WHEN the email landed in our inbox asking if we’d like to interview New Kids On The Block, we must admit we were excited to say the least!

Those handsome boys set our world on fire when they burst onto the pop scene back in the mid-’80s with hits such as Hangin’ Tough, Step By Step and You Got It (The Right Stuff).

Now, almost 30 years on, the sound of handsome frontman Jordan Knight’s voice – this time not on the radio but on the other end of our actual phone – is still setting OK!’s heart aflutter.

‘Hello, how are you?’ he drawls in his sleepy Massachusetts accent. ‘Where are you, London? I’m in Boston.’ In true Jerry Maguire style, our childhood pop heart-throb still has us at hello.

Looking back on a long, successful career, it’s easy to see how it could’ve all ended so differently for the singer.

Now 42 and happily settled with his wife of eight years, Evelyn, and their sons, Dante, 13, and Eric, six, Jordan faced a well-publicised battle with alcoholism, famously saying it was one particularly bad hangover seven years ago that made him realise he had to grow up for the sake of his kids.

And grow up he has. After the band split in 1994, Jordan went off to pursue a successful solo career, before reuniting with NKOTB – brother Jonathan Knight and pals Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood – in 2007.

Now they’re back with their sixth studio album, 10. And boy it’s a corker.

Here, speaking exclusively to OK! from his home in Boston, Jordan offers his advice to Justin Bieber on avoiding the pitfalls of fame, reveals how bandmate Donnie is stopping NKOTB from coming back to the UK and the line of questioning that made the ‘prudish American’ singer choke on his water midway through our interview…

Did you ever think starting out in 1984 that you’d be here, with such a huge fan base, almost 30 years later?

No, actually, I didn’t. I kept things open and I thought, anything is possible, but I didn’t force-feed it. For a couple of years before we reunited, of course I envisioned it, we all did. But 20 years ago I didn’t think we’d still be doing this in our forties. It’s more of a fun, joyful experience now. It’s not as crazy as it was before.

You were 14 when you joined the group – do you have any words of wisdom for Justin Bieber? He’s had a tough time recently…

I think Bieber’s doing the right thing. Don’t take any junk from nobody! [Laughs] No, I think lately Justin’s had a bad time of it. But nobody really sees what the guys are saying to him before he lashes out at them. The paparazzi say really mean, cruel things to you so they get that reaction. He’s young, he doesn’t know like, maybe I shouldn’t take the bait on this one.

Read the full interview at OK.co.uk.

New Kids on the Block reunited for a brand new album in 2008, their first in 14 years. The Block hit number 2 in the US and reintroduced the group onto the music scene.

On the back of its success New Kids on the Block teamed up with Backstreet Boys for a world tour which saw them perform in the UK after a long absence. Five years after The Block the group is ready to release brand new album 10.

We caught up with Jordan Knight from the group to talk about 10, find out more about new single Remix (I Like The) and to find out when New Kids on the Block will be back in the UK.

The last time we spoke to you were preparing to come across to the UK with the Backstreet Boys for the NKOTBSB tour. New Kids on the Block are about to release their new album 10. Tell us all about it.

We’re only collaborating amongst ourselves on this record. The last album, The Block, was released on Interscope records and we collaborated with a lot of music artists that were on that label at the time. It was collaboration heavy so this time around we have just stuck together and we’re doing it all by ourselves. With this album there’s definitely more of a deeper musicality and more introspective songs. There’s less ‘let’s go out, have a drink, party and dance’ to it. It’s more introspective on relationships and things like that.

The feel of the album is very different to The Block. Whereas that album felt more R&B-influenced, 10 feels more pop and closer to the music you’re known for. Was that a conscious shift?

Yes. The Block was more like that. We felt that we needed to take it back home and do some big pop songs; really sing from the heart with some good ballads and pop songs for the girls.

The focus of 10 really is on the vocals and those harmonies are tight…

It’s definitely more vocal conscious. When you have a song with a beat it’s more about the rhythm and attitude and less about how well you execute the notes. This time we had to really execute the notes to stand out against the bed of the beautiful music. We spent a lot more time on the vocals making sure they were sounding really good.

Read the full interview at Entertainment-Focus.com.