A. J. McLean

Biography

Alexander James McLean (born January 9, 1978) is an American singer. He is a founding member of the pop vocal group Backstreet Boys.

== Early life == McLean was born on January 9, 1978, in West Palm Beach, Florida, to Denise (née Fernandez, now Solis), a hospital worker, author and motivation coach, and Robert Blue "Bob" McLean, a musician. Denise is of Cuban-Puerto Rican and German ancestry and Bob is of Scots-Irish and English descent. A DNA test described his genetic ancestry as North, West and East European, North African, Nigerian and Ashkenazi Jewish. He is an only child. He was raised by his mother and grandparents as his parents divorced when he was two years old. He rarely saw his father but reunited with him in 1997. They have since kept in regular contact following their seventeen-year estrangement.

== Career ==

=== Early career === He discovered his love for performing and began pursuing a career in acting, dancing, and singing. When he was four, McLean began focusing on his love of dance. His mother signed him up for two hours of dance lessons every day. He took ballet for four years, jazz, tap, hip hop, rhythm tap, rhythm hip-hop, contemporary, ballroom, salsa, merengue, and gymnastics. His mother got him into modeling when he was around five years old, and he was featured in J.C. Penney catalogs and runways. Aside from that, he took up fencing. His grandmother, who was like a second mother to him, taught him piano and took him to auditions while he was growing up. At age six, McLean was part of a school play, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in which he played Dopey, at Unity of Delray Beach church and school. He also appeared in more traditional musicals such as The Nutcracker, The King and I, and Fiddler on the Roof before the age of 11. By age 12, he had performed in 27 classic school plays. In addition to singing and acting, he was a serious dance student learning everything from jazz to ballet to hip hop. He stated in interviews that "Dancing was really my thing in the early days. I wanted to be a dancer way above an actor or a singer." When he was 12, he started his first dance troupe and would go to dance competitions, which was a valuable experience even though they didn't win. In January 1986, at eight years old, McLean acted in his first role as Little Mike in the 1986 film, Truth or Dare?. In 1990, McLean, his mother, and grandparents moved to Kissimmee, Florida to pursue his acting and singing career. For four years, he attended a private acting school, the Florida Academy of Dramatic Arts, acted in the drama club and small plays, and modeled periodically. In 1991, McLean landed a role in the Nickelodeon comedy series Hi Honey, I'm Home! as Skunk. However, after the pilot, he was cut from the show due to being too tall, and Eric Kushnick was cast instead. In 1989, at age 11, he saw an ad in the newspaper for a Latin festival. Since his grandfather had Latin roots, he decided to audition. He won first place and a $1,000 prize. The festival's producer hired him to perform a 45-minute one-person show and did a puppet show, showcasing his singing, acting, and dancing. At the Latin festival, he met a young 16-year-old Howie Dorough through a mutual vocal coach. In junior high, McLean won a part in Nickelodeon's series Welcome Freshmen, which began his ongoing work relationship with Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel. He also appeared on the Nickelodeon show Guts and a Muppets commercial. He saw Dorough and Nick Carter at the Nickelodeon tryouts. Due to his love of performing and not participating in the same sports as his peers, he was bullied, called names, and given a hard time. He described himself at this young age as a weirdo and "wacky." He remarked that being made fun of had been very upsetting for him, but he felt it stemmed from others' jealousy of his talents and the subsequent attention that gave him.

=== Backstreet Boys ===

In March 1992, an ad was placed in a local newspaper seeking young men aged 16-19 for an audition with a new music group. Despite being 14, he auditioned for the group. By April 1992, McLean was officially the group's first member to join the newly formed Backstreet Boys. After six months at Osceola High School, he finished the remaining three years of high school through correspondence courses with a tutor on the road after joining the Backstreet Boys. McLean, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson, and Richardson's cousin Brian Littrell formed the vocal group Backstreet Boys in 1993. The group enjoyed extensive commercial success throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.

=== Solo ventures ===

==== Johnny No Name (2000) ==== McLean created a character named "Johnny No Name" as his alter ego. He uses this as his name when not performing with other members of the Backstreet Boys. The character has similarities to McLean; for instance, both had single mothers and lived with their grandparents from a young age. There are also differences – Johnny has been to prison, whereas McLean has not. McLean has occasionally performed as Johnny No Name in rock/metal clubs around New York. He established the JNN Foundation to fund diabetes research and other causes, such as keeping music programs in schools. McLean also performed a nine-city tour to support VH1 Save the Music as Johnny No Name. A source said he would release a solo album under the name Johnny No Name, but it never happened. McLean's alter ego was originally named Johnny Suede. This shared a name with a character played by Brad Pitt in a film of the same name, and when the film's movie studio Miramax threatened to sue McLean, he changed the name to Johnny No Name.