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) (age 31)
Origin	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	Sony BMG/Jive Records 604 Records (Canada)
Associated acts	Backstreet Boys, Aaron 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. As a solo artist he sold over 1 million records worldwide. His first album Now or Never sold more than 600,000 copies worldwide. He gained fame in the late 90s 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,^[1] where his parents, Jane Elizabeth (née Spaulding) and Robert Gene Carter, owned a bar called the Yankee Rebel.^[2] 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.^[3] His siblings are Bobbie Jean Carter (born January 12, 1982); Leslie Barbara Carter (born June 6, 1986); and twins Aaron Carter and Angel Charisma Carter (born December 7, 1987). Carter also has an older half-sister, Virginia Marie Carter (born October 16, 1972) from his father's first marriage, a half-brother Kaden Brent Carter (born June 7, 2005), and a stepsister, Taelyn Carter from his father's third marriage. His parents divorced in 2003 and his father remarried in 2004 to Ginger Elrod.^[2][4]

The family has had a number of fractions over the years. 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.^[5]

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. It is said that through several auditions, Nick met AJ McLean and Howie Dorough and they became friends.

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 performing 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. According to Carter, the band is in talks to put together a new album.^[6]

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, launching a media-hyped "rivalry" between Timberlake and Carter. Carter holds the record for the most In Style Magazine 'Sexiest Male Musician' titles, with five, winning in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2008. Rival Justin Timberlake has won the award twice, often landing in 2nd place behind Carter. In 2009, Carter beat Timberlake in an armwrestling match when both were guests on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.^[7] By the end of the tour, Nick's first solo album sold over 600,000 copies worldwide.

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.^[7]

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.^[8]

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.^[9]

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.^[10] It was originally scheduled for release in 2008, but was released as direct-to-video movie in 2010. 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.

Personal life

Arrests

Carter's mug shot. Taken on Huntington Beach City Jail in 2005.

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.^[2]

In March 2005, Carter was arrested in Huntington Beach, California for drunk driving.^[2]

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.^[11] The singer credits a healthy lifestyle with helping turn his life around.

"Working out definitely helped my self esteem, and it to kind of push it aside," he says. "I just started replacing drinking and the parties...with healthier things like sports, video games."^[12]

On November 2, 2009 Nick made an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to speak about his past on drugs and alcohol addictions.

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.^[13] 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.^[14]

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
1990	Judgment	Unknown	uncredited
1990	Edward Scissorhands	Neighborhood extra	uncredited
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	Barrett	Actor and director

References

1. ^ Netter, Matt (January 1999). Backstreet Boys * Aaron Carter. New York: Pocket Books. p. 38. ISBN 0-671-03539-8. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} 'Nick Carter Gets Buff'.
3. ^ Netter, Matt (January 1999). Backstreet Boys * Aaron Carter. New York: Pocket Books. p. 8. ISBN 0-671-03539-8. 
4. ^ 'Bob Carter Marries Ginger Elrod'
5. ^ 'Aaron Carter's Father: 'I Feel Hurt and Betrayed"'
6. ^ http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/interview-nick-carter-07-07-2011
7. ^ ^{a b} [1]
8. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367854/
9. ^ "ShowBuzz". Nick And Aaron Carter Get Real. 2006-07-12. http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/12/tv_realty_tv/main1798485.shtml. Retrieved July 13, 2006. 
10. ^ Nick Carter Fast Glass
11. ^ Nick Carter: Alcohol and Drugs Almost Killed Me People.com, February 5, 2009
12. ^ http://www.usmagazine.com/news/nick-carter-opens-up-about-excessive-drug-alcohol-abuse
13. ^ Nick Carter charity work
14. ^ [2]

External links

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

Persondata
Name	Carter, Nick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1980-01-28
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death