The New Kids on the Block formed in 1984 after Maurice Starr, fresh off a dispute with New Edition with that found hi released as a producer, held auditions for another quintet. This time hoping to capture the mainstream market he and business partner Mary Alford saw Donnie Wahlberg during one of these audition. Instead of picking five kids independently, Starr recruited the rest of the group, originally called Nynuk, through Donnie.

Wahlberg recruited friends Danny Wood and Jordan Knight. Jordan's older brother was added to the group, which at first included Mark Wahlberg. Mark left the group, unhappy with the bubble gum direction and was replaced with another one of Donnie's friends, Jaime Kelley. Kelley did not end up working out, allegedly because a lack of concentration and discipline. Starr added Joey McIntyre, who was initially resented for replacing the group's friend. With McIntyre New Kids on the Block was complete.

After practicing after school and on weekends, New Kids on the Block was signed to a record deal in 1986, on the condition that they change their name from Nynuk. The group released their self-titled album that year only to fail to make a mark. Although the album would later go on to sell three times platinum, that is mostly due to the attention the group received for their second album, Hangin' Tough.

The second album would spend 132 weeks on the charts to close the 80s after being released in 1988, but almost was forgotten as easily as the first. New Kids on the Block's future was saved when a Florida radio station started to play the first single 'Please Don't Go'. Acting on the singles sudden push to number ten on the Billboard singles chart, the group started to appear on national television and tour nationally in support of Tiffany.

By 1989, the group's fan base had grown considerably, mostly due to the heavy rotation of the video 'You Got It (The Right Stuff)' on MTV. The New Kids on the Block again took the to the road in the summer of 1989 with Tiffany, only this time she was supporting them. The group became an international hit with teenage girls and the band sold out shows everywhere they went.

New kids on the block turned the success of Hangin Tough into a holiday album in 1989 and Step by Step in 1990. The title track form the third studio album reached number on the charts, giving the New Kids on the Block their third number one single, and the album reached number one on charts across the world. The success of the group found conflict as the producer, Starr, was claiming more and more responsibility for the songs and production of the group's songs and the quintet had to counter attacks that they were not singers on some of the tracks on their breakout album.

The New Kids on the Block released their first unquestioned group-only written and produced material. Unfortunately for the newly christened NKOTB, the album, Face the Music, failed to sell. After moving to smaller clubs, the stress got to Jonathan Knight, and he left the group. With his departure, New Kids on the Block ended their reign as the boy band, giving way to groups like Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.

They would come back though. New Kids on the Block re-united in 2008. This time NKOTB would take to the stage and the recording studio with Jonathan Knight, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Danny Wood, and Donnie Wahlberg. They released the album The Block in 2008. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 on the strength of 100,000 album sales in its first week. The Block's chart success led to a tour, a tour that proved more popular than the album. During that tour in the summer of 2009, NKOTB took the stage with the Backstreet Boys. They performed with the group again at the 38th Annual American Music Awards in November 2010. Now, NKOTB and BSB are forming NKOTBSB, a co-headlining tour scheduled for the summer of 2011. Get your NKOTB tickets for one of these 24 shows to see this incredible collaboration.