  brian thomas littrell (born february 20, 1975) is an american singer-songwriter and occasional actor, best known as a member of the backstreet boys. he is also a contemporary christian recording artist and released a solo album, welcome home, in 2006. brian has four top 20 solo singles in the us christian chart. littrell was also a judge for the 8th annual independent music awards to support independent artists' careers.independent music awards - past judges ==early life== littrell was born in lexington, kentucky, united states. he has an older brother, and is the cousin of fellow backstreet boys member kevin richardson. he first started to sing in the choir of porter memorial baptist church in lexington. music was always important to him, and he originally planned on entering school to become a music minister. while a junior in high school, littrell changed plans and accepted the offer to join what became the very successful vocal harmony group, the backstreet boys. littrell was born with a heart defect that brought him several times into hospital with life-threatening conditions â for two months alone when he was five years of age because of a bacterial infection. an open heart surgery in 1998 closed the hole he had in his heart, as he said on his hour of power interview in 2007. after that he founded the brian littrell's "healthy heart club" for kids, a non-profit organization that assists children with heart conditions through medical, financial and practical help. in october 2009, littrell became infected with the h1n1 virus, causing the cancellation of the backstreet boys this is us promotional tour.{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/06/backstreet-boy-brian-litt_n_310765.html|title=backstreet boy brian littrell has swine flu|publisher=huffington post|acc
1975_births American_Christians American_male_pop_singers American_performers_of_Christian_music American_tenors Backstreet_Boys_members Baptists_from_the_United_States Jive_Records_artists Living_people Musicians_from_Atlanta,_Georgia People_from_Lexington,_Kentucky