Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. (1984 – 1994, 2008 – present)
New Kids On The Block (NKOTB) is a successful boy band of the late 80s and early 90s, still performing to this day. Assembled in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr, the members consist of brothers Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. The group went on to sell over 70 million albums worldwide, generated hundreds of million of dollars of concert revenues, and roughly paved the way for acts like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC.
NKOTB were awkward and enthusiastic on their 1986 debut, which wasn’t surprising considering that the oldest members were barely 16 years old. Music impresario Maurice Starr, struggling for years as a sporadic solo artist, had some success with African-American group New Edition in terms of bringing the sunny pop and smooth rnb vocal group sound of the early 70s (as played by The Jackson 5, The Osmonds, and others) to an 80s audience. He aimed to do the same thing with NKOTB, but this time to a more white audience.
With their next album, 1988’s ‘Hangin’ Tough’, the group’s image had toughened up and they had the material to support it. From the saccharine ballad “I’ll Be Loving You Forever” to the title track’s stab at something like white funk, the band had a seemingly endless streak of hits in 1988 and 1989. Their Christmas album even went double platinum.
