Brian Tomas Littrell ( born Brian Thomas Littrell ; born February 20, 1975 , Lexington ) is an American musician, singer, member of the Backstreet Boys group. He is also engaged in a solo career in the genre of contemporary Christian music and released the solo album “ Welcome Home ” in 2006.
| Brian littrell Brian littrell | |
|---|---|
 Littrell in June 2011 | |
| basic information | |
| Full name | Brian Thomas Littrell |
| Date of Birth | February 20, 1975 (44 years) |
| Place of Birth | Lexington , Kentucky , United States |
| A country |  USA |
| Professions | singer musician |
| Years of activity | - present time |
| Singing voice | |
| Instruments | |
| Genres | pop music gospel music |
| Collectives | Backstreet boys |
| Labels | Reunion records Jive records |
| www.brianlittrell.com | |
Biography
Early years
Brian was born and grew up in the city of Lexington in the family of Jackie and Harold Littrell. He has a brother - Harold Littrell Jr. Brian was born with congenital heart disease , and several times he was taken to hospital in a critical condition, including at the age of 5 with a diagnosis of bacterial endocarditis (inflammation of the inner lining of the heart ). According to doctors, he had virtually no chance of surviving [1] . Brian began to take an early interest in music, he began singing in the choir of a Baptist church, which he regularly attended on weekends [2] . Littrell graduated from Tates Creek High School [3] and was offered a scholarship to study at the Cincinnati Bible College [1] [4] . In 1993, the formation of the future Backstreet Boys group took place. In search of the fifth member of the group, Kevin Richardson , Brian's cousin, called him and invited him to become the fifth member of the team. “April 19, 1993. - remembers Brian. - He called me during a lesson in American history. The final lesson of my penultimate year at school " [5] . The next morning, Littrell was already in Orlando.
Backstreet Boys
Brian became the fifth member of the group. At the beginning of their career, the band was not popular in the States , despite the popularity of their first single on radio stations in the city of Orlando . Therefore, the group decided to try their hand at Europe, where their popularity began to gain momentum. In the mid-nineties, the Backstreet Boys became one of the most popular bands in the world. In 1998, in the middle of the tour in 39 US cities , Brian underwent open heart surgery (correction of congenital heart disease ), at the insistence of his girlfriend (now his wife) Leann Wallace [6] . The operation has already been postponed twice at the request of the management group. “I was scared and more than slightly distressed,” he recalls. "I was not considered a man" [2] . In 2001, the group was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the most commercially successful teenage vocal team of all time. They released 4 albums: Backstreet Boys , Backstreet's Back , Millennium and Black & Blue . They were followed by the greatest hits compilation - Chapter One .
After a three-year career break, the band released the album “ Never Gone ”, later “ Unbreakable ” and “ This Is Us ”. On October 5, 2009, the day before the release of the album “ This Is Us ” in the US, Brian was diagnosed with swine flu . In this connection, we had to cancel part of promos in support of the album [7] .
Solo career
Brian attributes his successes in life and career to God. He is confident that a successful career in the group was given to him as an opportunity to “reach out” to a huge number of people and tell them about his faith [1] . During a break in the band's career, Brian had the opportunity to record material for a solo album in the genre of Christian music [8] .
In the summer of 2005, his first single, a cover version of Michael Inglish's song “In Christ Alone”, took the first position in the Christian charts. In 2006, this song performed by him received the GMA Dove Award “Studio composition of the year in the genre of inspiration” [8] [9] . Brian's first solo album, “ Welcome Home, ” was released on May 2, 2006. He took 74th place in the hit parade of Billboard 200 and 3rd place in the hit parade of Christian albums ( eng. Christian Albums ).
The first single from the album, “Welcome home (you)”, took 2nd place in the hit parade of Christian songs Hot Christian Songs . The second single was the song "Wish." In 2007, the third single was released, "Over my head". In the same year, Brian took part in the creation of 2 songs for the collection of Christian music “Glory Revealed” [10] .
In the spring of 2011, Brian began working on his next solo album [11] , his release is expected in 2012 [12] .
Personal life
(December 4, 2005)
From the beginning of his career at Backstreet Boys, he met with Samantha Stonebraker. She later wrote a book about their relationship [6] . On the set of the video Backstreet Boys " As Long as You Love Me ", on June 15, 1997, the singer met his future wife, actress and model Leiann Wallace ( English Leighanne Wallace ). The wedding took place on September 2, 2000. On September 11, 2001, Leann was supposed to fly a Boston-Los Angeles plane , but canceled the trip the day before [2] . The couple has a son, Bailey ( born Baylee Thomas Wylee Littrell ), born on November 26, 2002. The family lives in Atlanta [2] .
- Charity
In connection with his own health problems, Brian decided to organize a charitable foundation to support people with heart disease. The Healthy Heart Club ( English Healthy Heart Club ) provides financial support to families of children with heart disease for surgical operations, and also holds activities for young people. By “club” was meant classes with a physical therapist , which were held with children once a month. Classes were discontinued due to the high cost of insurance.
Instead of conducting classes, it was decided to send more funds to direct assistance to those in need. The project “Angels and Heroes” ( born Angels and Heroes Fund ), named after the song from Brian’s solo album, provides assistance to victims of natural disasters and those in need of support (military, large families, etc.) [13] .
One of the newest areas of the foundation is providing awareness and financial assistance to children with Kawasaki syndrome . Brian's son, Bailey, suffered the disease in 2008. [2]
Discography
- See also Backstreet Boys Discography
Album
| Album details | Top positions | Certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billboard 200 | Christian albums | ||
Welcome home
| 74 | 3 |
|
Singles
| Year | Single | Top positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christian songs | |||
| 2005 | In Christ alone | one | - |
| 2006 | Welcome home | 2 | Welcome home |
| Wish | 20 | ||
| 2007 | Over my head | 17 |
Filmography
| Year | Russian name | original name | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | with | Sabrina is a little witch | Sabrina, the Teenage Witch | in the role of himself |
| 2001 | f | Olive Juice | Olive juice | coachman on a carriage |
| 2002 | f | Megalodon | Megalodon | rig worker |
| 2002 | ms | Arthur | Arthur | in the role of himself |
| 2012 | doc | The essence of the matter | The Heart of the Matter | in the role of himself |
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Ross, Dena. Praise when glory is due . beliefnet (2006). The appeal date is March 16, 2010. Archived on March 2, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Fly, Martha. Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell - in earnest (English) (inaccessible link) . associated content (January 14, 2010). The appeal date is March 17, 2010. Archived on March 2, 2012.
- ↑ Copley, Rich. Pop star Littrell will sing at memorial (English) . Lexington Herald Leader (June 19, 2007). The appeal date is January 18, 2011. Archived on March 2, 2012.
- ↑ English University of Cincinnati Bible College.
- ↑ Wilde, David. The Backstreet Boys (English) . Billboard (January 20, 2000). The appeal date is March 16, 2010. Archived on February 21, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Biography of Brian Littrell (English) . IMDb. The appeal date is March 17, 2010. Archived on March 2, 2012.
- ↑ Brian Littrell from the Backstreet Boys is sick with swine flu . Showbuzz (October 6, 2009). The appeal date is February 28, 2010. Archived on March 2, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Brown, Marisa. Biography of Brian Littrell (English) . allmusic. The appeal date is March 16, 2010. Archived on March 2, 2012.
- ↑ English Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year.
- ↑ Glory Revealed (English) . allmusic. The appeal date is March 16, 2010. Archived on March 2, 2012.
- ↑ I'm working on a new solo album ... (English) . Twitter (March 15, 2011). The appeal date is December 15, 2011. Archived February 21, 2012.
- ↑ Hatmaker, Julia Brian Littrell of Backstreet Boys talks about the band, fans and rivals (English) . pennlive.com (July 28, 2011). The appeal date is December 15, 2011. Archived March 2, 2012.
- ↑ Angels and Heroes (English) . "Club of Healthy Hearts". The appeal date is March 16, 2010. Archived on March 2, 2012.
Literature
- Stonebraker, Samantha. What You Wanna Know: Backstreet Boys Secrets Only a Girlfriend Can Tell. - St. Martin's Griffin, 1999. - 128 p. - ISBN 978-0312261146 .
- King, Larry. Taking on Heart Disease. - Rodale Books, 2004. - p. 109 —114. - 256 p. - ISBN 978-1579548209 .
Links
- Official site (eng.)
- Page Healthy Heart Club Charity Foundation (English)
- Official site of the Backstreet Boys band
- Brian Littrell on the Discogs website
- Brian Littrell (eng.) On the Allmusic website
- Brian Littrell on the Internet Movie Database
- Brian Littrell on Twitter (English)
Brian Littrell on the social network Google+ (eng.)
- Brian Littrell's official Facebook page
- Brian Littrell's official page on Myspace