Is there life beyond the boy band phenomenon? The Backstreet Boys, manager Johnny Wright and Zomba Label Group president/CEO Barry Weiss are on a mission to prove there is."The group always succeeded despite the fact that they were always tagged with the 'boy band' line," Weiss says. "They succeeded on the strength of their music, so we kind of went back to basics and succeeded in making a really strong album from an A&R point of view."

"Never Gone," due June 14, is the first studio album from the multiplatinum act in nearly five years. After selling more than 73 million albums worldwide, according to the label, group members Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson, Nick Carter and A.J. McLean decided to take a hiatus. "We had been going on a nonstop pace for over eight years," Dorough says. "It was taking its toll on the relationships in the group. We got to a point where we were taking each other for granted and we were taking our business for granted."

Dorough admits there was also some concern that they were oversaturating the market. "We thought the market probably wasn't ready for us to try to come up with another record," he says. "We just thought instead of pushing it out there in the people's faces, we decided to take a good, healthy break. We looked at groups like the Eagles and Aerosmith, groups that have been around a long, long time. In order to do it properly and to have long careers without getting burnt out, you need to take a break every so often."

Dorough dabbled in real estate and began recording an English/Spanish-language album. Littrell and wife welcomed a son, and he signed a deal with Reunion Records to record a Christian album, due next year. McLean worked on his sobriety and a solo album. Carter released a solo album, "Now or Never," in 2002. Richardson performed in London and on Broadway in "Chicago."

Dorough says the catalyst for the reunion came when McLean and his mother appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and the rest of the group surprised him there. Soon after, they reunited with Wright, who had been their manager during their early days.

When they got back in the studio, they first found themselves exploring a different sound. "It actually started off in an R&B direction about a year-and-a-half ago," Dorough says. But it morphed into a pop album as the group worked with a slew of top producers, including Max Martin, Mark Taylor, Billy Mann, Five for Fighting's John Ondrasik, Dan Muckala and John Shanks.

Muckala produced the first single, "Incomplete," which has been welcomed at pop radio—despite some initial skepticism. "I didn't expect for them to have a legitimate comeback, but it looks like that's exactly what has happened," says Taylor J., music director for mainstream top 40 KSLZ St. Louis.

"Originally, we played the song and didn't feel like it was going to be a real hit," Taylor J. continues. "We figured we were getting requests from die-hard fans and street teams. But our research came back and showed that it was actually testing really well."

The song is No. 9 at Mainstream Top 40 this issue and No. 18 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The album features the act's trademark harmonies, but "we've stripped it down and kept it more organic," Dorough says. "It's not all five-part harmony like everything used to be. It's like Backstreet Boys meets Matchbox Twenty meets Maroon5 meets Coldplay."

Brian Smith, VP of store operations for Marietta, Ga.-based Value Central Entertainment, says his chain is buying conservatively, but thinks the group is a good bet. "Comebacks in this day and age are never a sure thing. Of the recent resurgents we have seen I am placing the best chance on these guys. I think they appeal to a broader base and are capable of widening the audience even further, thereby avoiding a complete failure by trying to hit the exact demo they owned before."

To give fans a glimpse of the new album, the group hit the road for 18 dates this spring. "For the most part, the entire tour sold out within 20 minutes," Wright says. "It was a pleasant surprise." He adds that the audience ranged from 11-year-olds to 35-year-olds.

This summer the group will embark on a tour of amphitheaters in up to 35 markets. Plans call for a stadium tour next year. Weiss feels the summer tour will help reconnect the group with pop fans. "There's an underserved audience," he says. "It's proven by the 'American Idol' success. There's still a huge audience for pure pop records in America."

Weiss says they plan a major push at retail, particularly with mass merchants like Target and Wal-Mart. Street-week sales should be boosted by appearances on "Today," "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," "The View" and "The Early Show." The album will street the same week internationally, and Weiss says the single is "exploding" in Germany, Australia and Canada.

The Backstreet Boys have a record of strong sales in Latin America. They are especially popular in Brazil and Mexico, where "Millennium" and "Backstreet's Back" each sold close to 700,000 units, according to the label. "Incomplete" reached No. 4 on Mexico's English-language radio chart and No. 14 on Brazil's international radio chart.

Jive parent Sony BMG held press junkets in Los Angeles specifically for Latin American media. The band also will do a promo tour around its pending Latin America concert dates.

Obviously, the group, label and management would like to see the album debut at No. 1, but they are realistic. Wright says, "If our album doesn't enter at No. 1, are people going to think we're off the mark? Well, no, because people had written us off anyway... That's the beauty of this record. It can't underperform because we don't have any expectations."

He acknowledges, however, that there is no way to please everyone. "No matter what we do, it's always going to be looked at by somebody as underachieving based on the amount of success that we achieved in the past."

Littrell is optimistic about the group's future. "I know that there's an audience out there for us," he says. "Through our club tour I've really determined that our audience is still there."

billboard.com