AJ

Alexander James McLean, known as "AJ", was born on January 9, 1978, in West Palm Beach, Florida, to Denise (Fernandez, now Solis) and Bob McLean. He is of Puerto Rican and German descent on his mother's side and Scotch-Irish and English on his father's side. He is an only child because his twin sisters died during childbirth. He was raised by his mother and grandparents (Úrsula and Adolfo) since his parents divorced when he was four years old.

As a child, AJ had a speech impediment, which caused him to stutter. To help him, Denise enrolled him in theater and discovered her love of acting and began pursuing a career in acting, dancing, and singing. 

It was during one of his auditions for the first that he met Howie D. and Nick Carter, bonding the roots of the group that would become the Backstreet Boys.

In March 1992, he saw another newspaper ad looking for young boys between the ages of 16 and 19 to audition for a new music group. Despite being 14 years old, she auditioned for the group. In April 1992, AJ was officially the first member of the group that would become the Backstreet Boys.