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Alexander James McLean (born January 9, 1978) is an American singer, dancer, actor and 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 Iberian, Central and South American, 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.: 13  He rarely saw his father, but reunited with him in 1997. They have since kept in regular contact following their seventeen-year estrangement.: 12  Career Early career As a child, McLean had a speech impediment, which gave him a lisp and a tendency to stutter. He discovered his love for performing and started to pursue a career in acting, dancing, and singing. When he was four, McLean began to focus on his love for 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.": 15  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.: 17  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 (Tony Donetti at the time) through a mutual vocal coach. When he was 13 years old, McLean tried out for Star Search, but never received a call back from the show. 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. It was during one of his auditions for the former that he met Howie D. and Nick Carter, lacing together the roots of the group that was to become Backstreet Boys. 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.: 15  He described himself at this young age as a weirdo and "wacky.": 15  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.: 15–17  Backstreet Boys In March 1992, an ad was placed in a local newspaper seeking young men between the ages of 16-19 for an audition for a new music group. Despite being 14 years old, 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 raise funds for diabetes research and other causes like 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 as 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. Have It All (2010) It was not until March 2008 when McLean finally started to perform his first two solo shows at the Anaheim House of Blues and The Roxy in Los Angeles. The show consisted of his solo material and a solo version of the Backstreet Boys hit, "Incomplete." The solo tour continued through Europe in May and June, parallel to the Backstreet Boys tour. His solo album Have It All was released on January 20, 2010. On the Backstreet Boys cruise in December 2010, it was said that the US version would be released on February 8, 2011, but since then has not been released. While creating his solo project, McLean worked with the OneRepublic vocalist Ryan Tedder, producers Dan Muckala and Kristian Lundin, as well as former NSYNC member JC Chasez. The album was a mix of pop, rock, and some r&b. The first and only single from the album, "Teenage Wildlife," was co-written by Chasez. The album feat.... Discover the S A Mclean popular books. Find the top 100 most popular S A Mclean books.