Joey McIntyre, the youngest member of boy band New Kids On The Block, gave Justin Bieber some words of advice, reports Teen Music.
In 1985, just before his 13th birthday, McIntyre joined the boy band, which went on to become one of the highest earning acts of all time, beating Madonna and Michael Jackson. Eventually the band split up in 1994, and McIntyre successfully branched out into film and Broadway musicals.
During a recent interview with TV show Entertainment Tonight, McIntyre, 38, reached out to Justin Bieber and other young entertainers (perhaps Willow and Jaden?) explaining what if felt like to deal with fame and the trappings of celebrity at a very young age.
"I wasn’t perfect. We weren’t perfect. We certainly made mistakes and there were dark days. You’re the biggest thing in the world (but) you gotta come down. What goes up comes down, for whatever reason.
"You gotta learn how to hang in there and know that there’s so much more to life than just singing pop tunes and dancing around on stage. And that takes a while – everybody’s got their own path and their own timeé
"You have to go with the flow and learn some things the hard way. Hopefully kids like Justin – there’s a lot of young artists out there – hopefully they’ve got good family around them and they’re able to take the ups and downs."
New Kids on the Block reunited in 2009 and is back on tour this year, sharing the stage with the Backstreet Boys – as the Justin Bieber song says, Never Say Never.