Nick Carter
Nickolas Gene Carter is an American singer and a lead vocalist of the vocal group Backstreet Boys. As of 2025, he has released four solo albums, Now or Never , I'm Taking Off, All American and Love Life Tragedy all during breaks between Backstreet Boys schedules, and a collaboration with Jordan Knight titled Nick & Knight. He has made occasional television appearances and starred in his own reality shows, House of Carters and I Nick Carter.
Early life
Carter was born in Jamestown, New York, where his parents, Jane Eleonora Schneck and Robert Carter, owned a bar called the Yankee Rebel in Westfield, New York. His ancestry is primarily North and West European. Several years later, when Carter was four, the family moved to Ruskin, Florida, near Tampa, and managed the Garden Villa Retirement Home, where they added to the family.Carter's siblings include Leslie Carter, Aaron Carter, Angel Carter, and Bobbie Jean Carter. He stated in the Fall 1999 issue of the teen magazine J-14 that "...I have lots of siblings. My dad, who's an only child, got all the attention , but he had to make friends. I could make friends, but I always knew I had someone to play with and hang out with."
Career
Growing up, Carter began his acting and singing career at a young age when his mother heard him outside and enrolled him in voice lessons with a voice teacher named Marianne Prinkey. She later got him dance lessons in ballet, tap, and hip hop at Karl and DiMarco's School of Theatre and Dance when he was 10. Carter performed in several commercials, talent shows, and the Florida State Fair. He auditioned for several acting roles in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and performed around Tampa Bay, Florida. According to Carter, he played the lead role in the fourth-grade production of Phantom of the Opera at Miles Elementary School. He also did an educational video called Reach for a Book, a show called The Klub and performed at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers home games for two years. He also made a brief appearance in the 1990 Tim Burton film Edward Scissorhands as a child playing on a Slip 'N Slide. He stated, "It would be going too far to say I was actually in Edward Scissorhands because I was so far in the background that you can't tell it's me. It would be better to say I was on the set of the film... I was in the scene when Edward looks out of a window to the neighborhood. For a split second, he sees some kids playing - one of them was me. I was sliding on a yellow piece of plastic we used to call a Slip n' Slide. They were long flat sheets with water coming out of holes and were popular with kids at the time. I had to slide on one in the background of a shot. It was great fun being on the set but it was really cold and they made us do it a lot of times".One of his dance teachers, Sandy, placed him in his first group, Nick and the Angels. Between 1989 and 1993, Carter recorded various popular songs, including "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" and "Uptown Girl" and a few original songs that he would perform at events. These recordings appeared on an unofficial release called Before the Backstreet Boys 1989–1993 by Dynamic Discs, Inc., released in October 2002. It was revealed that through several auditions, Carter met AJ McLean and Howie Dorough and they became friends. At age 12, he put in a winning performance on the 1992 New Original Amateur Hour.
Carter has stated that he endured a difficult childhood in a turbulent, high-conflict home. He has added that he was bullied and beaten up during junior high school. Due to the unpleasant experiences he had in school, he left school and was homeschooled instead.
Backstreet Boys
At 12 years old, Carter auditioned for Disney's The Mickey Mouse Club and the Backstreet Boys. He was asked to join the group and was given the choice of either joining The Mickey Mouse Club with a $50,000 contract or this new music group. Carter chose to join the group rather than the Mickey Mouse Club. After he joined the group, he had his own personal tutor on tour with him. In 2013 or 2014, Carter received his GED as shown on I Heart Nick Carter. On April 20, 1993, when he was 13 years old, Carter formed the vocal group the Backstreet Boys along with AJ McLean, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, and Kevin Richardson. Carter is the group's youngest member. The Backstreet Boys have recorded several albums, beginning in the mid-1990s, the latest being 2019's DNA. In March 2016, the group announced that they would begin an exclusive headlining residency at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas called Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life. By October 14, 2022, their first-holiday album A Very Backstreet Christmas was released.Solo career
