Nick Carter (musician)

For the hip-hop artist with the same birth name, see Murs (rapper).

Nick Carter
Carter in June 2011
Background information
Birth name	Nickolas Gene Carter
Born	January 28, 1980 (1980-01-28) Jamestown, New York, U.S.
Genres	Pop, pop rock, R&B
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actor, dancer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, drum kit
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Jive 604 Records (Canada)
Associated acts	Backstreet Boys, Aaron Carter, Leslie Carter, Justin Timberlake, Jennifer Paige, Hilary Duff
Website	NickCarter.net

Nickolas Gene "Nick" Carter (born January 28, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, musician, entertainer and actor. He is best known as a member of the pop group Backstreet Boys. He went on to release a solo album called Now Or Never during their hiatus. He has made occasional television appearances and starred in his own reality show, House of Carters. He gained fame in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a teen idol. He is also the older brother of singer Aaron Carter.

Early life and family

Carter was born in Jamestown, New York, where his parents, Jane Elizabeth (née Spaulding) and Robert Gene Carter,. owned a bar called the Yankee Rebel. Several years later, the family moved to Ruskin, Florida and managed a retirement home, Garden Villa Retirement Home, where they added his younger siblings to their family. His siblings are B.J. (Bobbie Jean); Leslie Carter Ashton (June 6, 1986 - January 31, 2012); and twins Aaron Carter and Angel Carter (born December 7, 1987). Robert G. Carter has a daughter, Virginia Carter (born 1972), from a previous marriage. Carter's parents divorced in 2003. His father remarried to Ginger R. Elrod (born December 5, 1974) in 2004, and had a son, Kaden Brent Carter, in June 2005.

In 2003, Aaron alleged that his mother, Jane, had removed more than $100,000 from his bank account without permission. In 2004, Jane Carter was arrested and charged with battery for assaulting her ex-husband's girlfriend (whom he later married), Ginger Elrod.

Career

Early years

Carter began auditioning for acting roles in the early 1990s, and appeared in many commercials. He later made a tiny background appearance in the 1990 Johnny Depp film Edward Scissorhands, as a kid playing on a slip and slide. Nick covered a number of songs made popular by other artists in the late 1980s including "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.

Backstreet Boys

Main article: Backstreet Boys

Carter, A.J. McLean, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, and Kevin Richardson formed the pop group Backstreet Boys, with Carter, at 12, the youngest member. The group recorded several albums, beginning in the mid-1990s, went on hiatus, and regrouped in 2003, releasing albums as late as 2009's This Is Us.

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,^{[citation needed]} beating out rival pop star Justin Timberlake for the title, launching a media-hyped "rivalry" between Timberlake and Carter.

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 television series 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, working with Rami Yacoub, Carl Falk, Toby Gad, Josh Hoge, Claude Kelly, among many others. Carter's new album titled I'm Taking Off, was released on February 2, 2011 in Japan, in Germany on June 3, 2011 and in the USA via iTunes on May 24. As of June 2011, Nick's second solo album reached #8 in Japan, selling over 20,000 copies.

Acting career

In October 2004, Carter starred as local bully Brody in the ABC Family Halloween special, The Hollow, opposite Kevin Zegers.

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.

He 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 was released as direct-to-video movie in 2010.

Personal life

Arrests

In January 2002, Carter was arrested at a Florida nightclub after refusing to leave at the request of police officers after a fight broke out. In February 2002, he agreed to enter a counseling program and do community service.

In March 2005, Carter was arrested in Huntington Beach, California for drunk driving.

A mugshot taken after Carter's arrest.

Health problems

Carter has acknowledged ongoing struggles with drugs and alcohol abuse. He says that he became sober after being diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and realized that he could die if he did not make major lifestyle changes. The singer credits a healthy lifestyle with helping turn his life around, saying "Working out definitely helped my self esteem, and it helped to kind of push it all aside. I just started replacing drinking and the parties...with healthier things like sports, video games."

On November 2, 2009, Carter appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to speak about his past on drugs and alcohol addictions.^{[citation needed]}

Humanitarian work

Carter was announced as the new United Nations Special Ambassador for the Year of the Dolphin (YoD) on May 17, 2007 representing the United Nations Environment Programme, the Convention on Migratory Species, and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. He was to record a new song and video with all proceeds going to this project, make a public service announcement and appear at local schools. Carter has stated that he has a passion for the environment and its oceans. He has worked with the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and the Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN). He also has lobbied for these causes at Capitol Hill.

Discography

See also: Backstreet Boys discography and Nick Carter discography

Main article:

• Now or Never (2002)
• I'm Taking Off (2011)

Filmography

TV series & Movies
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1998	Sabrina The Teenage Witch	Himself	Episode: "Battle of the bands"
1999	Saturday Night Live	Himself and Musical guest	performed with Backstreet Boys
2002	American Dreams	Jay Black	Episode: "Soldier Boy"
2002	Arthur	Himself	Episode: "Arthur's its only rock and roll" Guest Voice
2002	All That	Himself	Sketch Performance
2002	Sesame Street	Himself	appeared with Aaron Carter
2003	8 Simple Rules	Ben Hatcher	Season 1: Episodes 17 and 18
2003	Punked	Himself	Season 2
2004	The Hollow	Brody	ABC TV Movie
2006	House of Carters	Himself	Reality show
2010	Kill Speed	Foreman	direct-to-video
2010	The Pendant[citation needed]	Barrett	Actor and director

External links

• Official Backstreet Boys website
• Official website
• Nick Carter on Twitter
• Nick Carter on Myspace
• Nick Carter at the Internet Movie Database