Backstreet Mom: A Mother's Tale of Backstreet Boy AJ McLean's Rise to Fame, Struggle With Addiction, and Ultimate Triumph (41 page)

ALEX LEFT ON TOUR a short time later. About a month into the tour, he
called me and said that he and the musicians from the band had decided
they wanted to do something different together. Since the tour had been
split into several sections, with breaks in between, they had ample time
off to do other things.

Alex asked me to put together a charity show, the proceeds of which
could be used to benefit some worthy cause. Since the boys already had
an ongoing relationship with the head of marketing for VHl's Save the
Music Foundation, I suggested that the profits go to them. Their staff
would be able to put up a banner, organize meet-and-greets and help us
put the show together.

At first, Alex wanted to do an entire tour, but he really didn't have
enough time off from the Backstreet Boys tour to do that, so I convinced
him to try one show in Orlando. That would allow us to gauge fan reaction before we committed to the expense of an entire tour. After all, the
object was to try and make some money for charity. That was fine with
Alex, so I got to work on it right away. It really seemed like something I
could sink my teeth into. It would give me a break from all of the fan
club stuff that I had done over the past several months. That had started
to get a bit tiresome.

At the time, the decision seemed an easy one for me. I was more than
ready to get back to work. I had Kelly and Nicole on my side. The three
of us shared the same work ethic, so we made the perfect team. At first
I was really excited. There was a lot of stress in my life and the show was
a welcome distraction.

The biggest issues in my life at that time were my parents and their
health problems. Mom had to have a pacemaker installed after she was
diagnosed with congestive heart failure. That happened not too long
after Alex left on tour. Dad was so upset over Mom that his health was
affected. His blood sugar level became unstable.

We had to hire daytime nursing care to deal with laundry and cooking, in addition to overseeing Mom and Dad's medications. Going
through the interview process took a while. Finally, we found a wonderful husband-and-wife team, Marion and Abel Rodriquez, who lived
nearby.

With that, my focus turned to my relationship with Alex. The solo
show would give me the opportunity to see if Alex and I could find
common ground for a relationship, one that did not include the pressures of the other boys, their management and the various Backstreet
business affairs that invariably got in our way. I really hoped that we
would be able to reconnect.

We decided to do the show on Alex's upcoming birthday.

Things came together very quickly. We were able to get the brandnew Hard Rock Cafe Universal Studios CityWalk complex for the show.
All the radio stations in town played up the event. It was something
different for the media, since the only other Backstreet Boy who did any
charity work was Howie. He had formed a foundation benefiting lupus
after his sister died and he did fundraisers every chance he got.

Everyone was curious to see what Alex could do on his own. Even
the record company was excited for him. They allowed him to perform
some Backstreet songs without any legal hassle. It all seemed to happen
rather effortlessly. In a way, I felt as though I were back where I belonged. In addition to helping my son with his career, I was also helping
to give back to the community that had been there to support him and
the other boys for the past several years.

To my surprise, Alex decided to take on a new persona for the show.
He called himself Johnny Suede, a name that he had gotten from a clothing line. Johnny dressed in suits and had matching fedoras and shoes
for every outfit. Alex then decided to take his alter ego one step further:
he gave Johnny a British accent. He said that way he could really become someone other than Alex or AJ.

That sounded a bit scary to me, but I let it go. Everything went along
fine until we unexpectedly received a letter from Tom DiCillo, a screenwriter/producer who had produced a 1991 film titled Johnny Suede. The
film starred Brad Pitt and was about a musician who had a Ricky Nelson
fixation. Alex never saw the movie.

In his letter, Mr. DiCillo said that we would have to pay him in order
to use the name. We were finally able to come to terms with him for the
one show. Due to the fact that we had already done the advertising and
printed the tickets, we had no choice. He graciously agreed to let us use
the name, just that one time.

The show was a big success. All of the major teen magazines were
there and did full spreads on the event. They even gave the show good
reviews.

