Biography
Best known for co-founding the chart-dominating boy band Backstreet Boys, AJ McLean has built a reputation as a versatile singer, songwriter, and dancer whose work draws from soul, pop, rock, and R&B. He first achieved widespread recognition alongside the group during the closing years of the 1990s, contributing to major successes such as “I Want It That Way,” “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” and “Larger Than Life.” While remaining active with Backstreet Boys, McLean has issued independent recordings, beginning with the 2010 album Have It All and continuing through country-leaning singles such as 2018’s “Back Porch Bottle Service” and 2019’s “Boy and a Man.”
McLean entered the world in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1978 and displayed an early passion for the stage, training as a dancer throughout his childhood. He later shifted toward acting and secured his first professional credit at age eight in the 1986 feature Truth or Dare. Additional screen appearances followed, leading to guest spots on the Nickelodeon series Welcome Freshman and Hi Honey, I’m Home! A charter member of Backstreet Boys together with Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson, Nick Carter, and Brian Littrell, he has remained with the lineup since its formation in 1992 and appears on every release, including the Billboard 200 number-one albums Millennium (1999), Black & Blue (2000), and DNA (2019).
Outside the group, McLean occasionally performed under the alias Johnny No Name. In 2008 he began presenting solo concerts under his own name and started developing a debut album. Issued in 2010, Have It All was shaped by producers Kristian Lundin and Dan Muckala; its opening single, “Teenage Wildlife,” was co-written with *NSYNC’s JC Chasez, Jimmy Harry, and Simon Wilcox. He later collaborated with Finnish rapper Redrama on the track “Clouds” and returned with the independent 2015 release “Live Together.” In 2018 McLean unveiled “Back Porch Bottle Service” as the lead track from his sophomore effort, the country-inflected Long Road, which was followed in 2019 by the additional songs “Boy and a Man” and “Give You Away.”
McLean entered the world in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1978 and displayed an early passion for the stage, training as a dancer throughout his childhood. He later shifted toward acting and secured his first professional credit at age eight in the 1986 feature Truth or Dare. Additional screen appearances followed, leading to guest spots on the Nickelodeon series Welcome Freshman and Hi Honey, I’m Home! A charter member of Backstreet Boys together with Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson, Nick Carter, and Brian Littrell, he has remained with the lineup since its formation in 1992 and appears on every release, including the Billboard 200 number-one albums Millennium (1999), Black & Blue (2000), and DNA (2019).
Outside the group, McLean occasionally performed under the alias Johnny No Name. In 2008 he began presenting solo concerts under his own name and started developing a debut album. Issued in 2010, Have It All was shaped by producers Kristian Lundin and Dan Muckala; its opening single, “Teenage Wildlife,” was co-written with *NSYNC’s JC Chasez, Jimmy Harry, and Simon Wilcox. He later collaborated with Finnish rapper Redrama on the track “Clouds” and returned with the independent 2015 release “Live Together.” In 2018 McLean unveiled “Back Porch Bottle Service” as the lead track from his sophomore effort, the country-inflected Long Road, which was followed in 2019 by the additional songs “Boy and a Man” and “Give You Away.”
Albums
Singles
