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Famous boy bands have sung their way into fans’ hearts for decades, including The Beatles, Jackson 5, The Osmonds, New Kids on the Block, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Korean pop group BTS and many more artists.
The Paramount+ documentary “Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands” uncovered the highs and lows of the scandalous music industry.
Fan favorites, such as Donnie Wahlberg from New Kids on the Block, Lance Bass from *NSYNC, AJ McClean from the Backstreet Boys and more admitted their struggles on their rise to fame at a young age, performing in prisons, battling with substances and having millions of dollars stolen.
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Members of New Kids on the Block and *NSYNC participated in the documentary “Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands.” (Michel Linssen/Redferns/Bob Berg/Getty Images)
Here are the top bombshells from “Larger Than Life: Reign of the Boybands.”
Performing everywhere, from prisons to birthday parties
Donnie Wahlberg from New Kids on the Block admitted there were challenges with rising to fame at such a young age. He was 15 years old when he joined the band.
“When New Kids were formed, Maurice Starr was looking for anybody that could sing, dance and rap,” Wahlberg said in the documentary. “Maurice almost got arrested for driving around schools looking for young white kids.”
Starr, born with the name Larry Curtis Johnson, is an American musician best known for his production work for boy bands New Edition and New Kids on the Block.
“Maurice probably saved my life. I was bussed to school in Boston, one block from where New Edition grew up in Orchard Park… they made anything seem possible to me. Literally, within a year of that, I was meeting their producer Maurice Starr and creating New Kids on the Block.”
Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood, Jordan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg and Jonathan Knight of New Kids On The Block pose backstage during a circa 1990 concert. (Getty Images)
Wahlberg explained how his brother Mark was the only other member of New Kids on the Block at first. However, after the actor’s departure, Wahlberg brought his friends into the music group.
“We played in prisons, high schools, birthday parties, parks, we played in bars that we were too young to be in. We played everywhere,” Wahlberg noted.
A video clip was seen in the documentary where a reporter asked the boy band, “How do you feel about being dubbed the white New Edition or The Osmonds.”
Where a young Wahlberg replied, “We’re not the white New Edition, we’re not The Osmonds, we’re New Kids on the Block.”
“We played in prisons, high schools, birthday parties, parks, we played in bars that we were too young to be in. We played everywhere.”
When New Kids on the Block released their second album, the popular music group sold more than 6 million copies of their hit single “Step by Step.”
“With the Step by Step album, these guys were like a money train,” one music expert said.
When New Kids on the Block released their second album, the popular music group sold more than 6 million copies of their hit single “Step by Step.” (Michel Linssen/Redferns)
However, the documentary explained how the group started to feel “burnt out” and “it wasn’t about the music anymore, it was about the marketing.”
Wahlberg continued, “The success was so much… we were grateful for it, and we also struggled with it.”
“Having people constantly screaming and yelling… when all of it stopped. I looked in the mirror and looked at myself… I saw Donnie Wahlberg at 18. Looking back, I hadn’t grown in a lot of ways. At some point, we just needed to grow as human beings.”
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Partying, drugs and rehab
While the boy bands navigated stardom, several members got into the partying lifestyle.
Backstreet Boy member AJ McClean confessed he struggled with burnout and nearly hit rock bottom.
Backstreet Boy member AJ McClean confessed he went through a “dark time” and almost hit rock bottom. (Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
“2001 was a really dark time. We had toured for nine years straight, just ‘go on tour, make an album, go on tour, make an album,’ and instead of dealing with my real emotions or my feelings, kind of got caught up in the lifestyle and the partying… drinking… drugs,” McClean admitted on the documentary.
“It wasn’t until I did something I told myself I would never do, which was drink onstage. That’s when I even had to know like, ‘Okay… something’s not right.’ The day that I flew from tour into rehab, everybody was just at their wits end.”
One Direction singer, Liam Payne, died on Oct. 16. He was 31. (Kate Green/Getty Images)
The boy band One Direction was spoken about in the documentary, but the death of band member Liam Payne was not. The One Direction singer died on Oct. 16. He was 31.
