group (along with Starr) was interviewed by Hall. The group admitted to singing with a backing track during live performances and also admitted that Starr sang harmony on some background vocals.[25][26]

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