47 Fun Facts About New Kids on the Block

Four of the five New Kids on the Block grew up in which Boston neighborhood?

Dorchester. Donnie Wahlberg was signed first and brought in friends he had gone to school with; only the last recruit came from another part of the city, and he struggled to fit in at first.

Which producer, who had earlier guided New Edition, put New Kids on the Block together in 1984?

Maurice Starr had just lost New Edition in a dispute over money. He reasoned that if five black teenagers from Boston could get that big, white kids doing the same thing would be bigger still.

Which two members of New Kids on the Block are brothers?

Jonathan and Jordan Knight. Jordan, the younger of the two, was recruited first; his big brother didn't want to be left out and followed him into the group.

What was the group originally called before settling on New Kids on the Block?

Nynuk, pronounced 'na-nook', was their producer's idea, and the boys never liked it. When Columbia Records signed them and objected to it as well, they were glad to trade it in.

The name New Kids on the Block came from what?

A rap Donnie Wahlberg co-wrote for the first album had that title, and it became the group's name. Columbia had signed the boys to its black music division and pitched them to R&B radio first.

Which future movie star was briefly a New Kid before leaving?

Mark Wahlberg, then 13, lasted only a few months. His brother Donnie says he would sooner run around with his friends than rehearse, though he found fame anyway as the rapper Marky Mark.

Danny Wood founded the charity Remember Betty in memory of his mother; which illness does it help patients fight?

Breast cancer took his mother, Betty. The charity he started in her name does something practical: it helps patients with their bills during treatment so that they can concentrate on getting well.

Which 1988 ballad became New Kids on the Block's first hit, reaching No. 10 on the Hot 100?

"Please Don't Go Girl" was going nowhere on R&B radio until a pop station in Florida started playing it. Requests poured in, and the label switched its whole campaign to pop.

Which 1988 album made New Kids on the Block superstars, producing five US top-ten singles?

Hangin' Tough was a slow burn. It sold modestly until pop radio and MTV picked up its singles one after another, and it reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 only in September 1989, thirteen months after release.

Which single gave New Kids on the Block their first Billboard Hot 100 number one, in June 1989?

"I'll Be Loving You (Forever)" turned the tour billing upside down: the group had been the opening act for another teen star, and before long she was opening for them.

Which New Kids on the Block single topped the Hot 100 for three weeks in the summer of 1990?

"Step by Step" was a hand-me-down. Their producer had first cut it with another of his groups, the Superiors, on a Motown single that went unnoticed; three years later the same song topped the US chart.

What was the name of New Kids on the Block's 1989 holiday album?

Merry, Merry Christmas came out in September 1989, at the height of the craze, and went double platinum. Its success earned the group a prime-time Christmas special on network TV the following year.

Which Massachusetts governor declared April 24, 1989 "New Kids on the Block Day"?

Michael Dukakis, five months after losing the 1988 presidential election, made the proclamation to honor the group's work against drug abuse. Fans still celebrate the date every year.

Donnie Wahlberg plays the gaunt former patient who confronts Bruce Willis at the start of which thriller?

The Sixth Sense opens with him as Vincent Grey, breaking into his old psychologist's home. He dropped 43 pounds for a few minutes on screen, and the part got him noticed as an actor.

On which Netflix sitcom did New Kids on the Block play themselves in 2016, serenading the lead on her birthday?

Fuller House built an episode, "New Kids in the House", around them: Kimmy buys D.J. concert tickets that turn out to be counterfeit, so she makes amends by bringing the band to the Tanner home.

Which soft drink sponsored New Kids on the Block's 1990 Magic Summer Tour?

Coke tied the tour into a $100 million 'Magic Summer' promotion. Its prize cans, built to pop out cash, jammed and leaked and were scrapped within weeks, while the tour went on to top the year's concert grosses.

What did a former music director accuse the New Kids of in 1992?

Not singing their own vocals: he said their producer's voice was on the records. They flew 16 hours from an Australian tour to sing live, flat notes and all, on The Arsenio Hall Show, and he later withdrew the charge.

The New Kids became NKOTB in a bid to shed what?

Their teen-idol image had become a burden: the members were in their twenties and wanted to be taken for men, not kids. The new name and a harder sound didn't sell, and the group split in 1994.

What was the title of the New Kids' 1994 album, their last before a 14-year split?

Face the Music was their first album without their longtime producer. By then their fans had grown up and tastes had moved on to grunge and gangsta rap, and it sank.

Which of the New Kids walked away in 1994 after suffering panic attacks and anxiety?

Jonathan Knight, always the shy one, quit during the 1994 tour, worn down by anxiety about performing live. Without him the other four soon decided the group was finished.

Joey McIntyre finished third in 2005 on the first season of which celebrity TV contest?

Dancing with the Stars began as a six-week summer try-out with only six celebrities. McIntyre and his partner Ashly DelGrosso came third, and the ratings were so strong that the show became a fixture for decades.

Which R&B singer shared the vocals on the New Kids' 2008 single "Single"?

Ne-Yo also wrote "Single", and he kept a solo version for his own album Year of the Gentleman, so the same song came out twice within weeks, once with five extra voices on it.

The New Kids' 2008 reunion tour opened not in Boston but in which Canadian city?

Toronto got the first two nights, at the Air Canada Centre. Boston, where the whole story began, had to wait eight days for its homecoming show.

Which kind of fan event did the New Kids launch in 2009 and go on to repeat year after year?

A concert cruise: the first sailed from Miami to the Bahamas in May 2009 with the band on board. It became such a fixture that a reality series, Rock This Boat, was made about the fans who booked it.

