This group is for all New Kids fans . No Bashing us plaes if you don’t like them then don’t join. Because anyway you slice it there is no Fans like the New Kids Fans.
About The New Kids
New Kids on the Block is a boy band that enjoyed enormous success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Assembled in Boston in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr, the members consisted of brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. The group went on to sell over 70 million albums worldwide, generated hundreds of millions of dollars in concert revenues, and paved the way for acts like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. The group broke up in 1994. The group reunited in April 2008, and are now planning a new album and an international concert tour in the fall.
The Music
1986: New Kids on the Block (debut album)
New Kids On The Block (1986)In April 1986, Columbia Records released the group’s self-titled debut album. The album, almost exclusively written and produced by Maurice Starr, featured mid 80s bubblegum pop material. The first single, "Be My Girl" received minor airplay around the group’s native Boston, but failed to capture nationwide attention. The album’s second single, "Stop It Girl," fared even worse. The New Kids went on tour around the New England states, singing wherever Starr could book them: in bars, school dances, and strip club. Nevertheless, Starr remained diligent and persuaded the label to allow the group to record a second album. The album, however, would later go on to be certified triple platinum and sell over seven million copies, largely on the strength of the popularity the group attained with their next album.
1988-1989: Hangin’ Tough
After the failure of the first album, Starr had the group back in the studio for most of 1987 and 1988 recording their second album. Each of the boys were disatisfied with the clean, cheesy bubblegum sound their first album, and they wanted to have more input on their look, direction and song material. As a result, Donnie, Danny and Jordan received associate producer credit on the final product. The new album’s first single was "Please Don’t Go Girl," a ballad released in spring 1988. Failure seemed destined a second time when the song became another that went unnoticed by the listening public, and Columbia Records made plans to drop the New Kids from the label. At the eleventh hour, however, a radio station in Florida began playing the song. Scoring listener approval, it soon became the most requested song on their play list. When Columbia caught wind of the positive response, they decided to keep the group on its roster and put more effort into promoting the single. National attention soon followed and it eventually climbed to 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Singles Chart—becoming the group’s first hit.
New Kids on the Block’s second album, Hangin’ Tough, was released to modest fanfare in September. In the meantime, the group began making national televised appearances on such music programs as American Bandstand, Showtime At The Apollo, and Soul Train. They later landed a spot as an opening act for fellow teen-pop act Tiffany on the U.S. leg of her concert tour. Sales of Hangin’ Tough steadily increased as the group’s national attention slowly rose. At year’s end, the album’s second single "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" was released. The song was given a huge boost when MTV took notice of the group and began playing the video in regular rotation. By early 1989, it cracked the top five. The New Kids hit paydirt with their next single, "I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)," which reached 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart in June. The group had been scheduled to open for Tiffany once again on a second tour, but their sudden popularity caused a reversal, and she wound up opening for them (although the two acts were technically billed as "co-headliners.")
More top five singles from Hangin’ Tough followed into the summer and fall, including: the title track and "Cover Girl." Columbia Records also released, from the groups previously overlooked debut album, "Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind)." The song went top 10 on the strength of the group’s popularity and effectively jump-started the sales of that album as well. By the end of 1989, Hangin’ Tough had climbed to 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and had gone eight-times platinum. They, subsequently, became the first ’teen’ act to garner five top 10 hits from a single album.
Meanwhile, a top ten charting holiday album, Merry, Merry Christmas, was released in the fall—spawning another top 10 hit, "This One’s for the Children" and going 2x Platinum in the US. The proceeds were donated to United Cerebral Palsy, the New Kids’ favorite charitable cause. Hangin’ Tough would go on to spend 132 weeks on the chart.
1990-1991: Step by Step
Step By Step (1990)By early 1990, New Kids on the Block had become one of the most popular acts in the world. The following May, they followed up Hangin’ Tough with Step by Step, which featured slightly more than half of the songs co-written and produced by the members themselves. A New Jack Swing sound and a Michael Jackson style became a new part of their repetoire. They started incorporating live instruments into their songs and concerts. The first single, the title track, raced to 1 on the Hot 100 Singles Chart and became their biggest selling single. It was followed up with the top ten "Tonight," which extended the consecutive top ten singles chart run to an amazing nine records. The album was eventually certified triple platinum, selling close to twenty million copies worldwide.
The group performed an estimated two hundred concerts a year, with an extravagant worldwide concert tour that summer, called The Magic Summer Tour, sponsored by Coke. Their pay-per-view special was the biggest in cable-TV history to that date. During this time, the group became heavily merchandised; more than one hundred and forty products that were licensed with NKOTB trademarks. These included lunch boxes, packing trunks, sleeping bags, pillow cases, T-shirts, comic books, dolls, and even a Saturday morning cartoon in their likeness. That series was on ABC from 1990-91 (with reruns the following year on Disney Channel). Though the band appeared in live action clips, the voices of the New Kids were done by other voice actors (two of them also did Captain Planet). A video game based on the group was set to be introduced for the NES, but was never released.