Payne died as a “result of the fall he suffered from the balcony of the third floor room of the hotel in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo where he was staying,” according to the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 16, temporarily headed by Marcelo Roma.
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In October, Payne’s initial toxicology report was released and listed that one or more drugs were in his system.
The preliminary report “suggested evidence of exposure to cocaine,” an official told the Associated Press at the time, before stating that the initial results were not an accurate reading of the amount that was circulating in his blood at the time of his death.
A preliminary autopsy report revealed that Payne died from “polytrauma” and “an internal and external hemorrhage” after falling from the third-floor balcony of his hotel.
One Direction, from left, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan attending a press conference for “The X Factor.” (Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)
Investigators found narcotics and alcohol inside Payne’s hotel room amid broken objects and furniture, according to the AP.
In 2008, Payne was discovered by Simon Cowell while auditioning for “The X Factor” when he was 14. Despite being cut, he returned to the show two years later and joined Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson to form a supergroup that later placed third in the competition.
One Direction signed with Cowell after “The X Factor” and became one of the bestselling boy bands of all time.
$300 million Ponzi scheme
As boy bands *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys stars were on the rise, they were unwillingly part of a $300 million Ponzi scheme by their manager.
The bands’ creator and manager, Lou Pearlman, mishandled the group’s finances during their rise to fame.
“We’re working for free for these guys,” *NSYNC band member Lance Bass remarked.
From left, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick, Justin Timberlake and Joey Fatone of *NSYNC (Bob Berg/Getty Images)
Bass explained the reason Pearlman kept the two popular boy bands apart was so they didn’t “figure out… how horrible the deal” they signed was.
“If we were to know [Backstreet Boys] and had real friendships with them and were able to discuss business, we would’ve figured out very quickly that we were all getting screwed.”
Backstreet Boy member McClean added, “[Lou] was the 1/6 member, anything we got paid, anything we did, he got, even though he wasn’t lifting a finger… We were generating him so much money. It was crazy.”
Boy bands *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys were unwillingly part of a $300 million Ponzi scheme by their late manager, Lou Pearlman. (Mark Weiss/WireImage)
Pearlman faced hundreds of lawsuits from different boy bands, including *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys.
The entertainment mogul’s $300 million Ponzi scheme through his Trans Continental companies was uncovered in 2006. He was convicted of fraud in 2008.
Pearlman died at the age of 62 in prison while serving a 25-year sentence.
WATCH: *NSYNC’S CHRIS KIRKPATRICK DOESN’T KNOW WHY HE WAITED SO LONG TO MOVE TO ‘BEAUTIFUL’ NASHVILLE
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Tattoo bans and purity rings
The boy band members also discussed how they were told it was important for them to portray a certain image.
Artists including *NSYNC and the Jonas Brothers had to follow “crazy boy band rules.”
“Nobody can have tattoos,” Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSYNC said in the documentary.
Botton, Kevin Richardson, and from left, AJ McLean, Nick Carter, Brian Littrell and Howie Dorough of the Backstreet Boys (Getty Images)
Meanwhile, McClean from Backstreet Boys added that managers advised, “You can’t be ‘fat street.’ That is not cute.”
“Never have a drink in your hand, or a cigarette,” *NSYNC’s Bass chimed in.
Another rule was “no girlfriends,” since it would “take away the dream of the fans.”
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Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas were all required to wear a purity ring. (David Livingston/Getty Images)
When the Jonas Brothers became famous, the band members “were not allowed to talk about sex.”
Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas were also all required to wear a purity ring.
In 2019, the Jonas Brothers were left speechless during a radio interview after their friend and fellow musician Miley Cyrus asked them a very personal question.
Cyrus, who formerly dated Nick, asked about the brothers’ purity rings, which they wore to symbolize their intent to stay virgins until marriage, at the beginning of their careers.
“Did it feel good finally taking off your purity rings?” she said on London’s radio show Capital Breakfast.
Joe laughed and answered: “Yeah!” He then just got married to “Game of Thrones” actress Sophie Turner in a shotgun Las Vegas ceremony. Joe filed for divorce from Turner in 2023.
