# Never Gone

Never Gone is the fifth studio album released by American vocal group Backstreet Boys as the follow-up to their fourth studio album Black & Blue (2000), after a short hiatus. Never Gone was originally due for release in 2004, but the release date for the album was pushed to June 14, 2005, for unknown reasons.
The album differs musically from their previous albums, moving away from teen pop into pop rock tendencies. Unlike previous albums, it featured only live instruments. The album's title track mourns the loss of Kevin Richardson's father, Jerald, who is also Brian Littrell's uncle. It sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

## Background

The Never Gone Tour commenced soon after the album's release. On December 20, 2005, the group released the DVD Never Gone: The Videos, which included behind-the-scenes footage and the music videos for "Incomplete," "Just Want You to Know," and "I Still...". The DVD consists of a slideshow with the instrumental audio of "Just Want You to Know" and an interview in Germany regarding their upcoming tour.

## Singles

The singles released from Never Gone were "Incomplete", "Just Want You to Know", "Crawling Back to You" and "I Still...". Following the success of the first single, "Incomplete," which peaked at No. 13 and spent 20 weeks on U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the second single, "Just Want You to Know," performed moderately well, hitting the top ten in the UK and Spain, and reaching the top twenty in Italy, Germany and Ireland, and charting inside the top 40 in most other charts.

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Aggregate scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | (40/100) |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Blender | |
| E! Online | C |
| Entertainment Weekly | C |
| People | |
| PopMatters | 2/10 |
| Robert Christgau | C |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Sputnikmusic | |
| USA Today | |
Critical response to Never Gone was generally mixed to negative, with most critics ambivalent about changing the band's traditional pop style to a more mature adult contemporary sound. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 40, based on seven reviews.

## Commercial performance

Never Gone debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling 293,000 copies in its first week of release. This is the band's fifth consecutive top ten album on the chart, following The Hits – Chapter One in 2001. On July 14, 2005, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over a million copies in the United States.
In Japan, it was the second biggest Western album in 2005 and had sold more than 750,000 copies by January 2006. And certificated Gold and Platinum record at 11 different countries.
The album sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

