Starr used Donnie to recruit from his group of friends. That group included break dancing friend Danny Wood, neighborhood friend Jordan Knight, Jordan’s older brother Jonathan, and his brother Mark. Mark left New Kids on the Block, then known as Nynuk, early on when he disliked the clean, bubble gum direction it was taking. He was replaced with another of Donnie’s friends, Jaime Kelley, but Kelley had difficulty maintaining the discipline and concentration necessary to be part of the group.

Kelley was replaced with Joey McIntyre, who was from Jamaica Plain. The group initially held some resentment for the 12-year-old, as he replaced their friend. Starr got Nynuk signed to a record deal in 1986, on the condition that the group changed its name. Nynuk became New Kids on the Block, after the title of a song written by Donnie.

New Kids on the block practiced after school and on weekends and released their first self-titled album in April 1986. The album was dud. The singles “Be My Girl”, “Stop It Girl”, and “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind)” failed to make a dent, even in their hometown of Boston.

The second album, Hangin’ Tough (1988), was on the rode to failure despite being more influenced by the group members and moving away from the bubble gum material. The first single “Please Don’t Go Girl” again failed to make an impact- at least until a radio station in Florida started playing it. The song built up steam and reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. The album was released to decent sales that grew as the group began to make more television and national appearances, opening for the artist Tiffany.

New Kids on the Block’s real breakthrough came when “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” was released at the end 1988 and received airplay on MTV. After the boost, the group went on tour again with Tiffany, but this time she opened for them. The album ended up selling 16 million records worldwide and being certified platinum eight times. The strength of the album increased sales for their first release, which had been a commercial failure up to that point.

In September 1989, the New Kids on the Block released a holiday album, Merry, Merry Christmas. The record had the top ten hit “This One’s for the Children”. At the end of the ‘80s, the group had established themselves with their second album spending 132 weeks on the charts. Hangin’ Tough ended up winning the group two American Music Awards (“Best Pop/Rock Album” and “Best Pop/Rock Group”).

The members of New Kids on the Block took more control of their fourth studio release, Step by Step, writing more than half the songs on the record. The album featured heavy influence by Michael Jackson and New Jack Swing, or a music style that combined rhythm, samples, and hip-hop production techniques with R&B.

The title track gave the band another number one single and the album went number one on charts around the world. The record ended up selling 19 million copies world wide and went three times platinum. New Kids on the Block started a hectic touring schedule that had nearly 200 shows a year.

The New Kids on the Blocks’ popularity began to fade in 1992, when a former producer claimed that the group did not sing all of the songs on their break through album. In a time when the Mill Vanilli were outed for lip-syncing, the allegation put them on the defensive. Though the allegations were later proved to be false, the band was already starting to wane in the public’s eyes and the accusation was enough to strike a huge blow to the group.

The group was sick of Maurice Starr who claimed responsibility for nearly all the material the New Kids on the Block had every released, downplaying the efforts of the members in the creative process. In 1993, the group split with the producer and signed with Columbia Records. They tried to distance themselves from their old image by shortening their name to NKOTB at Columbia’s request.

Their first album without Starr was Face the Music released in 1994. The album was the first studio recording by the New Kids on the Block in nearly four years, due to conflicts with Starr and a heavy touring schedule. The group could say for the first time that they wrote and produced all the tracks on the album, but their time had passed and the album failed top receive certification or chart in the Top 20.

Playing smaller venues as a result, the group chose to dissolve after Jonathan Knight left the group early on in the tour after suffering panic and anxiety attacks. The remaining four members of New Kids on the Block chose to disband rather than carry on with Knight in June 1994.

Fourteen years later, in 2008, the group reunited. The fourteen years since they disbanded featured several boy bands that they paved the way for, but eventually the music went out of style. The New Kids on the Block reunited, not only to tour, but also to release new material. Summertime was released in May 2008 with the singles “Click Click Click”, Close to You”, Looking Like Danger”, “Big Boy/Big Girl”, and “Summertime”.