Aaron Carter, younger brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, has died, ABC News has confirmed. He was 34. His management told ABC News, “I can confirm the reports are true…a statement will be released shortly by the family and management. Thank you for your understanding during this difficult time.”
TMZ reported that Carter died Saturday in his home in Lancaster, CA.
Carter, once known as “The Little Prince of Pop,” was born in Tampa, Florida. He made his solo stage debut in 1997 at age nine, opening for the Backstreet Boys in Berlin. He soon secured a record deal and released his self-titled debut in Europe that same year, and in the U.S. in 1998. Singles from that album were top 10 hits in the U.K., Austria and Germany.
Carter’s follow-up, Aaron’s Party (Come and Get It), was his biggest hit: It was RIAA-certified triple Platinum, and included his only two U.S. charting singles: “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)” and “That’s How I Beat Shaq.” He later opened for Britney Spears on her Oops!…I Did It Again tour.
Carter branched out into acting, making his Broadway debut in 2001 in Seussical The Musical and appearing on TV shows like Lizzie McGuire, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and 7th Heaven, and in movies like Fat Albert and Ella Enchanted.
In 2006, Aaron, Nick, Aaron’s twin Angel and their siblings B.J. and Leslie, starred on the E! reality show House of Carters. Leslie died in 2012 of a drug overdose; she was 25. Aaron’s relationship with his siblings has been volatile: In the past, Nick and Angel have both sought restraining orders against Aaron; Aaron also accused Leslie, and later Nick, of abuse, which Nick denied.
In 2009, Aaron came in fifth on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars and has appeared in various other reality shows, such as Marriage Bootcamp: Family Edition and Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook Off. Over the years, he’s had various legal and financial troubles, and had been to rehab multiple times.
By 2020, Aaron had set up an OnlyFans account. In 2021, he was cast in a Las Vegas musical production, from which he was fired because, allegedly, he refused to be vaccinated. In 2021, he and Lamar Odom held an exhibition boxing match, during which Odom knocked Carter out in the second round.
Carter welcomed his first child last year. He and his then-fiancée, Melanie Martin, announced the birth of their son, Prince, in November 2021.
Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.