Bandmates McLean, Richardson and Dorough joined the lawsuit which eventually resulted in a number of settlements, details of which were not disclosed. In 1997, Littrell was instrumental in bringing a lawsuit against the group's creator Lou Pearlman, claiming Pearlman had concealed information regarding the group's earnings. Littrell flew to Orlando the next day and finished high school via correspondence, graduating in 1994. He aspired to become a music minister, but in April 1993 during a history class at Tates Creek, Littrell's cousin and future bandmate Kevin Richardson called him out of an American History class and informed him of an audition for a fifth member of the Backstreet Boys.
Īt 15, Littrell had aspirations to become a basketball player, but at 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm) he struggled with his height, and was seldom selected for high school tournaments. Littrell also performed in school plays including a production of Grease, and worked at fast food chain Long John Silver's. At 16, he began performing at weddings after Barry Turner, his choir teacher at Tates Creek High School, suggested he could make money singing at social events. Growing up in a religious Baptist family, he sang his first solo in Porter Memorial Baptist Church at age 7, and was voted President of the Youth Chorus by his peers one year. Littrell was skilled at sports, and played in both Little League and the Babe Ruth League. He has an older brother Harold, an actor and singer, and is the cousin of fellow Backstreet Boys member Kevin Richardson (his father Harold and Richardson's mother Anne are siblings). (née Fox), a dentist's secretary, and Harold Baker Littrell, Jr, an IBM employee. Littrell was born in Lexington, Kentucky, to Jacqueline "Jackie" R.