In 2002, when the Backstreet Boys expressed a strong desire to leave their management company, The Firm, Carter was the first member of the group to choose to remain with them, managing his solo career and working on a solo album. Around then, Carter began writing songs and recording during his downtime, when Jive asked him to create a solo album. As the group began recording their new album without him, he started working on his first solo album. In September 2002, Carter released the first single from his solo album, "Help Me" which did well on radio countdowns landing at #1 on various stations including New York City's Z100 and achieved considerable worldwide success while the other single, "I Got You" was a minor hit in Europe. On October 29, 2002, his first solo album Now Or Never was released and sold over 500,000 copies in the first week. It reached No. 17 on the Billboard 200 charts and was certified gold, both in the United States and Canada. The album also charted in many countries. He also launched a worldwide tour in support of the album. He was No. 9 of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in 2000 and was voted by readers of the teen magazine Cosmogirls "Sexiest Man in the World" in their October 2002 issue, beating out such competition as actor Brad Pitt and rival pop star Justin Timberlake for the title, launching a media-hyped "rivalry" between Timberlake and Carter, culminating in an amicable 2009 meeting off-camera on the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon where Carter defeated Timberlake in an arm-wrestling match. He was also featured on the cover of the magazine.Carter went on tour in early 2003, where he performed at smaller venues, such as clubs, which were much smaller than the ones he had been used to with the Backstreet Boys. That same year, Carter started working on his second solo album, which was put on hold when the Backstreet Boys returned to the studio to record a new album in 2004. 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 Carter, Matthew Gerrard, and Bridget Louise Benenate. It would be eight years before Carter finally focused on another solo album. Carter began working on the album in 2008, but most of the recording for his second solo album, "I'm Taking Off," took place during downtime between Backstreet Boys touring in 2010. "I'm Taking Off" was first released in Japan on February 2, 2011, and later released in the U.S. on May 24, 2011, exclusively on iTunes. The album was later released in other countries on different dates. It was Carter's first solo album without the help of a major label. He co-wrote every song released except for a bonus track in Japan. In Germany, the album was released by Glor, Canada 305 Records, and in Japan, AMEX.
Carter recorded a duet with pop singer Jennifer Paige called "Beautiful Lie" in 2009. In 2010, Carter started recording new songs for his second solo album, working with Rami Yacoub, Carl Falk, Toby Gad, Josh Hoge, and 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, Carter's second solo album reached No. 8 in Japan, selling over 20,000 copies.
In January 2014, Carter recorded a duet album with Jordan Knight from fellow boy band New Kids on the Block. They both worked on a duet album, titled Nick & Knight, which debuted at #24 on the US Billboard 200 and #14 in Canada. The tour to support the album ran from September to November 2014. They announced their album and tour on April 30 on "Good Morning America." The self-titled album was released on September 2, 2014. Fans were able to get a taste of the album when they pre-ordered it by receiving a download of the song "Just the Two of Us." The first single, "One More Time," was released on July 15, 2014. The album features a few tracks written by Carter and Jordan.
In 2015, Carter announced he would be working on a third solo album for release later that year. The album was called All American and was released digitally on November 25 via iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play. The CD release was delayed until February 2016 and was released in Japan that same month. He worked with Dan Muckala, Natasha Bedingfield, and others for most of the album. This album would see Carter returning to a pop/rock sound, similar to "Now or Never". Some tracks on the album also evoke the sound of the 1950s and 1960s. The first single from his new album, entitled "I Will Wait", was released on Vevo on October 1, 2015, and is an acoustic ballad. The new CD All American, was released on November 25, 2015. In support of the album, Carter toured in February and March 2016. Canadian pop/rock singer Avril Lavigne is also featured on Carter's album. She sings with him in the song "Get Over Me."
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Carter announced that he would be releasing new solo projects.
Two months after Aaron's death, Carter honored his brother with a new single, "Hurts To Love You," and the music video featured images of Aaron, including photos and home movies. Some of the lyrics to the song include, "It hurts to love you but I love you still/ Miss you with all my heart, you know I always will." On August 18, Carter released a new single, Superman, dedicating it to his family after everything they had been through with Aaron's death as well as how his sister Angel got involved with the foundation On Our Sleeves. This foundation works to help children facing mental and emotional health struggles. In conjunction with On Our Sleeves, Nick held an event honoring Aaron at a benefit concert in January.
In July 2023, Carter announced he would embark on his first solo tour in almost a decade. The Who I Am World Tour was a more personal show for fans to discover Carter's story of his many early musical influences before joining the Backstreet Boys. It would feature Carter performing music from his solo albums, Backstreet Boys songs, & covers of songs from the 1980s. The tour kicked off October 4, 2023 in Lexington, KY for an initial 14-city run across North America. It later expanded with Carter traveling to Latin America, Europe, Asia, and a second leg of North America.
Carter released two new singles, Made for Us and Never Break My Heart in 2024.
On July 17, Carter released a single from his album Searchlight.