Nick Carter Biography

Nickolas Gene "Nick" Carter (born January 28, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, entertainer and actor. He is best known as one of the lead vocalists of the pop group, Backstreet Boys. He went on to release a solo album during their hiatus. He has made occasional television appearances and starred in his own reality show, House of Carters. He is also the older brother of singer Aaron Carter.

Early life

Carter is born in Jamestown, New York, the son of Jane E.(née Spaulding) and Robert Gene Carter. His siblings are Bobbie Jean Carter (born January 12, 1982), Leslie Barbara Carter (born June 6, 1986), and twins Aaron Charles Carter and Angel Charisma Carter (born December 7, 1987). Carter also has a half sister Virginia Marie Carter (born October 16, 1972), a half-brother, Kanden Brent Carter (born June 7, 2005, and a step-sister, Taelyn Carter, all from his father's side.

Several years later, the family moved to Apollo Beach, Florida and managed a retirement home where they added his younger siblings to their family. Carter began sisterauditioning for acting roles in the early 1990s, and appeared in many commercials. He later made a tiny background appearance in Edward Scissorhands as a kid playing on a slip and slide.

Early years

Nick covered a number of songs made popular by other artists in the late 1980s. These songs included "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do", "Uptown Girl" and "Hard to Get". Some of these early recordings were released in 2002 on the CD titled Before the Backstreet Boys 1989–1993 by Dyenamic Discs, Inc. It is said that through several auditions, Nick met AJ McLean and Howie Dorough and they became friends. Nick in High school had curtained hair which was very popular during the 90's.

Backstreet Boys

Nick Carter and his two friends started seeking a manager when they met Lou Pearlman. Pearlman held a casting call during which hundreds of performers started participating. Finally, A.J. Mclean, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, Kevin Richardson and Carter himself were selected. Nick started his career as the youngest member of the band at the young age of just twelve and has been perfroming with the group for more than fifteen years. They decided to name the band Backstreet Boys after Orlando's Backstreet flea market. They were then booked to perform at many venues such as high schools and shopping malls and eventually managed to sign a contract with Jive Records. The boys slowly became popular in European countries, starting with Germany. They embarked on a tour in support of their debult album. The album slowly climbed up to the top ten slots in most countries and was on its way to sell more than 8 million copies. They started recording their second studio album, Backstreet's Back. As Backstreet's Back was being released in Europe, they released their first album in the United States which was a compilation of both their international debut and Backstreet's Back. The album climbed up to #4 on the Billboard 200 and would eventually sell over 14 million shipments. Meanwhile, Backstreet's Back became an even bigger success than their debut opening at the number one spot in many countries. In 1997, they filed a lawsuit against Pearlman and Trans Continental and continued touring in 1998. They started Recording Millennium in 1998 and released it in May 1999. It became one of the biggest selling albums of all time taking the number one place in many countries. Their first single from Millennium's follow up album, Black & Blue, Shape Of My Heart was released to radio on October 3. Black and Blue recorded first week sales of 1.59 million copies in the US making the Backstreet Boys the first artists to back to back million-plus sales of albums. After releasing their greatest hits album they went on hiatus and regrouped in 2003. They released their next album, Never Gone in 2005. While it was negatively reviewed by critics it enjoyed a lot of commercial success. They released their next album, Unbreakable in 2007. They started the tour for their most recent album, This Is Us, in 2009 which has continued into 2010. All in all, they have become one of the biggest selling artists of all time with record sales exceeding 100 million copies.

Solo career

Carter attempted a career as a solo artist in 2002, when he released Now Or Never. The album reached #17 on Billboard 200 and was certified gold, both in the United States and Canada. The lead single, Help Me achieved considerable worldwide success while the other single, I Got You was a minor hit in Europe. The album made the charts in many countries as well. He also launched a worldwide tour in support of the album. He was named Cosmogirl Magazine's 'sexiest man in the world' in 2002, beating out rival pop star Justin Timberlake for the title.

Nick began work on his second solo album in 2003, but the recordings were aborted when the Backstreet Boys returned to the studio. One of the tracks from the earlier recording sessions was used as the theme song to the House of Carters in 2006. "Let It Go" was written by Nick Carter, Matthew Gerrard, and Bridget Louise Benenate.

Carter recorded a duet with pop singer Jennifer Paige called "Beautiful Lie" in 2009. In 2010, Nick Carter started recording new songs for his second solo album. He is currently working with Rami, Carl Falk, OneRepublic singer Ryan Tedder, Josh Hoge, Claude Kelly, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and many others. According to Carter's twitter account, the new album is scheduled to be released in February of next year. Carter has made a deal in Japan and Germany which would receive the album first. He is expected to choose the first single soon.

Acting career

Carter and his siblings starred in a reality television show, House of Carters, which premiered on October 2, 2006 on E!. The series features all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house, as well as feature in-depth moments of their ups and downs. The first season of HoC had 8 episodes, and Carter has since said the show will not seek another season.

He appeared opposite Kevin Zegers in the 2004 horror film, The Hollow, made two appearances on the TV show "8 Simple Rules", and also appeared on "American Dreams". In 2007 Carter filmed the independent movie Fast Glass with Brandon Quinn, Andrew Keegan, Natalia Cigliuti, Greg Grunberg, and Reno Wilson. It was originally scheduled for release in 2008, but now it appears to be languishing in development hell.

He has recently released his own project titled The Pendant, in which he played the male lead. He also wrote directed and produced the movie, which has been released on DVD available through Nick's website http://www.nickcarter.net.