NEW YORK, July 25 (UPI) -- After a two-year layoff and the departure of member Kevin Richardson, the Backstreet Boys are prepping for their sixth U.S. album release.
The as-yet unnamed studio work will be issued by Jive Records, marking the boy band's 10th anniversary with the New York label that launched them to superstardom, E! News reported Wednesday.
Following the release of a greatest hits set in 2001, the members pursued side projects before returning to the charts with 2005's Never Gone, which sold about 750,000 copies in the United States and 3 million worldwide.
At 35, Richardson, the band's oldest member, announced in June 2006 he was leaving the group to pursue other interests. He has performed on Broadway and is composing the soundtrack to the animated film "The Spirit Bear," due next year.
The rest of Backstreet Boys -- Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter and A.J. McLean -- are performing as a quartet and say Richardson is welcomed back any time, E! News said.
The Backstreet Boys formed in the early '90s in Orlando, Fla., and competed with 'N Sync for the title of most popular boy band.
