Source: Entertainment Teen magazine (Summer of 1999: the premier issue)
You know him as sweet Howie D of the record-breaking group, Backstreet
Boys, but to Pollyanna Dorough
he's been a sweet baby brother for the last 25 years. Polly that's
what he calls her was a big inspiration
to howard that's what she calls him as he tagged along to church choir
and to her uplifting performances,
the performing bug bit him too. As fate would have it, however, Pollyanna
became a teacher and one of
Howie's most energetic cheerleaders. She watched him grow musically
as he blossomed in the choir and
as he spread his wings by acting. Polly was ecstatic when he landed
a roll in the film Parenthood and then
again when he came thisclose to accepting a position with Menudo. But
Bacstreet Boys it was, and Howie
has never looked back. Since then, Sweet D's loves of music and his
partnership with BSB has blessed
fans worldwide with the sweetest of sounds, and now he's built a studio
in the basement of his home in
order to write and sing and help other talented performers do the same.
Pollyanna, one of the Dorough
sibs who helped start it all, is now Howie's Number One protege. Together,
they're working on her debut
album of mostly English and some Spanish pop tunes.
Sweet Howie D...Life With Pollyanna
What made you decide to build a studio at home, Howie?
I decided a while ago. I have this basement in my house her, which is
very uncommon in Florida with the
water level being right up to the ground level. My house is over 100
years old. It's the same house I've
grown up and lived in my whole life....So, it's always been like my
little studio down there. I have my
mirrors up for my dance rehearsals from a long time ago when I was
doing my solo stuff. I had my
kareoke machine down here and practiced down there in front of the
mirror. My dream was to turn it into
a big studio, to be able to do nice recordings for my self and of other
people like possibly my sister. So I
finally decided to pursue it and going on. Last January I finally got
a all my equipment down here. It's still
pretty much brand new and I'm still to this day learning to use it.
In the last year, I really got interested
into in writing music for other artists. I did a lot of writing tips
with Full Force, Gary Baker, Berman
Brothers, Soul Solution, Tony Rich, Stevie J from Puffy's camp and
some people from Babyface's camp.
Earlier today I was calculating it: I wrote about 30 songs this last
year.
Pollyanna was involved in the writing, wasn't she?
Polly was with me as a ghostwriter a lot of times. She wasn't given
credit yet, because she was brought
along as my sidekick. I noticed as time went on that Polly got better
at writing, so I said, 'I should just
put a studio down in my basement and just start working with Polly,
writning together, since it's been my
challenge to get her project going.' And we've been writing together
a lot and recording some of her
stuff.
Have you and Pollyanna always sung toghther at home?
Polly and me it was so weird. We were just at church the other day and
we bumped into some of the
people who used to sing with us at our church; this is where I first
got started. When I was like six years
old, Polly used to be in this youth group at the church. There was
like a little youth band that performed
at the six o'clock mass. I could hardly even read... I just memorized
the words. Then from there, Polly
and I used to do tons of stuff together with the church and weddings.
A lot of times we would do talent
competitions. She'd enter in the adult category and I'd enter in the
children's category. So we like grew
up singing together.
Is it fun singing with her? Are there nonverbal things going on?
It's so funny because when I was young, she was always my mentor. She
taught me everything. I was like
14, she went with me up to New York and I had a manager at the time.
She was like my chaperone. She
ended up staying there and she spent about six years up north...So
we misssed out on a bit with each
other. At that point I had really gotten involved in voice lessons
and was heavily into my career. So when
she came back, I was involved with the Backstreet Boys, I've been very
fortunate, being around people
and soaking up a lot of this information. So now, it's like the roles
have reversed. Now she's coming to me
for guidance. It's weird for me, especially looking at my sister. I
think at first it took her a while to get
used to it. She's like, "This is my baby brother who I taught everything
to and ow he's sort of surpassing
me..." And now she comes to me. It's very flattering, it's a cool feeling.
It shows she respects me as an
artist...She really respects my opinions, especially with writing,
because I've been around these great
producers. My ears have developed a lot more since growing up.
Howie's Home
Can you describe your room?
It's brown with a little bit of cream. When I was about 14 or 15, we
bought this bedroom sit-it was almost
like a captain's bedroom [laughs]. I've been so busy on the road and
constantly moving. I've never even
changed it...The only thing I did was, I finally got a bigger bed.