## Track listing
### Notes

* signifies a co-producer
* signifies an additional producer

## Personnel

Credits adapted from album’s liner notes.
Backstreet Boys
* Nick Carter – vocals (all tracks), vocal arrangements (tracks 6, 13)
* Howie Dorough – vocals (all tracks), vocal arrangements (tracks 6, 13)
* Brian Littrell – vocals (all tracks), vocal arrangements (tracks 6, 13)
* AJ McLean – vocals (all tracks), vocal arrangements (tracks 6, 13)
* Kevin Richardson – vocals (all tracks), piano (tracks 1, 4, 12), vocal arrangements (6, 13)
Additional personnel
* Alex Acuña – additional percussion (track 9)
* Keith Armstrong – mixing assistant (track 4)
* Rasmus Bahncke – co-producer, keyboards, programming, and arrangements (track 6)
* Tommy Barbarella – keyboards and string arrangements (tracks 3, 7)
* Jerry Barnes – bass (track 4)
* Matt Beckley – assistant engineer (track 3), mixing assistant (track 7)
* Michael Bland – drums (tracks 3, 7)
* Paul Boutin – engineer and editing (track 14)
* Lee Bridges – assistant engineer (track 1)
* Johan Brorson – producer, engineer, guitar, and bass (track 11)
* Adam Brown – string engineer (track 8)
* Paul Buckmaster – string arrangements (track 4)
* Grecco Buratto – guitar (track 9)
* Paul Bushnell – bass (tracks 9, 10)
* Teddy Campbell – drums (track 14)
* Dan Chase – Pro Tools technician (track 2)
* Ken Chastain – percussion and effects (tracks 3, 7)
* Vinnie Colaiuta – drums (tracks 9, 10)
* Tom Coyne – mastering
* John Silas Cranfield – engineer (track 6)
* Dave Dilbeck – engineer (track 1)
* Aaron Fessel – assistant engineer (track 1)
* John Fields – producer, engineer, piano, bass, guitar, keyboards, and effects (tracks 3, 7); mixing (track 3)
* Jon Gass – mixing (track 14)
* Serban Ghenea – mixing (track 2)
* Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald – producer and engineer (tracks 2, 8), instruments (track 2), guitar and bass (track 8)
* Isobel Griffiths – string contractor (track 12)
* Chris Haggerty – digital editing (tracks 1, 8, 9)
* John Hanes – additional Pro Tools engineering (track 2)
* Dabling "Hobby Boy" Harward – engineer and editing (track 14)
* Brandon Heath – acoustic guitar (track 1)
* Femio Hernandez – mixing assistant (track 7)
* Michael Ilbert – guitar engineer, bass engineer, drum engineer, and Pro Tools editing (track 8); mixing (track 11)
* Lana Israel – production coordinator (tracks 6, 13)
* Corky James – guitar (track 14)
* Mark Kiczula – assistant engineer (track 3), mixing assistant (track 7)
* Mark Kibble – producer (track 15)
* The London Session Orchestra – strings (track 8)
* Chris Lord-Alge – mixing (tracks 1, 4, 5, 8, 9)
* Tom Lord-Alge – mixing (track 7)
* Wil Malone – string arrangement and conducting (track 8)
* Billy Mann – producer, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, arrangements, programming, and vocal arrangements (tracks 6, 13); engineer (track 13)
* Max Martin – producer and engineering (tracks 2, 5, 8), instruments (tracks 2, 5), guitar (track 8)
* Alan Mason – assistant engineer (track 2)
* Skye McCaskey – additional engineering (track 1)
* Chris McMurtry – electric guitar (track 1)
* Steven Miller – engineer (tracks 3, 7), mixing (track 3)
* Brent Milligan – bass (track 1)
* Brian Montgomery – Pro Tools technician (track 4)
* Dan Muckala – producer, engineer, acoustic piano, additional keyboards, and string arrangements (track 1)
* Jamie Muhoberac – keyboards (track 10)
* Pablo Munguia – engineer (track 4), vocal engineer (tracks 9, 12)
* Alex Nifong – electric guitar (track 1)
* Christian Nilsson – engineer (2, 11), Pro Tools technician (track 2), producer and percussion (track 11)
* John Ondrasik – executive producer (track 4)
* Shawn Pelton – drums (tracks 2, 4, 5), percussion (track 2)
* Ross Petersen – assistant Pro Tools engineer (track 4)
* Marc "Fafu" Pfafflin – programming (track 3)
* Adam Phillips – guitar (track 12)
* Randy Poole – mixing (track 15)
* Joe Porter – drums (track 1)
* Steve Price – strings engineer (track 12)
* Brian Pugh – assistant engineer (track 8)
* Ed Quesada – assistant engineer (track 14)
* Rami – producer, engineer, and instruments (track 5)
* Johan Reivén – drums (track 8)
* Tim Roberts – assistant Pro Tools engineer (track 2)
* Chris Rojas – engineer, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, arrangements, keyboard programming, and drum programming (track 13)
* Jeff Rothschild – engineer and mixing (track 10)
* Dave "Natural Love" Russell – engineer and editing (track 14)
* Will Sandalls – engineer (track 13)
* Brian Schueble – engineer (track 4)
* John Shanks – producer, mixing, and guitar (track 10)
* Tony Shepperd – engineer (track 15)
* F. Reid Shippen – additional engineering (track 1)
* Alex Smith – assistant engineer and mixing assistant (track 12)
* Robin Smith – string arrangement and conducting (track 12)
* James Stone – assistant strings engineer (track 12)
* Greg Suran – guitar (tracks 3, 7)
* Shari Sutcliffe – contractor and production coordinator (track 10)
* Ren Swan – engineer and mixing (track 12)
* Kennie Takahashi – mixing assistant (track 3)
* Mark Taylor – producer, engineer, mixing, and string arrangement (track 12)
* Chris Testa – engineer (tracks 3, 7)
* David Thomas – producer (track 15)
* Michael Thompson – guitar (track 14)
* René Tromborg – co-producer, keyboards, programming, arrangements, drums, and percussion (track 6)
* The Underdogs – producers (track 14)
* Mark Valentine – additional engineering (track 10)
* Seth Waldmann – engineer (track 2), assistant Pro Tools engineer (track 4)
* Greg Wattenberg – producer, engineer, guitar, programming, and string arrangements (track 4)
* Paul Wiltshire – producer, engineer, and arranger (track 9)
* Frank Wolf – drum and bass engineer (track 9)
* Gavyn Wright – strings leader (tracks 8, 12)
* Ghian Wright – assistant vocal engineer (track 12), assistant engineer (track 15)
* Victoria Wu – additional production (track 9)
* Andy Zulla – mixing (tracks 6, 13)

## Certifications

| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| Australia (ARIA) | Platinum | 70,000$^‡$ |
| Canada (Music Canada) | Platinum | 100,000$^^$ |
| Germany (BVMI) | Gold | 100,000$^^$ |
| Ireland (IRMA) | Gold | 7,500$^^$ |
| Japan (RIAJ) | 2× Platinum | 500,000$^^$ |
| Mexico (AMPROFON) | Gold | 50,000$^^$ |
| Portugal (AFP) | Gold | 10,000$^^$ |
| Russia (NFPF) | Gold | 10,000$^*$ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE) | Gold | 50,000$^^$ |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland) | Gold | 20,000$^^$ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Gold | 100,000$^^$ |
| United States (RIAA) | Platinum | 1,771,000 |
| $^*$ Sales figures based on certification alone. $^^$ Shipments figures based on certification alone. $^‡$ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |||