New Kids on the Block

Biography: New Kids on the Block were formed in 1984, at the hand of Maurice Starr, former creator of another Boston group, New Edition. They were originally called 'Nynuk', which was quickly changed before the group's first release in 1986. The album, titled New Kids on the Block, was pure bubblegum pop and spawned their first single "Be My Girl". The album, however, did not chart and was not successful, so the group headed back to the studio and re-evaluated their image. The groups second album, Hangin Tough was released in 1988 and spawned their first hit "Please Don't Go Girl", as well as the number one single "I'll be Loving You (Forever)". In the summer of 1988, the group auditioned for a pop singer by the name of Tiffany, who agreed to put them on as her opening act. By the end of the summer, the group had overtaken Tiffany in popularity and moved from opening act to main. From that moment, the group exploded. They toured constantly, while recording albums in the road. Merry Merry Christmas, the groups third album, was released in 1989 and is now a very rare album. In 1990, the group's fourth album Step by Step was number one even before it was released, and the first single "Step by Step" was also number one. The group made the Forbes list as Richest Entertainers, earning a staggering $155 million. The group won numerous awards including Billboard Music Awards and American Music Awards, but was slammed by critics for pandering to the younger audiences. The group's fan base were often criticised for being too young, too immature and too responsive to the members of the group. Often times, fans could be found trying to sneak into the hotel rooms of certain members, or camping outside entertainment arenas and hotels in the hope of meeting the group. The fans were often known as "Blockettes", or "Blockheads" and were often noted, by the group members themselves, for being amongst the most loyal fans in the entertainment industry. The fans themselves spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on merchandise, and it wasn't hard, considering that the New Kids on the Block phenomena created a whole new meaning for the word merchandise. Along with the typical albums and concerts, the groups name could be seen on nighties, marbles, slippers, caps, t-shirts, books, comics, dolls, sheets, doonas, pillowcases, school supplies, calenders, tading cards, bubblegum cassettes, badges, patches, caps...you name it, it was likely to be seen with 'New Kids on the Block' printed on it. In 1990, the Kids were featured in their own set of Saturday morning cartoons, titles of which included: Sheik of My Dreams and In Step...Out of Time. The group also released a number of music videos, including "Hangin Tough"; "Hangin Tough Live" and "Step by Step". In 1991, the Kids released a remix album, titled No More Games. The album contained remixes of the Kids biggest hits and was released to coincide with the No More Games Tour. In the last half of 1991, the Kids took some time off to spend time with friends and family, before heading over to Australia and Asia for a three week tour. On return to the States, the Kids once again took time off and spent semi-normal time back at home in Boston before changing their name from New Kids on the Block to the shortenedd NKOTB and releasing their final album, Face the Music. Instead of a worldwide tour, NKOTB did a small club tour of America and Europe before the final split in June of 1994. At their peak, New Kids on the Block toured for 3 and a half years straight, sold more than 60 million records worldwide, made millions of dollars from concerts, album sales and merchandise and were either loved, or hated. The fans numbered in the hundreds of thousands and even today, there are 'lurker fans' on the Net, supporting the group with websites and the guys solo careers as actors, singers or just normal people. In 2008, the New Kids on the Block decided to reunite. They released their first single in over 14 years called "Summertime." They also began touring again as if nothing ever happened.… Expand