My feet were starting to hang off the
edge so...but I still have my captain's mirrors hanging on the wall
and the little bell hanging on there
so..it's a typical boy's room. I have my personal stereo in there.
My dressers, my little shelf that has my
little trophies and monuments from growing up. Pollyanna will be recording
some Spanish lyrics.
Are you helpful when it comes to writing in Spanish?
That's her forte. I know basic Spanish...When it comes to Spanish and
rhyming, I don't have rhyming
totally down.
Is it more fun to work with two languages?
Yeah, I think so for me. It definitely opens my eyes to the Spanish
language. I'm constantly encouraging
the guys to think about translating songs her and there into Spanish.
We have a song on this album
[Millennium] called "Spanish Eyes,"which is dedicated to the Spanish
fans. It's one of the songs that I've
talked about translating also... a Spanish/English thing. It's like
Ricky [Martin] totallly opened the doors
for us.
How would you describe the music that Pollyanna's recording?
Like a crossover. Sort of like a girl version of Ricky Martin. Or like Gloria Estefan.
When you and Pollyanna work in the studio, do you find yourself taking lots of breaks?
Polly and I, we're like workaholics. We would go to these different
producers and we would literally write
two songs a day. we'd start early, like 10 a.m. and sometimes go up
to 3 a.m. We could even get in the
recording of the vocal at the same time. A lot of time, I'll do my
own demos of the songs. I'll do the
backround vocals, sing the leads on some of these people are like,
"Are you tired yet? and we're like ,
'No.' I love what I do so much, to me it's just a lot of fun. I never
really get tired that easy. Like Polly
just came over right now a few minutes ago. We're just starting at
10 p.m.
This takes up a lot of your free time...
Yeah. I love it so much that whenever I have free time from the group,
I'm constantly trying to develop
myself as and artist. Writing, producing, singing...I love the business
somuch, I want to have a long career
in this like Michael Jackson and Madonna...people like that.
Meet Pollyanna Dorough...She Is Woman, Hear Her Roar
Pollyanna, it's easy to see you're a high-energy person. Where does that come from?
I think you're born with certian personality traits traits God's give
you. Because all my silblings, we're all
different..I've always, always believed in myself. Even when other
people around me haven't.
You sound like a risk-taker.
Yeah, with only my life though. Not if it affects other people That make sense?
Sure. How would you describe Howie?
I think my brother is calmer than I am. He gets embarrassed sometimes
with me, 'cause I'm high-energy,
high strung and I'm crazy. I'm not afraid of looking ugly..I'm kind
of like a female version of Jim Carrey..
I think [Howard]'s more conservative in that area, he like to be proper.
But he enjoys life. That's what
makes the world so beautiful-because everyone's different...
Speaking of everyone, everyone's really loking forward to hearing your music.
Thank you. This is original stuff, but all collaborated.. It comes from
my heart, my style. I love to sing and
I love to dance..It has a Spanish flavor to it, but...mostly it's English.
Do you and Howie ever go to clubs to dance?
Oh, yeah. He's more conservative than I am..I like to take him to the
Latin clubs and then we'll dance
Latin. I kind of got him into that...he's doing really well! Yeah,
he picks up quickly; he's very good.
Sounds like a lovely relationship...
Yeah, of course...Whith the rest as well, we're all very, very close..
Are you creative in ways other than singing?
Yeah, I do paint and stuff, when I have time. But in college, yeah I
was actually studying art as well...I love
making things, I love renovating, yeah, and I stay busy...
Are you a big family when you're all together with nieces and nephews?
Oh my goodness yes, we are...When we have a picnic, we have a full house.
And everyone seems to have
kids except Howie and me. I'll just bring my dog...
Are you involved with anybody?
Nope...I've been in relationships before, and that's probably one of
the reasons why my career has taken
so long...It's like, you try to make the relationship work, and so
you give up your dream.
People do that sometimes, but it usually doesn't work...
Right...well, I found out the hard way. And so I've been there, done
that, and now at this point, it's my
turn. I'm gonna be doing what I decide to do...
So what happens next?
I'm going to New York and I'm going to be recording..I'm going to finish
my demo--and then I'm going to
say a prayer and keep my fingers crossed.