VALDOSTA — “They don’t even know what it is to be a fan. You know? To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts.”

            — Sapphire in the movie “Almost Famous”



VALDOSTA — Since music began, there have been fans of various artists throughout the years. From Mozart to The Beatles, Garth Brooks to the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley to Celine Dion, fans flock to concerts or symphonies to hear the music that made them fall in love with their favorite performers.

For Jennifer Lepper of Lake Park, that group of performers is the Backstreet Boys.

Lepper was among the huge group of fans that saw the vocal group that has sold over 130 million records worldwide perform Saturday night at Wild Adventures for a sold-out show.

I met Lepper randomly last October at Wal-Mart as I was printing off photos that I took at a Backstreet Boys promotional concert in Charlotte, N.C. She saw the photos that I was printing out and told me she was a big fan.

That day led to an amazing evening in Valdosta Saturday evening.

Lepper, 31, was born in Germany and grew up in Florida. She moved to South Georgia in 1996 with her family and graduated that same year from  Echols County High School.

1996 was also the year that she became a Backstreet Boys fan.

“It was kind of by accident,” Lepper said. “In 1996, I heard ‘Quit Playing Games’ on the radio and I thought ‘that was a cute song.’ Then I saw the video, cute boys getting wet and I thought ‘I like’.”

But it was the group’s second official single of their first United States album, ‘Backstreet Boys,’ that made the former Mix 96 and Hot 102.7 DJ a die-hard fan.

“Then “As Long As You Love Me” came out and I had been picked on for years, since like third grade and it was one of those things, I always said it doesn’t matter what you look like, it’s who you are inside,” Lepper said.  “I tried to write songs and try to come up with some kind of song to express that and I never could.”

Then she heard “As Long As You Love Me.”

“I was like ‘Finally! Somebody put it into lyrics that I’ve been trying to do for so long’,” she said. “Then I saw the video and something spoke to me and said ‘This is going to be huge.’ I bought the album, an elusive first edition of the album that not many fans (have).”

Lepper, who was a fan of New Kids on the Block when she was younger, wanted to be a different type of fan with the Backstreet Boys. She became a fan of New Kids on the Block late in their career and didn’t get to experience being a big fan.

She wanted that to be different with her new favorite group.

“I started doing research. I was like, I’m not going to make it, so that I know who each guy is, their birthday, eye color and everything, but know who they are as individuals,” she said. “I wanted to know who they are, how they would respond in a situation and because I took that step, I’m still a fan. I don’t think if I had taken that step I would still be a fan.”

As a result, she has watched the group grow from a boy band made up of guys in their teens and early 20s to a mature vocal group, now in their 30s.

“Everything they’ve been through, I’ve been right there and I always felt like they were my best friends, doing what I wanted to do,” she said.

She even got the chance to meet her favorite Backstreet Boy, Howie Dorough, several years ago at a small concert that his sister, Pollyanna (also a singer) gave after the annual Orlando Easter parade.

She got the chance to meet Pollyanna after the show to sign her copy of a duet that the Backstreet sister had recorded with her brother.

“I asked Pollyanna if I could get a picture with her and Howie and she said sure,” Lepper said.

After telling Dorough that she was a DJ at the time at a local pop station and had just added the group’s latest single to rotation, she got a hug and a picture with the singer.

“The security guard let me get a picture with him,” she said. “I was the only fan to get a hug and a picture. Everyone else only got autographs and a brief moment to speak.”

To date she has seen the Backstreet Boys five or six times including trips to Orlando, Tampa and Phoenix, Ariz.

Now she can add Valdosta to that list.

Lepper sat third row center, thanks to a ticket that I gave her, for the Backstreet Boys show Saturday evening.

“I had so much fun,” Lepper said. “It would have been better if I went backstage and met them, but I still had a great time.”

During the show, Lepper was able to have a moment with her favorite Backstreet Boy, Howie Dorough.

Lepper, who is a huge advocate for Howie’s Dorough Lupus Foundation, brought several purple Lupus bracelets and was able to give one to Dorough.

“Howie taking a bracelet from me (was my favorite part),” Lepper said. “I was showing it to him and he kind of looked at me and I was like ‘It’s for you.’ I kind of looked at him and was like, ‘Can I come up?’ So I walked up there and he walked up to the edge of the stage and he took it for me. He kind of looked at me and was like ‘Cool!’ Then he walked over and sat down and looked at it and he realized what it was (a purple Lupus bracelet) and gave me a big smile. That made my day.”

When she’s not busy being a Backstreet Boys fan, Lepper is finishing her last semester at Valdosta Technical Institute as a nail technician.

“I’ve always had an interest in doing my fingertips and I always wanted to learn to do it the right way,” she said. “When I first started, I started with aesthetics and for some reason, I thought it had to deal with nails. I did (aesthetics) and (in) my last quarter, I found out they were bringing the nail tech program and I started that and I’m in my last quarter.”

While she doesn’t know if she wants to work for someone else or open her own nail salon, she does want to continue her education.

“I haven’t decided yet,” she said. “I think I’m going to take the quarter off. I think my next step is doing computers or business.”

For now, she’s busy being a single mother to her four-year-old daughter, Valora.

“She starts pre-K this year,” she said. “I’m not ready. She’s ready, but I’m not. I’m going to be a mess that day, I know.”