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American Morning

Backstreet Boys Postpone North American Tour as Member Enters Rehab

Aired July 10, 2001 - 10:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And now news we're learning about from the entertainment world. The Backstreet Boys, the boy band have made a surprise announcement and it affects their concert tour.

Michael Okwu joins us from New York. He has more details. He was able to talk to four members of the band -- Michael, good morning.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. And good morning, everyone.

A big announcement from one of music's biggest groups. That's right, the Backstreet Boys announced yesterday that they will postpone the rest of their North American tour dates as one of their members enters rehab. The group says member A.J. McLean will undergo treatment for alcohol abuse and depression. According to other group members, McLean began suffering from anxiety attacks and began drinking after the recent death of his grandmother.

I spoke to the four other group members after the announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OKWU: So you guys were on tour when A.J. announced that he was going to drop out for a little while. What exactly happened?

KEVIN RICHARDSON, BACKSTREET BOYS: Well, at the beginning of this leg of the tour, of the U.S. tour, we had come together as a group and basically tried to get A.J. some counseling and some group counseling before the tour started. We were concerned about his lifestyle changes in the past year and they were starting to affect his work and affect us and the way we do things together. And it was a concern of ours. We were concerned about his health and well being as well as his performance.

OKWU: So how was he disruptive to the group?

RICHARDSON: From being on time to do meetings, saying that he was sick when he had really been out all night and was hung over. His vocal performance -- and, you know, he doesn't have a mean bone in his body and he loves to perform and he's dedicated to his work. So that's when it became evident to us that it was getting a little bit out of control and he needed help.

OKWU: How long was this going on?

BRIAN LITTRELL, BACKSTREET BOYS: It's been to our knowledge, I mean, you can't really, you can't really pinpoint when it actually started. We just have really noticed it in excess in the past, I would probably say, four to six months, I would say, where there's been a real decline in his performance level. I mean, maybe the fans didn't really notice what was going on but we inside wanted to assess the problem. And we were fortunate to do so when we did.

OKWU: You guys have been known to be a pretty cohesive group. It's got to be pretty difficult for you guys to come out publicly and say these things about one of your own. I mean, I get the sense that part of the reason you're doing this is not only to explain it to the audience and to your public, but for therapeutic reasons for him.

HOWIE DOROUGH, BACKSTREET BOYS: Right. I think our biggest thing is that we always pride ourselves on our honesty to the public about what we are, the type of group that we are, you know, even when there's questions about our private lives, you know, and marriages and everything, we're honest about it. We're not, you know, holding back.

You know, and a lot of times people think for groups like us in the early stages you have to be hush-hush about this, you can't have girlfriends, you can't, you know, anything that, you know, might, you know, make you look out of the norm, you know, for a quote-unquote type of a group like us, it's always shunned upon.

And we've always felt like, you know, that's what hopefully our fans respect about us the most is that we are honest or, you know, we're five human beings and, you know, we're very fortunate that success has, you know, put us in the limelight a lot. But at the same time, any little small thing that we do outside of the norm has really, you know, light shined upon it.

So we figured that, you know, obviously this would get out. And, you know, instead of lying about it and, you know, trying to throw it under, you know, under the carpet and say he broke his leg or whatever, you know, we just felt like, you know, this is something of the, it is a true everyday life situation that a lot of people go through. And we are, like I say, normal, and we go through these things as well. And hopefully by us being honest our fans will respect us and, you know, maybe, you know, they'll even, you know, learn from this, you know, if they, you know, people can come out and maybe just admit to their problems instead of trying to hide them.

OKWU: So what happens now? Obviously, you were in the middle of a tour when you had to stop it. What happens at this point?

RICHARDSON: We're postponing some dates, rescheduling them. As of now our first rescheduled date will be in Vancouver on August 7 and A.J. is receiving treatment right now.

OKWU: I know this is really thinking far ahead, but it sounds to me like you are saying you want him to be part of this group. That's why you are willing to make this sacrifice now.

UNIDENTIFIED BAND MEMBER: Exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED BAND MEMBER: Very much.

OKWU: But if he has to leave the group, he leaves the group.

DOROUGH: His health is number one to all of us.

OKWU: You guys have a general perception in the public as being a pretty wholesome group. Where you concerned at all about what this might do to your image?

DOROUGH: I think, like you said, I mean we pride ourselves on being, you know, five wholesome guys. But at the same time we're five human beings and, you know, I think it's very flattering and very honoring that a lot of times families, you know, will try to put us up as role models and everything. But we have our, you know, our ups and downs. You know, we have our downfalls just like any other person out there. And, you know, hopefully instead of them looking upon this as, wow, you know, they're not all as perfect as we thought they would be, maybe they'll look at it as like, you know, I really respect them for taking that stance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OKWU: Provided McLean gets a clean bill of health, the Backstreet Boys will resume touring August 7 in Vancouver. The 19 canceled dates will be made up in September and ticket holders can use their existing tickets for those dates or they can get a refund at the local ticket broker. Complete information is available on the group's official Web site at www.backstreetboys.com.

In New York, I'm Michael Okwu. Let's go back to Daryn.

KAGAN: Michael, before we let you go, 19 dates, that sounds like a lot of money lost at this point.

OKWU: It is. I couldn't tell you specifically what it is. But they were very, very conscious about the fact that they wanted, they wanted A.J. to take some time off to see what he could do in about a month to clear this up, specifically 30 days, and then they will resume as a group and get back on tour. And hopefully they won't lose too much support from their public.

KAGAN: And, frankly, at the risk of sounding like an old fuddy duddy, but I think there's a lot of people out there that get all these boy bands mixed up, from Backstreet Boys to 'N Sync to Boys To Men. What separate Backstreet Boys here?

OKWU: I'm going to admit something on national television.

KAGAN: OK.

OKWU: I get a lot of them mixed up myself. But I can tell you this, the Backstreet Boy were one of the very first groups, in fact, the first so-called boy bands of the 1990s and after them you had other groups like O Town and 'N Sync. They consider themselves the original boy band of the 1990s and they're very proud about that. And they will tell you off camera that sometimes they see the other guys, though they respect them, as sort of pale imitators.

KAGAN: And I know there are a lot of Backstreet Boys fans out there right now rolling their eyes that I didn't know the difference between them. But thanks for, thanks for fessing up and for pointing out the difference. Appreciate it. Michael Okwu in New York, thank you -- Brian.

NELSON: You didn't mention one other group, New Kids On the Block.

KAGAN: New Kids On the Block.

NELSON: There's another one.

KAGAN: OK.

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