******Nick Carter was born in Jamestown, New York on January 28, 1980 to *Jane and Robert Carter. When Nick was four, the Carter family began to grow, *first with sister Bobby Jean (or B.J. as her family calls her) and later with Leslie *and then finally, fraternal twins Aaron and Angel. The oldest Carter kid was a *natural ham from the time he could walk, a quality his family attributed to the *fact that he was born in the same hospital as legendary comedienne Lucille *Ball. Dressed only in diapers, he'd amuse his family and customers at his dad's Yankee Rebel Lounge by 'bustin' a move.' His spunky personallity and love of attention kept his mom and dad really busy!
******By the time his family relocated to the Tampa Bay area of Florida, Nick was in 4th grade and had started to channel his excess energy into singing, dancing and even a little bit of acting! One of his very first roles was the lead in Phantom Of The Opera. Before long, his singing was winning him plenty of notice and cool jobs like his two-year stint singing during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' halftime show. Nick's vocal styling also won the New Original Amateur Hour in 1992--pretty cool for a kid barely in high school!
******By age 15, Nick had done a couple of commercials and was looking to commit to a larger project. That's why he happened upon A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough at the Nickelodeon studios one day. They were all auditioning for roles in a new cable TV series. None of the guys got the parts (although around this time Nick turned down a job with Disney), but this trio realized they'd found something special in each other. Eventually, Nick, Howie, and A.J. were joined by cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell and Backstreet Boys were born.
******Brian remembers his first impression of the blond-haired singer who was destined to become his best friend in the group. "The main thing I remember about Nick when I very first met him is how small he was," recalls Brian. "He was so energetic and full of life. I was like 'Wow!' I was totally bowled over, and then I heard his voice. Man, it was just so big for this little guy."
******This little guy with the big voice soon proved to be the biggest practical joker amoung the guys. In fact, Nick's pranks have become legendary. Who gave BSB's manager Donna the piece of gum that tasted like fish? Nick. Who stole all of A.J.'s clothes one night from his hotel room? Nick. Who was the first one to start a cake fight at a posh party? Nick! "I'm definitely the prankster of the group," says the blond one with a smirk. "I like to do anything I can think of to these guys."
******While all the other guys have pretty good senses of humor regarding Nick's jolly jokes, occasionally they have been known to take their revenge. "Once, we threw him out of the dressing room in his underwear in front of a whole bunch of girls," recalls Brian. "He got real mad, but it was real funny!"
******Despite all the kidding around, Nick's very serious about his commitment to Backstreet Boys. "I think everyone has a dream that they want to fulfill in life and I think this is our dream," he says quite seriously. "We wanted to make it happen and that's what we did. And we enjoy every minute of it and we take everyday like it's our last."
******By the looks of their success aboard and their plans for domination of the U.S. record charts this summer, you can bet that the end won't be anytime soon! Nick, like the rest of his bandmates, is always working to improve his skills as a singer, dancer and musisian. Almost five years ago, Nick started taking drum lessions and now he's good enough to play on stage during shows. It's something he'd definitely like to do more of.
******Nick's taste in music is probably the most varied of all the Backstreet Boys. He's a huge fan of alt rockers Nirvana but also loves the soaring pipes of Steve Perry, frontman for the 80s era hitmakers Journey. "My range is from old rock to alternative music," he says. "I love R&B, too, because that's what we sing and then pop and all that stuff."
******Over the past two years, Backstreet Boys have romped to the top of record sales charts in Canada, Germany, Great Britain and many more countries. However, their worldwide success, and the attention that comes with it, hasn't changed Nick one bit. In fact, he's still slightly embarrassed to be compared with heavy hitters like Boyz II Men, a group that all the Backstreet Boys would love to harmonize with someday. "The biggest surprise for me is to actually walk into a store and see your single sitting on a shelf," he says candidly. "You can't believe it's you sitting next to all these other famous artists."
******As the youngest member of Backstreet Boys, Nick tends to get the lion's share of attention from youmg females. Yet, he's not at all conceited about the extra eyes on him. It's flattering, he says, but right now, he's just not re9