Howie Dorough’s – Howie Dorough has released his first solo track written and sung entirely in Spanish, “Coquí,” inspired by Puerto Rico’s coquí frogs and created as a tribute to his mother, Paula, who is 92. Balancing Backstreet Boys’ Sphere residency with his own Latin-leanin
For Howie Dorough, the biggest audience for his new song wasn’t the charts—it was the woman waiting at home.
Dorough, a 52-year-old member of the Backstreet Boys, has released a solo single called “Coquí,” his first-ever track that he both wrote and sang completely in Spanish. The timing, he says, isn’t random. He’s chasing something personal: making his mother proud while he still can.
“I want to make my mother proud because God bless her, she’s 92 years old,” Dorough said. “I’ve been wanting to do this not only for her, but also for my kids. I want to continue on the culture for them, and for them to embrace their Latin side.”
He shared two sons with his wife Leigh—ages 17 and 13. Dorough was raised in Florida, and while his mother is from Puerto Rico and his father is of Irish and Scottish descent, she didn’t encourage him to learn Spanish when he was growing up.
In the Orlando area, Dorough remembers being the only half-Latin family in his neighborhood. He later learned Spanish, so fluently that he began dreaming in Spanish—an early sign that the language was taking root, even before his music career ever gave him the chance to fully honor it.
Language, culture, and a detour into pop
Dorough’s language professors encouraged him to move in with a family in Mexico so he could keep learning Spanish. He said the plan never fully held, because “life had other plans.”
He pointed to the moment the Backstreet Boys pulled him back in—“This little sidetrack thing started happening with this group called the Backstreet Boys,” he joked—adding that the band “had waited for me to at least finish two years of college.”
Still, he says he never stopped pushing the idea that the group should sing in Spanish. “I always even encouraged the group back in the early years: ‘Let’s do some of our songs in Spanish.’”
That encouragement later became real. The Backstreet Boys recorded two 1990s hits—“I’ll Never Break Your Heart” and “Anywhere for You”—in Spanish. Dorough said the first track, “I’ll Never Break Your Heart,” cracked the top 10 on Spain’s radio airplay chart.
But for Dorough, “Coquí” is different. He called it a bigger ask to do something completely in Spanish, and he framed it as a question of readiness.
“I knew it was a bigger request to ask the guys to do something completely in Spanish,” he said. “It was more about when’s the right timing for me to do something in Spanish, and now is the time.”
A frog from Puerto Rico became the song’s heartbeat
The inspiration for “Coquí” came from a sound Dorough says he carried with him after visiting Puerto Rico. He described noticing that the island felt familiar in more ways than one—sometimes through music or cuisine, and sometimes through a specific sound that didn’t come from an instrument.
It was the coquí frog, a native amphibian named after the sound two of its species make at night.
Dorough said he fondly remembers hearing the coquí alongside the ocean breeze. He calls his single—named for the frog—a tribute to Puerto Rico, and he’s also teasing a future album that he says will be mostly in Spanish, with some “Spanglish” mixed in.
When “Coquí” finally landed for his mother, it hit harder than he expected.
He said Paula cried when she heard the songs. He described the moment as the kind of reaction that brought him to tears too.
“I realized that was one of the points in my life that I’ve done something that’s going to stick with me forever, even when she’s not here anymore,” he said. “That memory of how proud I made her is just something every son would want from their mother.”
The emotional payoff is clear: a language learned over time, a culture he says he’s determined to pass on, and a song that turns family memory into something you can play.
His solo project runs alongside the Backstreet Boys’ biggest chapter yet
Dorough says he’s still balancing his solo work with his role in the Backstreet Boys. In 2025. after the band announced its residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Kevin Richardson told the outlet that the group aimed to be “the Rolling Stones of pop.” Dorough performs with Richardson. Nick Carter. AJ McLean. and Brian Littrell—and he said he hopes that kind of longevity is within reach.
“It would be amazing if we could even get anywhere close to that,” he said. “I have always said Rolling Stones, the Eagles, I think they have just done such a great job of sustaining a long career.”
The group will continue its run at the Sphere in July and August. In the fall, the Backstreet Boys will head to Germany—the first country where the group saw success. They’re set to headline a string of 10 sold-out stadium dates in Germany.
Despite the schedule, Dorough said he feels “blessed” to pursue other projects outside the band, even after three decades with the group.
“We just communicate with each other,” he said. “And we don’t stifle each other’s creativity, whether it’s within the group or whether it’s outside of the group.”
For Dorough, “Coquí” is more than a new single. It’s a personal milestone timed to a moment with his mother and a promise he wants to carry forward for his sons—one Spanish line at a time, until the culture feels like home.
Howie Dorough Backstreet Boys Coquí Spanish song Puerto Rico coquí frog Paula Dorough Sphere Las Vegas residency Latin music pop career