Looking". He also was in a lot of talent shows, one where he sang a duet with a female classmate and played in a band where he was on the drums and another where he sang a song he wrote with Keith called As Time Goes By. His father Jerald Wayne Richardson died on August 26, 1991, after a two-year battle with cancer, when Kevin was 19. Career Early career After graduating high school in 1989, Richardson spent the summer working at a Pizza Hut and tobacco farms, while helping out at the cathedral domain and was torn between entering the Air Force to join the Air Force band, or following the lure of performing by attending the New York American Music and Dramatic Academy in Manhattan. With encouragement from his father in 1990, Richardson quit his job, packed up and drove to Orlando, Florida with his best friend Jimmy, where he got a job as a cast member and performer at Walt Disney World. He played various characters, including Aladdin, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Prince Eric, Tigger, and Sebastian the Crab in the Little Mermaid show. He was also a backstage tour guide at MGM studios. At night, he did dinner theater, playing an Italian gangster in a musical review performing various songs from the musical "Chicago," "Guys and Dolls," and "Cabaret." In June 1991, Richardson got a call from his mother, telling him that his father had taken a turn for the worse with his colon cancer. Richardson's father was diagnosed in October 1990, but his family did not tell Richardson so that he would not worry. After the phone call, Richardson moved back home to Kentucky and stayed with his family. On August 26, 1991, Richardson's father died. Richardson stayed in Kentucky for almost a year, then after encouragement from his mother, he went back to Florida to follow his dreams of a music career. He continued to work at Disney while also earning a living as a model, writing music, performing in dinner clubs, teaching ballroom dancing as a certified Latin and ballroom dance instructor, and was an extra for the film "My Girl." In Florida, He got a job with a friend who had written a musical, he gave him a part and helped him get back on his feet again. Backstreet Boys In March 1993, Richardson was going to auditions at