New Kids on the Block’s official fan club had a membership of over one hundred thousand names, and received thirty-thousand letters a day. Approximately one hundred thousand calls per week were dialed to 1-900-909-5KIDS, the Official NKOTB Hotline, as well. The group topped Forbes list of highest paid entertainers of 1990, beating out the likes of Michael Jackson and Madonna. Further capitalizing on the fame, at year’s end, Columbia Records released No More Games/The Remix Album—a compilation of the group’s biggest hits remixed. Sensing their audience was growing up, Donnie led the group in remixing their songs into a more rap, hip hop style. It was here that they started using the name "NKOTB" as a way of trying to change with the times.
By 1991, the group had become very over-exposed, and public and commercial backlash started to form. Now calling himself "The General," Starr began repeatedly reinforcing that he had written, produced and played on all their albums. Sensing that it was time to give the American market a break, the group released no new material that year, but they went overseas and continued to tour throughout Europe and Asia. That summer, Wood and Wahlberg co-wrote and produced the debut album from Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch—headed by Mark Wahlberg, Donnie’s brother and former New Kid. Mark’s album scored a 1 hit with "Good Vibrations," and a platinum album.
1993-1994: Face the Music
Face The Music (1994)Faced with the constant derision of people outside their teen market and the maturation of that base, the fact that they themselves were no longer teenagers, and that the type of music that had once made them famous had faded from the lexicon, the group split off from Maurice Starr and signed with Columbia Records. Since the name "New Kids" had an overexposed following, they shortened their name to NKOTB, at the request of the label. They attempted to make a comeback in January 1994 with Face the Music.
Their first studio album in close to four years, Face the Music, was a musical departure from the group’s previous efforts. All of the members sang lead, nearly all the songs were written and produced by the group, etc. In spite of some positive critical reception, the album was not a commercial success. The group’s final single to chart was "Dirty Dawg" (which featured a rap cameo by Nice & Smooth.) The video was banned from Canadian music video network Muchmusic, due to its suggested violence and misogynistic imagery.
NKOTB went on tour to support the album, but faced with the reality that their time as pop music icons had peaked, were forced to play smaller venues such as clubs and theaters, as opposed to the arenas and stadiums they had become accustomed to playing when they were at the height of their fame. Group member Jonathan Knight, meanwhile, departed the tour early after increased panic attacks and anxiety. As a cover story, it was explained to the media that he had fallen off his horse and injured his back. Shortly thereafter, the remaining four decided to cancel the rest of the tour, and the group disbanded altogether in June 1994.
Then
Now
NEW KID OF THE MONTH
Danny Wood
Daniel William Wood Jr. (born 14 May 1969, Boston, Massachusetts) is a singer, songwriter, record producer and occasional actor. He is also a member of the 1980s boy band New Kids on the Block.
Wood currently has three children with ex-wife Patricia Alfaro: Anthony (born late 1995), Russian-born, adopted daughter Chance (born January 1998) and daughter Vega (born March 1999). He and Alfaro divorced in 2006, sharing joint custody. He also has custody of another son, Daniel Jr. (born in late 1992) with then-girlfriend Elise Stepherson. In 1999, he lost his mother, Betty Wood, to breast cancer, and has set up a website dedicated to her.
He was the "body" of the group being the most physically fit, and very interested in sports. Wood was keen on his appearance and his own physical fitness. He also choreographed a lot of the dance moves for the band.
He and fellow group member, Donnie Wahlberg, worked together and produced tracks for Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, a group headed by Wahlberg's younger brother Mark. During the early 1990s, he produced and made his one-time directoral debut on the music video for Call It What You Want. Wood also produced some tracks on fellow bandmate Joe McIntyre's debut solo album.
Solo career
After New Kids on the Block disbanded in 1994, Wood decided to pursue a solo career. He released his first solo album on 22 July 2003. It was called Second Face, and all the songs were produced by Wood and his friend, Pete Masitti. Recently he released "Coming Home", 2007 and in 1999 he released an album "Room Full Of Smoke" as D-Fuse. Danny will see music from his latest release "Coming Home" featured on various networks like MTV, Oxygen, and VH1.
Singles
What If (2003)
When The Lights Go Out (2003)
Different Worlds (2003)
Acting
After his work within New Kids on the Block Wood started to take on acting and his first film was Thank You, Good Night, a story about four musicians struggling to succeed in their personal and professional lives. He has also worked within Deveria and I-15. He also appeared in "Tequila Express".
Management
Wood operates his own record label called Damage Records, with manager Chad Zimmerman, of Z International Entertainment. Zimmerman also worked with New Kids alumnus Jordan Knight as his personal manager / backup DJ from 2003-2006. He co-wrote his hit single "Where is Your Heart Tonight" in 2005 / 2006 which peaked at &035;12 on the Billboard AC Chart
In Loving Memory of Betty Wood
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