Who Wants to Be Tied to New Kids? Not Singer/Songwriter Tommy Page

“T his is the kinda stuff those guys were saying!,” snapped pop singer/songwriter Tommy Page, referring to the spiels radio deejays have used to introduce his hit single, “I’ll Be Your Everything”:

“And here’s Tommy Page and New Kids on the Block or here’s New Kids featuring Tommy Page or here’s New Kids and what’s-his-name.”

Though it’s really Page’s single, from this second Sire Records album “Pictures in My Mind,” New Kids members Jordan Knight, Danny Wood and Donny Wahlberg co-wrote and co-produced it, and also sang backing vocals and played some of the instruments.

With New Kids being one of the hottest acts in the business, featuring its members on a single just about guarantees a spot in the Top 10. Naturally, “I’ll Be Your Everything” got the royal radio treatment and wound up No. 1 on the pop chart.

“Enough already,” Page, 20, blurted out in the middle of lunch, frustration obviously mounting. “I want my own identity. I’m Tommy Page--not a New Kids clone. I didn’t beg them to work with me--they wanted to. “

His reaction might fall into the biting-the-hand-that-fed-you category. Realistically, though, without the New Kids tie-in, Page probably wouldn’t have hit No. 1 with “I’ll Be Your Everything.” He didn’t deny that.

“It was a good way of getting exposure and I thank them and I love those guys,” he said. “But I don’t want to be tied to them forever.”

That single isn’t Page’s only debt to New Kids. They selected him as an opening act on their tour last summer, which helped boost his credibility on the teen-idol circuit and pave the way for the success of this album.

“I’d like to think there’s enough fans out there who like me for me and not because of any association with New Kids,” he said. “I don’t like some of the things people have been saying. Who wants to be considered a puppet? I’m not used to riding on anyone’s coattails. From the start, I’ve made my own breaks.”

A native of tiny West Caldwell, N.J., Page was working as a coat-check boy in a New York dance club when he convinced the deejay to play his demo tape, which the dancers liked. A producer was impressed enough by one of the songs to bring him to Sire Records, which eventually signed him.

Released in late 1988, Page’s debut album did well enough to create a buzz on the teen-idol circuit, loud enough to be heard by New Kids, which gave him his first big break: hiring him for that opening-act spot.

But now, Page is so intent on creating his own identity that he’s opposed to releasing as his next single another New Kids collaboration, “Turn on the Radio”--arguably the album’s second best song, after “I’ll Be Your Everything.”

Instead, the follow-up single will be one of his own compositions, “When I Dream of You.” “It’s a better song than ‘Turn on the Radio,’ ” Page said smugly.