The Boy Band Wars: How a Manager Fueled the NSYNC vs. Backstreet Boys Rivalry
The rivalry between NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys was more than fan fervor; their manager, Johnny Wright, played a significant role in stoking the flames, as revealed in a new docuseries.
The infamous rivalry between boy bands NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys in the late Nineties and early Aughts wasn’t just inflated by fandom wars; their former manager partly fueled it.
Johnny Wright—veteran manager to superstar acts including Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Ciara, New Kids on the Block, and the Jonas Brothers—was working with both groups before the Backstreet Boys became upset over newcomers NSYNC’s rising success and popularity.
The members issued Wright an ultimatum over working with the rival group, and his decision was easy. “I said that’s an offer I can refuse,” Wright said in a new Investigation Discovery docuseries, Boy Band Confidential. “I told them, ‘OK, if I’m not working with you and them, then I have a responsibility to make them the biggest group in the world. And that means I’m going to turn all my guns against you to make them bigger.’”
Wright went on to detail how he actively worked to undermine his former artists, like subbing NSYNC in for the Backstreet Boys at the American Music Awards and booking stadium tour dates just weeks before the Backstreet Boys wanted to book shows at the large venues.
“They shut their stadium tour down to an arena tour because they thought they weren’t going to be able to sell the tickets,” Wright said. “Every move that I found, they were doing something first, I tried to beat them to the punch. Success was my revenge.”
Wright spoke at length about the behind-the-scenes makings of both iconic groups and their fallout with shady label boss Lou Pearlman in the two-part special, which premieres on Investigation Discovery on Monday, April 13, and Tuesday, April 14, at 9 p.m. ET.
The docuseries includes sit-down interviews with NSYNC’s Joey Fatone and Lance Bass; Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean; Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees; Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman and Wanyá Morris, among several other artists, as they discuss navigating their lives and careers amid the boy band boom.
Lachey recalled that someone at his record label handed him a book highlighting the age of consent in every state while 98 Degrees was on its first tour. “We kept that book on the tour bus,” Lachey said in the series. “Unfortunately, there were people out there looking to tear you down.”
The series also dives into Lou Pearlman, the businessman behind the initial success of the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. Both bands ended up suing Pearlman for fraud and misrepresentation after they alleged Pearlman was pocketing millions off their success while the members were receiving paltry sums in comparison.
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