Posted at 6:00 a.m.
Backstreet Boys’ Howie surprised Sonia Benezra for her birthday on the show last September. Live from the universe. He sang to her Quit Playing Games (With My Heart). “I felt like a teenager,” she says. It was sweet of him to get on a plane just to sing a song. »
Sonia Benezra has interviewed the Backstreet Boys many times. In New York, in Paris and even at home, in Florida.
The first time she met the boy band, however, she had to convince her bosses at TQS. “The group was not known. They were good, accessible boys and they came from modest backgrounds, she says. I remember taking them shopping at Parasuco. We had closed the shop for them. Their eyes sparkled seeing the leather coats and they dared not touch them. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SONIA BENEZRA
Sonia Benezra and the members of the Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys have always been grateful to Quebec, the cradle of their worldwide success.
Stéphane Drolet, now a representative at Sony (and for BGM at the time), is considered by his peers to be the sixth member of the Backstreet Boys in Quebec. He was at the forefront of the Backstreet Boys mania.
In the fall of 1995, he recalls, commercial radio stations in Quebec were the first in North America to play the first single from BSB, We’ve Got It Going On’.
It was in February 1996 that AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Brian Littrel and Kevin Richardson first visited Montreal. On the program, there was a visit to MusiquePlus during the broadcast Get out of here, a performance at the Dôme and another at the famous Fuzzy bar in Laval.
On a Saturday, the BSBs were to perform at the Place Côte-Vertu shopping center. After their fiery performance, the autograph session had to be canceled for security reasons. While we expected barely 400 people, the crowd exceeded 5000 heads!
From their first visit, one could perceive their undeniable talent, their work ethic, the attention and the respect towards their fans.
Stéphane Drolet, representative for BGM at the time
It was in August 1996 that the first official show of the Backstreet Boys took place in Quebec. It was at the International Balloon Festival of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, and Noir Silence provided the first part. Number of people present: 60,000!
The group could not do a sound test, recalls Stéphane Drolet, because the security team felt that too many people had arrived at the festival site in advance.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Backstreet Boys in concert at the Molson Center in 2001
“It was in a hotel in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu that day that the president of Jive Records and the senior management of BMG Music Canada at the time changed their international sales strategy to ahead of the album’s release in Canada. »
Expected date: October 9, 1996.
A few weeks before, the BSBs were back in Quebec for another promotional tour and sold-out shows at the Auditorium de Verdun and the Colisée de Québec.
Leisa Lee – who now has her own public relations firm and who orchestrated Howie’s visit to Live from the universe – was in the crowd at the Verdun Auditorium. She was working at the time for the influential show producer DKD (Donald K. Donald). She still remembers her former boss telling her, “These guys are going to be superstars. »
Leisa Lee was not as convinced as him. “Trust me,” Donald K. Donald told him. I’ve seen the teenagers cling to Corey Hart. »
“Donald had good instincts and he was right,” says Leisa Lee.
The Backstreet Boys mania
In December 1996, DKD scheduled an arena tour in Chicoutimi, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Hull and Montreal.
The Backstreet Boys received a gold record and it’s Stéphane [Drolet] who gave it to them. They were stars here while in Orlando, their hometown, they walked around like strangers.
Leisa Lee, who worked with the BSBs
This is how the BSB conquered Quebec before the United States and marked the era of boy bandsjust before Nick Lachey’s 98 Degrees, and Justin Timberlake’s NSYNC.
Stéphane Drolet and Leisa Lee chaperoned the BSBs during their many visits to Quebec over two years. “We took them to see movies or to McDonald’s,” she says. They were kind and generous. I never heard them complain. »
PHOTO REMI LEMÉE, 2001-09-18
The Backstreet Boys in the MusiquePlus studios in 2001.
When the group visited MusiquePlus, they had to close rue Sainte-Catherine. “The decibel level of screaming and so much crying, we had never seen that. Especially since we were coming out of grunge, says Leisa Lee. At the time, there were no groups for teenagers. »
PHOTO BY RÉMI LEMÉE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Backstreet Boys visiting the MusiquePlus studios in 2001.
Everywhere the BSB went, it was madness, and we dare not imagine what it would have been like with social networks. “The prize goes to a fan found in an air duct leading to the floor of the BSB bedrooms”, illustrates Stéphane Drolet.
“Good Tunes”
The BSB’s debut album included many pop hits, including Get Down and I’ll Never Break Your Heart. The quintet had worked with the Swedish Max Martin, who was then unknown, but who today occupies the third rank of songwriters to whom we owe the greatest number of number 1s on the charts. Billboard (after Paul McCartney and John Lennon).
Max Martin has always remained a close collaborator of the BSBs and he allowed them to play on the radio with the famous refrains of As Long As You Love Me, I Want It That Way and Shape of My Heart.
The BSBs have sold 130 million career albums. “Their tunes are super good. They go straight to the heart”, underlines Sonia Benezra, who praises the talent of dancer and singer of Nick “the rebel”, Brian “the accessible”, AJ “the tormented”, Kevin “the serious” and Howie “the shy “.
“They are hard workers,” confirms Stéphane Drolet.
A 19e show at the Bell Center
Leisa Lee particularly remembers the BSB shows given on January 5 and 6, 1998 at the Molson Centre. “It was at the start of the ice storm. »
The Press was there. Other notable visits? In 2005 for the release of the album never gone, where the BSBs were making a comeback after years of absence and personal hardship. We should also mention the tour in 2011 with New Kids On The Block.
-
PHOTO ANDRÉ PICHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
The Backstreet Boys at the Bell Center in 2008
-
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Still at the Bell Centre, this time in 2010
-
PHOTO ANDRÉ PICHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Throughout the years, the crowd remains there. Pictured are the Bell Center audience in 2019.
1/3
Saturday they will give nothing less than their 19e show at the Bell Center as part of their 9e album, DNA. You should also know that a Christmas disc is planned for the fall.
The BSBs turn out to be the only boy band of its time to have survived the test of time. Leisa Lee recalls their two-year residency in Las Vegas, from 2017 to 2019, and the record crowd at the Festival d’été de Québec five years ago.
The secret to their success? “They grew up together. They are like brothers who protect each other and they embody the idea that everything is possible, answers Sonia Benezra. In Quebec, and we experienced it with Céline, we like artists who start from nothing and end up conquering the planet. »
In 2021, Sonia Benezra asked the BSBs if they could send a video to a young woman from Matane who was going to receive medical assistance in dying two days later. Howie, AJ and Kevin answered the call immediately.
“Making us feel special: that’s the magic of the Backstreet Boys,” concludes Sonia Benezra.
At the Bell Center on September 3. Also at the Canadian Tire Center in Ottawa on 1er September and at the Videotron Center in Quebec City on September 2.