"AJ McLean celebrated his twenty-second birthday last month in typically flamboyant style by dressing up as his alter ego Johnny Suede and
laying on a solo concert in Orlando for fans," cheered the British magazine Top of the Pops. "He
began the show handcuffed to a chair, carried on
to the stage by a toughlooking cop. But don't worry, AJ hadn't done anything
wrong-quite the opposite
in fact-the show raised
$25,000 for charity. What
a generous soul!"

We were able to give
Save the Music a big check
at the end of the show.
Something that I took notice of that evening was
that when Alex discarded
his alter ego at the end of
the show and hit the stage
as AJ from the Backstreet
Boys, he could not do it
without downing several
shots of Jack Daniels. I even joined in for one round, but as I watched him, I grew concerned
about his drinking. The band, of course, did not discourage him. Looking back, I should have discussed it with him.

Johnny Suede raised $27,000
for Save the Music

In the days immediately following the show, I remember feeling connected to and needed by Alex in a way that I had not experienced since
the early days of the group. The show seemed to give Alex a new wave
of confidence as a solo artist. I cannot tell you how many times people
in the industry had prodded me to have him try and do more on his
own. His range was so big and his talent so electrifying that he didn't
need any one else. He was a one-man dynamo. Yet it was not in Alex's
nature, and betraying the other boys would have been out of the question. Since the "Johnny Suede" performance had been done for charity,
no one could really fault him.

By that time, a few of the other boys had formed foundations and
were doing things to promote them. Alex was entitled to do the same.
Watching him perform alone was an amazing thing for me. It was as if
he were little all over again. He took control of that stage and that audience with such polish and panache.

The songs that he sang were a deliberate departure from the usual
Backstreet fare. Each song showcased his voice in a different way. It was
a real treat for the fans. It was
proof that they loved him for him,
whether he was Alex or AJ or
Johnny. In their eyes, he had transcended being just another Backstreet Boy.

Alex at a surprise party for his
birthday in L.A.

Since he did the show on his
birthday I felt it only fitting that
I pull a joke on him. I had the
nightclub make up a huge cake. I
then enlisted the help of my niece,
Kathy. The night of the show, she
dressed in a white halter dress as
Marilyn Monroe, complete with
a blonde wig and beauty mark.

In the middle of the show, she
rolled the cake out onto the stage.
Alex froze as she made her way closer to him. To his surprise, she started singing "Happy Birthday," like
Marilyn did for President John F. Kennedy At first, Alex did not recognize his cousin, but as she got closer, he opened his eyes real wide and
his mouth dropped open. It was hysterical! In an instant, Alex knew I
had been behind the entire thing and he let the audience in on the joke.
Everyone loved it.

THE BACKSTREET BOYS TOUR resumed a few days after the concert in
Orlando. By that time, Mom's health had started to deteriorate. I was
torn between my mother's needs and my son's problems. On the one
hand, there were the phone calls with doctors, hospitals and other family members; on the other hand, were the never-ending, often disturbing phone calls from the road regarding the fact that Alex had fallen into
the hands of the glommers and was spinning out of control.

Usually the glommers tried to hide behind titles like "record producer" or "record label president." In reality, they were all just con men and
sometimes drug dealers. My son was getting in with a very bad element.
They used his name to get into the hottest nightclubs and they made
certain that everyone knew whom they were with.

Everyone around Alex, including the other boys, tried to warn him
about the sleazy characters he was befriending, but he would not listen.

I spoke with some of the other boys. They told me stories of his partying and not showing up for press events the next day or causing problems in the hotels. I then turned to Marcus for help. Marcus had been
Alex's bodyguard for three years, and I trusted him implicitly. He appeared ominous but was a pussycat at heart; Alex even referred to him
as "Uncle Marshmallow." I knew he cared about Alex, and I pleaded
with him to talk some sense into my son. He tried, but his words only
fell on deaf ears. All he could do was try to watch Alex's back as much as
possible. He pulled some of the glommers aside and asked them to leave,
but they turned to Alex for protection.