Being the brother of a Backstreet Boy is a hard act to follow, but Aaron Carter, brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, has paved his own path to pop stardom. Born and raised in Tampa, Florida, Carter began his music career at the tender age of seven as the lead singer of Dead End. Carter left to pursue a solo career when his pop roots conflicted with the alternative direction the band was taking. Carter's first solo appearance was as an opening act for his big brother's band in Berlin in 1997, at the apex of Backstreet Boys fame.

Carter released his first full-length, self-titled album in December of 1997. With smash single "Crush on You", Aaron Carter reached gold status in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Spain before being released stateside on June 16 of the following year. In May 1998 Carter released a fund-raising EP titled Let The Music Hear Your Soul, which featured vocals by Carter as well as the Backstreet Boys and fellow boy banders *NSYNC. Around this time Carter began to exhibit heartthrob antics of his own, causing constant tabloid fodder after briefly dating teen starlets Hillary Duff and Lindsay Lohan-at the same time!

In 2000 Carter released his most well-known album, Aaron's Party (Come Get It). The album was released under bubblegum pop label Jive Records, also home to Britney Spears, *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. The album, which features a self-titled track in which Carter raps about afterschool mischief as well as a cover of "I Want Candy", went triple-platinum. Already a pop veteran at age 13, Carter released his third studio album, Oh Aaron, in 2001. The album featured a duet with Nick Carter and coincided with the release of the official Aaron Carter action figure by Play Along Toys.