With which boy band did New Kids on the Block form a supergroup in 2011, merging initials?

Backstreet Boys shared one stage with them as a single combined act through 2011 and 2012. It went so well that the New Kids have taken fellow nostalgia acts along on nearly every tour that followed.

What is the title of the New Kids' 2013 studio album?

10 takes its title from a count: it was the group's tenth release in the US, compilations included. It was also the first album they put out on their own, without a major label behind them.

Which two acts opened for the New Kids on 2013's The Package Tour?

98 Degrees and Boyz II Men. For 98 Degrees it was a comeback in itself: the quartet had spent most of a decade apart and had reunited only months before the tour was announced.

Joey McIntyre played the leading man in which musical in 2004, in its first year on Broadway?

Wicked took him back to where he began: before pop fame he had acted as a child in local community theater. He stepped in as Fiyero, the prince both witches fall for.

The New Kids' 2022 single "Bring Back the Time" featured Salt-N-Pepa, En Vogue and which British singer?

Rick Astley and the other guests act out famous 1980s clips in the video, from Journey's "Separate Ways" to Devo's "Whip It". All three guest acts then went out on the 2022 Mixtape Tour.

What is the title of the New Kids' 2024 album, their first in 11 years?

Still Kids went on the road under a borrowed banner: the 2024 tour was called Magic Summer, reviving the name of the stadium tour from the group's 1990 peak.

What was the name of the Las Vegas residency the New Kids opened in June 2025?

The Right Stuff, at Dolby Live at Park MGM, was the first Las Vegas residency of the group's 40 years. Demand was strong enough that extra shows, running into 2026, were added months before opening night.

At which Boston-area venue did the New Kids play a hometown show with Bell Biv DeVoe in August 2021?

Fenway Park hosted their first hometown show after lockdown, and the five walked out in sequined Red Sox-style jackets. Donnie Wahlberg saluted New Edition, their guests' old group, from the stage: 'they paved the way for us.'

What are New Kids on the Block fans known as?

Blockheads get unusual access to their idols. After concerts Donnie Wahlberg has been known to invite fans to the nearest Waffle House, and hundreds turn up for the after-party.

Donnie Wahlberg played Detective Danny Reagan for 14 seasons on which CBS police drama?

Blue Bloods ended in 2024, but Danny Reagan didn't retire. CBS moved him into a spin-off, Boston Blue, choosing his character for the job because Wahlberg himself is a Boston native.

Donnie Wahlberg, eighth of nine children, married which TV personality in 2014?

Jenny McCarthy broke the news of their engagement on air, on The View, where she was a co-host. The wedding that August then became the first episode of their reality series, Donnie Loves Jenny.

What was Jordan Knight's best-known solo hit, released in 1999?

"Give It to You" was co-written with a young Robin Thicke, years before his own hits, and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. It took Knight back into the top ten five years after the group split.

Which solo album did Joey McIntyre pay for himself and first sell from his own website?

Stay the Same began as a rejection: his old label turned the songs down, so he sold them online and handed a CD to a Boston pop station. Once the title track took off on radio, the same label came back and signed him.

The New Kids' home video lost the 1990 long-form video Grammy to a dance-driven short film by which pop star?

Janet Jackson won with Rhythm Nation 1814. The New Kids' entry, a tour documentary built around their hit videos, missed the trophy but became one of the best-selling music videos of its day.

Which New York venue gave the still-unknown New Kids a standing ovation in 1988, a night they call their turning point?

The Apollo, in Harlem, was notorious for driving acts off its stage, and the five white teenagers went on fearing the worst. Midway through, the crowd was chanting 'Go, white boys!', and they left to a standing ovation.

Which boy band did a Manchester manager assemble in 1990 as Britain's answer to New Kids on the Block?

Take That were Nigel Martin-Smith's idea: watching the Boston group conquer the charts, he decided Britain needed a homegrown version. The last of the five he picked was a 16-year-old Robbie Williams.

Which early member, a school friend of Donnie Wahlberg, left the group before it found fame?

Jamie Kelly had known Wahlberg since kindergarten. He was gone before the group had a record deal, because he lost interest or because his parents wanted him out of show business, and his exit opened the fifth spot for its final recruit.

What was the first single from New Kids on the Block's self-titled 1986 debut album?

Be My Girl picked up some airplay around Boston and then stalled, and the follow-up did worse. The debut album flopped so badly that the label came close to dropping the group.

Which teen-pop star did the New Kids open for on tour before their fame forced a role reversal?

Tiffany had them as her opening act in 1988, and within a year she was opening for them. Three decades later they took her back on the road, as a guest on their 2019 Mixtape Tour.

Which Delfonics classic gave the New Kids a 1989 hit?

Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) had sat unnoticed on their 1986 debut. Released as a single once the group was huge, it reached No. 8, and the flop album finally began to sell.

Proceeds from New Kids on the Block's 1989 Christmas single went to which charity?

United Cerebral Palsy was the group's own cause. They served as its national spokesmen, rode in its bike-a-thons and sang on its telethon three years running, starting before they were famous.

Which future superstar was a backup dancer for the New Kids at the 1991 American Music Awards?

Jennifer Lopez was one of 20 dancers behind them that night, months before In Living Color hired her as a Fly Girl. Donnie Wahlberg later called the performance 'sort of her big break'.

Which two acts supported New Kids on the Block on the US leg of their 2008 reunion tour?

Natasha Bedingfield and Lady Gaga opened many of the US dates. Gaga was almost unknown then: she had been hired to write a song for the group's comeback album and ended up singing on it too.