Howie D Comes To Manila for Sarah

HOWIE D, the Backstreet Boys member who did a duet of “I’ll BeThere” with Sarah Geronimo, was born in Orlando, Florida on August 22, 1973. Standing 5’7", his full name is Howard Dwaine Dorough and is the fifth and youngest child of Hoke (Irish) and Paula (Puerto Rican) Dorough. His older siblings include Pollyanna who is also a singer, and Caroline Dorough-Cochran, who unfortunately passed away at the age of 38 in 1998. He’s known for his humanitarian efforts with the Dorough Lupus Foundation, created in honor of his late sister.

In 1992, at the age of 19, as Howie was struggling to find work as an actor, he kept running into two younger men on the audition circuit: Alexander James “A.J.” Mclean, and Nickolas Gene “Nick” Carter. The three young men came up with the idea to form a singing group, but decided that they needed at least one more member. It was through auditions that the boys found Kevin Scott Richardson, who would become the oldest member of the Backstreet Boys. Kevin made the suggestion of adding his cousin Brian Littrell to the group, as Brian himself was a phenomenal singer, and in 1993, the group known as the Backstreet Boys was born.

Howie is in town to shoot the music video of “I’ll Be There” with Sarah and promote the song in “ASAP” and the SM Mall of Asia this Sunday. He was presented by Viva Records to the press last Tuesday after he just came in from California.

He came with his wife, Leigh Boniello, a webmaster from N.J. She did their website in 2000, they became friends and went steady for six years before getting married last December. While here, they’ll visit Boracay. Howie has also tried acting and appeared in films like “Parenthood” and “Constellation”. On TV, he acted in “Roswell” and “Sabrina, The Teenage Witch”.

So how’s married life? “It’s been great,” says Howie. “We’re on an extended honeymoon.”

We asked Leigh what Howie’s most endearing traits are? “He’s such a sweet, kind person and a good husband,” she says. “He’s so family-oriented and has a very big heart. He has teamed up with his brother, John, to put up six condos and their first hotel, Country Inn Suites in Cape Canaveral on the waterfront of the east coast of Florida.”

We asked Howie how is it working with Sarah? “She’s great. It’s my first time to meet her as I recorded my part of our song in Orlando while she recorded hers here. I heard so much about her from Christian de Walden, producer of our song, and he’s right, she’s very talented. This is my first time to collaborate with a Filipino singer and I’m excited to sing with her in our show at the Mall of Asia this Sunday.”

And how does Sarah feel singing with Howie? “I’m honored and flattered that I’m the one chosen to sing with him kasi fan talaga ako ng Backstreet Boys, (because I'm really a fan of the Backstreet Boys)” she says. “Nagulat nga siya kasi (He was surprised because) I sang all their hit songs to him. They’ve sold 75 million records but despite their success, he’s very down to earth pa rin.”

Source: Journal Online