Donnie Wahlberg

Donnie Wahlberg spent a decade as the black sheep of the squeaky-clean and wholesome New Kids on the Block. When the group disbanded in the mid-'90s, he kept a hand in the music business by writing and producing the work of others, including brother Marky Mark and former New Kids Joey McIntyre and Jordan Knight. He also began an acting career, delivering memorable performances in Ransom and The Sixth Sense and lining up work in the Steven Spielberg production Band of Brothers. Wahlberg, whose full name is Donald Edmond Wahlberg Jr., is one of nine children in a family from Dorchester, MA. He became a member of Risk, a local group, at the age of ten, and later joined the Kool Aid Bunch. When he was 13 years old, his father left and Wahlberg shouldered the responsibility of taking care of his large family. He and his wife, Kim Fey, wed in 1999. The couple has one son, Xavier Alexander. ~ Linda Seida, All Music Guide