Brian Littrell

Brian Littrell, one-fifth of the Backstreet Boys, discovered his voice while singing in the choir at his Baptist church in Lexington, Kentucky. Although music remained central to his life, he initially intended to pursue formal studies aimed at becoming a music minister rather than chasing pop stardom. That trajectory shifted when his cousin Kevin Richardson invited him to Orlando, Florida, to participate in a boy band then taking shape. Still completing his senior year of high school at the time, Littrell accepted the offer and launched a sustained career alongside the Backstreet Boys. During the five-year interval separating the albums Black & Blue and Never Gone, he carved out space for independent work, composing material and tracking a solo CCM project titled Welcome Home that reached stores in 2006. That same year brought a GMA Music Award for his interpretation of Michael English’s “In Christ Alone.”