As frequent lead vocalist for New Kids On The Block, Jordan Knight
toured the world's stages, belting out a pop-R&B rap hybrid that
climbed to the Top 20 ten times in half as many years, sparked a
revolution in merchandising, and endeared five young men to millions of
crazed fans. His fame endures as evidenced by the tens of thousands of
fans that visit his web page every week.
Knight was just shy of 15 when he joined what would become New Kids On
The Block. At 16, he began teaching himself keyboards. By 17, Knight
had begun writing songs. But Maurice Starr, the New Kids' producer, who
also wrote much of the New Kids material, was reluctant to add the
teenager's work to the band's repertoire. Knight offered his
composition "I'll Be Your Everything" to a young singer named Tommy
Page. Page's version of the track, which Knight produced, went all the
way to #1 and spent 13 weeks on the Billboard charts.
The New Kids On The Block's fourth album, Step by Step, hit #1 in the
U.S. and the U.K. The New Kids also had merchandise, record selling
dolls, the debut of New Kids cartoon series and milestones on top of
bestselling books, video collections and comic strips. Five of their
albums were charting simultaneously on the Billboard 200. At the peak
of the band's popularity, their recorded telephone message line
received 100,000 calls a week. Conservative estimates of the New Kids'
1990 income topped $850 million.
As a solo artist, Knight enlisted the help of veteran producers Jimmy
Jam and Terry Lewis. As it turns out, Jam and Lewis were intrigued by
Knight's concepts for his first solo album and quickly took the gig.
The album turned out to be a success. In 1999/2000, Knight enjoyed Top
10 status in Asia, England and Germany as well as the rest of Europe
with his debut single "Give It To You." In America, the single went
platinum and the album went gold.
With his first solo album under his belt, Knight has been in the studio
non stop continually expanding his repertoire and is currently
preparing the next solo project with a scheduled release in 2005.
Knight feels that this project, judging from the countless letters from
fans that subscribe to his website, is being eagerly awaited. As seen
on VH-1's "The Surreal Life," Knight is ready to embark upon the new
phase of his already impressive recording career.
