September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. Additional people died of 9/11-related cancer and respiratory diseases in the months and years following the attacks.
Backstreet Boys
Shortly after returning to the Black and Blue Tour, the group faced a harrowing loss with the occurrence of the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks. On the night of September 10, the band had completed a sold-out show in Boston, Massachusetts and the following morning Littrell's wife Leighanne had planned on catching a flight back to Los Angeles aboard American Airlines Flight 11, along with set carpenter Daniel Lee, who was returning home to Los Angeles to see his wife, who was due to give birth to their second child. That night, however, Leighanne cancelled her flight after deciding to spend more time with her husband. Tragically, Lee was among 92 people killed when the hijacked plane was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The next day, during a concert on the next leg of their tour in Toronto, Littrell gave a brief speech on Lee and led the audience in a brief moment of silence for Lee and all the victims of the attacks.