When the going gets tough, Danny Wood gets going. After spending 11 years in what he calls “the highest paid internship in the world” as an original member of the much lauded and laughed-at New Kids on the Block, Wood has a lot to prove, and he knows it. Not that the Buff One has a chip on his shoulder, but he knows better than anyone how hard it is to bust out of the pigeonhole and get people to see him – and hear him — for who he is and not what he was.

Wood is doing exactly that with his Damage / Empire / BMG debut, Second Face, that will be in stores July 22 and includes 4 bonus tracks. The first single “When the Lights Go Out” turns on at Top 40, Pop and Hot AC radio formats, June 23. Losing his mother to cancer, winning a custody suit for his son, and fighting the creative frustration he felt as a New Kid were all catalysts for this cathartic, self-realizing collection of songs.

“The album is all stuff I want to talk about and get off my chest,” Wood reveals, but before anyone goes hunting for salacious Kid-bashing on Second Face, he says of the alumni from the Block, “We talk once in a while. It’s like brothers; there’s a lot of love there, but everyone has their own lives now.

“Money and fame affect people differently, and they grow differently,” he observes, “so for me, I was cool with the group being over. The thing that motivated me to do a solo record, I think, was different than what it was for some of the other guys. For me, it was a heavy period in my life, and it was almost like making this record was therapeutic. I feel like I’m on a mission, and I have a lot to prove. I’m an artist and what I’m doing deserves to be respected, so everything I do I approach that way – vocals, guitar, and especially the live performance. In order for this to be successful, I have to break that mold, especially with all the boy bands that followed after us.”

Rallying lifelong inspiration from Aerosmith, The Beatles, Elton John and other artists that really make rock roll (hint: the Boston native may have been a honey-voiced Kid on stage, on record, and on the Block, but his album collection told an entirely different story), Wood took the best elements of r&b, pop and alternative and made them his own, writing and producing Second Face with Pete Masitti (Hootie and the Blowfish, Panjea), and programming, playing guitar, and sequencing, as well. Additional musicians include guitarist Dan Warner (Gloria Estefan, Michael Bolton, Ricky Martin) drummer Lee Levin (Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Kelly Clarkson) and bassist Julio Hernandez (Julio Englesias, John Secada, Luis Miguel.)

As a longtime Boston producer (thanks to his “internship” in which he mastered all facets of the recording process and many nuances of the music business), and judging from high-profile musicians who contributed to Second Face, it would be easy to think that Wood is dialed into the South Beach music scene, but he points out, “Not really, I just found the best players and besides, ‘I’m O.F.D.,’ originally from Dorchester!”

Audio clips from 14 album tracks, as well as several videos are available for download at www.dannywood.com. The “Second Face Tour 2003″ is underway, gaining momentum as the summer progresses, with Wood (vocals, six and 12-string guitars), Andrew Synowiec (lead guitar), Jacin Nagao (guitar and vocals), Chris Monteleone (bass), and Paul Vottleler (drums).

A father of four (think his, hers and theirs), including Russian adoptee Chance, now five, gleefully swinging from daddy’s considerable bicep in press photos, Wood wrote “You’re Not Alone” as a reassurance to them as he takes Second Face on the road. He incorporates this and a selection of others songs into a mid-concert acoustic set, showing the diversity and range of material and musicianship, as well as kicking down the volume while heating up the emotions.

It’s a little known fact that Wood was approached to be an American Idol judge, but blew his chance based on his refusal to “humiliate people.” He may be tough, but heartless he ain’t.

While some may make music for the love of money, Wood made Second Face for his love of music, responding to detractors and skeptics, “Why do The Rolling Stones keep touring? They love music. I love music, and I got inspired through tough times. There’s definitely a part of it that’s money, but for me there’s no money right now. I have to go out there and prove and fight and battle through all that boyband bullshit. But the love of music – that’s why I’m doing it.”

Wood has shattered the mold, and with the first listen to Second Face, you’ll get it. Mission accomplished.