''Disney Channel in Concert'' is a reality series that combined footage of live concerts with a behind-the-scenes look at the artists' personal lives. The artists came from all genres of music, including hip-hop, country and pop to classical and blues. Episodes often promoted the artist's sales and popularity to a teen and pre-teen audience. The series ran from early 1997 to late 2001.

Background

Each show featured a specially taped live concert, with documentary footage playing between songs showing the artist pursuing personal and professional passions, and interviews with mentors, friends and family. Though specials were usually taped at Disney parks or properties like

Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. Based on a concept by Marty Sklar, Randy Br ...

or aboard the Disney cruise ship Disney Magic, the

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson (musician), Kevin Richardson. The band formed in 1993 in Orlando, Flori ...

concert was filmed at the

New Amsterdam Theatre The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 214 West 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street, at the southern end of Times Square, in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Manhattan in New York City, New Yor ...

in New York City and the

98 Degrees 98 Degrees (stylized as 98°) is an American vocal group consisting of brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons, and Justin Jeffre. Their first Christmas album '' This Christmas'' has sold over two million copies and is widely recognized ...

and Hoku episode was filmed in the artists' respective hometowns of Cincinnati and Honolulu. The concert specials typically lasted an hour and aired on Fridays, with reruns being shown after it aired on the network frequently. The promotional content for these concerts were hosted in a program called "Behind the Ears" hosted by RuDee Sade Lipscomb. The episode with

NSYNC NSYNC ( ; also stylized as *NSYNC or N Sync) was an American vocal group and pop boy band formed by Chris Kirkpatrick in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich. The group consists of Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez, ...

notably launched the group's career in the U.S.; they were mostly known by European audiences before the concert special. A month prior to the airing of the concert, the group's debut album sat at number 82 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. The concert was replayed on the Disney Channel multiple times, leading album sales to skyrocket. Three weeks after the concert first aired, the album reached the number 9 spot.

Cancellation

Disney Channel took ''In Concert'' off the air in late 2001, as well as with music videos, citing the inability to receive a stake in revenue from the artists' CD sales and lack of exclusivity for the videos However, they still aired music videos from songs featured in Disney's feature films and from artists played on

Radio Disney Radio Disney was an American radio network operated by the Disney Radio Networks unit of Disney Branded Television within Disney General Entertainment Content, headquartered in Burbank, California. The network broadcast music programming ...

and signed to Disney's in-house record companies

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...

and

Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from the Walt Disney Company's Walt Disney Studios (division), motion picture studios, television shows, Disney Experiences, them ...

List of concert specials

LeAnn Rimes Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She originally rose to success as a country music artist at the age of 13 and has since crossed over into pop, contemporary Christian, and o ...

in Concert (1997) *Disney's Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra in Concert (1992-1997) (Mickey Mouse) *

Ray J William Ray Norwood Jr. (born January 17, 1981), known professionally as Ray J, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, television presenter, and actor. Born in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Carson, California, he is the younger brother o ...

in Concert with

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...

(1997) * Jonny Lang in Concert (1997) *

in Concert (1998) *

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

in Concert (1998) *Holidays in Concert (1998) (

Shawn Colvin Shawn Colvin (born Shawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 1997 Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home". Early life Colvin was born Shawna Lee Colvin in Vermillion, South Dakota, and ...

, and

Tatyana Ali Tatyana Marisol Ali (born January 24, 1979) is an American actress and singer best known for her role as Ashley Banks on the NBC sitcom '' The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' from 1990 to 1996. She starred as Tyana Jones on the TV One original ser ...

) *

B*Witched B*Witched are an Irish girl group consisting of twin sisters Edele and Keavy Lynch, Lindsay Armaou and Sinéad O'Carroll. Originally active between 1997 and 2002, they enjoyed success in both Europe and North America between 1998 and 2002 ...

and Five in concert (1998) *

in Concert (1999) *

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

and

Joey McIntyre Joseph Mulrey McIntyre (born December 31, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He is best known as the youngest member of the boy band New Kids on the Block. He has sold over one million records worldwide as a solo artist and work ...

in Concert (1999) *

Youngstown Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

and Steps in Concert (2000) *

BBMak BBMak are a British band consisting of Mark Barry, Christian Burns and Stephen McNally (musician), Stephen McNally. Formed in Liverpool in 1996, they sold over three million albums worldwide between 1999 and 2003. The band first achieved success ...

& M2M in Concert (2000) *

Jessica Simpson Jessica Ann Johnson (née Simpson; born July 10, 1980) is an American singer, actress, and fashion designer. After performing in church choirs as a child, Simpson signed with Columbia Records in 1997, aged seventeen. Her debut studio album, '' ...

& Jason Raize in Concert (2000) *

& Hoku in Concert (2000) *

Aaron Carter Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of th ...

& Samantha Mumba in Concert (2001){{Cite web , date=2 July 2001 , title=Aaron Carter's Oh Aaron In Stores August 7 , url=https://idobi.com/news/aaron-carters-oh-aaron-in-stores-august-7/ , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515020200/https://idobi.com/news/aaron-carters-oh-aaron-in-stores-august-7/ , archive-date=2021-05-15 , access-date=2021-07-29 , website=idobi , language=en-US

References

Disney Channel original programming 1990s American music television series 2000s American music television series 1997 American television series debuts 2001 American television series endings American English-language television shows