Thanks to regular Hunters @JeffWaltersYYC, @SK_50000, @kritafo, @dirklancer, @grilledcheez, @stevenpofcher, @bigbaddog3000, @cheekybiotch29, @CdnCowgirl, @EyeDocYEG, @clinton_o, and @snagglepink who all participated today, and welcome to new Hunters @bbbuttercup, and @dj2mex who played for the first time today.

Congratulations to @AlbertaOil69 who was the first to identify today’s Mystery Artist as  Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, A. J. McLean and Howie Dorough – better known as The Backstreet Boys. Here’s how the clues shaped up:

Clue # 1:Today’s Mystery Artist has a church choir beginning, and took 3 yrs to release their first album. Cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell, both of whom came from Lexington, Kentucky, initially began singing in local church choirs and festivals while they were children. Howie Dorough and A.J. McLean were natives of Orlando, Florida, who met each other and later discovered Nick Carter through auditions who joined the two for local commercials, theater, and television. The three, realizing at one audition, that they all shared a great affection for classical soul which they were able to harmonize together, decided to form a trio. Meanwhile, Richardson moved to Orlando, where he took several jobs at Disney, including a tour guide, and the roles of Aladdin and a Ninja Turtle and concentrated on music at nights. Eventually, he met Dorough, Carter, and McLean through a co-worker, and the four decided to form a group. Brian Littrell was later invited to join, turning the group into a quintet. This was late 1992, early 1993  BSB’s first album Backstreet Boys hit store in 1996.

Clue # 2: Our Mystery Artist went on tour 11 times in 17 years. Hope they got frequent flier miles! The chronological order or BSB tours is as follows:

• We Wanna Be with You Tour (1995–1996)
• The Space Show (1996–1996)
• Backstreet Boys: Live In Concert Tour (1996–1997)
• Backstreet’s Back Tour (1997–1998)
• Into the Millennium Tour (1999–2000)
• The Black & Blue Tour (2000–2001)
• Up Close & Personal Tour (2005)
• The Never Gone Tour (2005–2006)
• Unbreakable Tour (2008–2009)
• This Is Us Tour (2009–2011)
• NKOTBSB Tour (2011–2012)

Clue # 3: Our MA started as a trio, then a quartet, then a quintet, and has as many as 9 in the group! This clue was a bit of a Red Herring clue. I was hoping to throw you intrepid Hunters off the trail with the number 9. For the majority of their existence, The Backstreet Boys have had 5 members – until Kevin left the group to pursue other interests. They then became a quartet again.  In 2011, 80′s boy band New Kids On The Block combined with The Backstreet Boys for the NKOTBSB Tour - growing the “group” to 9 members.

Clue # 4: Big in the 90′s, our MA is 1st to achieve back to back Million selling albums since The Beatles! From 1996 on, BSB enjoyed moderate success, earning Platinum sales  (more than 500,000 copies) awards for their first two albums. In 1999, they released Millenium, another Platinum selling album, however, Millenium holds the record for most shipments in one year, with 11 million shipped. Their biggest album though, was Black and Blue,  released November 21, 2000, and to promote the release of the album, the boys traveled around the world in 100 hours to Sweden, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, and the US; 55 of the hours were spent traveling and 45 were spent making public appearances. It recorded the best international sales in a week for an album in history by selling over 5 million copies in its first week of sales. In the United States, it sold 1.6 million discs in the first week making them the first artist since The Beatles to achieve back-to-back million plus first week sales.

Clue # 5: “As Long As You Love Me,” I’ll give you “All I Have To Give”, ’cause “I Want It That Way”. Three of BSB’s biggest songs, each went Platinum, earning the boys continued success. Other notable titles are “Larger Than Life”, “The Call”, and “Drowning”.

Thanks to all for playing today, and taking part of your day to enjoy our game.  I look forward to next week!  Have a great day! Enjoy the trip back to the 90′s!

Kuwinda Adam