Jesse McCartney is an American singer-songwriter, actor and voice actor. McCartney achieved
fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama All My Children as JR Chandler. He later joined
boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo musical career. Additionally,
McCartney has appeared on shows such as Summerland and Greek. McCartney also is known for lending
his voice as Theodore in Alvin and the Chipmunks and its sequels, as well as voicing Robin/Nightwing
in Young Justice and Roxas and Ventus in the video games series Kingdom Hearts developed
by Square Enix.
Early life McCartney was born on April 9, 1987, in Westchester,
New York, the son of Ginger and Scott McCartney. He began performing in local community musicals
at the age of seven, before joining the national tour of The King and I at age ten along with
Phil of the Future star Ricky Ullman. There he played the character of Louis. In 1998,
he sang with the group Sugar Beats and can be heard on their 1998, 1999, and 2000 CD
releases. Music career
1999–2002: Dream Street In 1999, McCartney joined the American pop
boy band Dream Street, and was a member until 2002. He has described the experience as a
good "stepping stone" for his solo career. The group earned a gold record with their
debut CD. At fifteen, he began work on a solo career with a local band, featuring musicians
Dillon Kondor, Peter Chema, Katie Spencer, Alex Russeku, Karina LaGravinese, Sharisse
Francisco, and under the management of Ginger McCartney and Sherry Goffin Kondor, who co-produced
his first album, Beautiful Soul. McCartney released his first solo EP in July
2003. The album featured three songs: "Beautiful Soul", "Don't You", "Why Don't You Kiss her".
In 2004, he performed a duet with Anne Hathaway, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", which is featured
on the Ella Enchanted soundtrack. 2004–2006: Beautiful Soul and Right Where
You Want Me
McCartney's debut solo album, Beautiful Soul, which was two years in the making, was released
on September 28, 2004, in the United States and over a year later in Europe. He categorized
it as a "pop record" with twists of urban. The album featured four songs that he co-wrote.
Beautiful Soul reached number 15 on the Billboard 200. The album has been certified platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America, denoting over one million units of shipment
to US retailers; it is his highest-certified album as of early 2009. By mid-2006, the album
had sold more than 1.5 million copies. The album's lead single of the same name reached
number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. McCartney was one of the artists to win multiple awards
at the 2005 Teen Choice Awards, including Choice Crossover Artist, Choice Male Artist
and Choice Breakout, Male. The following year, he won Favorite Male Singer at the Nickelodeon
Kids' Choice Awards. His first headlining tour, also named Beautiful
Soul, began on May 2, 2005 at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento, California. The United States
portion of the tour spanned 56 stops, ending on September 10, 2005 at the Madera District
County Fair in Madera, California. In the fall of 2005, McCartney toured Australia,
and opened for the Backstreet Boys in Europe in the summer of 2005. His July 9 performance
at California's Great America in Santa Clara, California was recorded, released as Live:
The Beautiful Soul Tour in November 2005. After the filming of Keith wrapped, McCartney
began working on his second album, Right Where You Want Me, co-writing all but one of the
songs featured in it. Right Where You Want Me is more mature than his debut, reflecting
his musical and personal growth since he recorded his debut album at age 15. Released by Hollywood
Records on September 19, 2006, the album reached number 14 on the Billboard 200. The lead
single of the album, "Right Where You Want Me", began receiving airplay on July 11, 2006.
Although he did not launch a full tour, he did various promotional shows in Italy and
the United States. Relationship with Disney
He has contributed to numerous Disney soundtracks including Disneymania 2, Radio Disney Jingle
Jams, A Cinderella Story, That's So Raven, Stuck in the Suburbs, Lizzie McGuire Total
Party!, Disneymania 3, Sydney White, Radio Disney Jams, Vol. 7, Radio Disney Jams, Vol.
8, DisneyMania 4, Hannah Montana, Radio Disney: Party Jams, That's So Raven Too!, Radio Disney
Jams, Vol. 9, Radio Disney Jams, Vol. 11, and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.
McCartney also appeared on the Disney Channel teen sitcoms The Suite Life of Zack & Cody
and Hannah Montana. McCartney is also voice of Terrence in the Tinker Bell franchise.
2007–2009: Songwriting and Departure In the fall of 2007, McCartney co-wrote the
hit song "Bleeding Love" with Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, produced by McCartney and
Tedder for McCartney's third album, but gave it away to English singer Leona Lewis for
her debut album, Spirit. The song was nominated for Record of the Year at the 2009 Grammy
Awards. McCartney recorded his own version, which was released on some editions of his
Departure album.
McCartney released his third album, Departure, on May 20, 2008 in the United States and Canada.
Musically, it is a departure from his early works, showcasing more mature themes. The
album has reached number 14 on the Billboard 200. The album's lead single, "Leavin'", was released
in March 2008, and reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving McCartney his highest-charting
single to date. The single was certified platinum by the RIAA, selling over two million downloads
on iTunes, becoming McCartney's highest-certified single as of early 2009. The second single,
"It's Over", was released on August 26, 2008, and reached #62 on the Hot 100. McCartney
promoted Departure on a co-headlining tour with Jordin Sparks, which began in August
2008 and ended in September. He also did solo shows at theaters and small venues to support
the album while on tour with Sparks. Sparks also approached him to write some material
for her. McCartney re-released Departure on April 7,
2009. The re-release, Departure: Recharged, featured four new songs: "Body Language",
"Oxygen", "Crash & Burn" and "In My Veins". The re-release also features a remix of "How
Do You Sleep?" with rapper-actor Ludacris. The third single from the album was released
from the re-release and was the remix of "How Do You Sleep?". It was much more successful
than the second single, reaching #26 on the Hot 100, The fourth and final single from
the album was also released from the re-release and was a new version of "Body Language" featuring
T-Pain. The single reached #35 on the Hot 100.
2010–present: In Technicolor The lead single from his fourth studio album
Have It All, "Shake", was sent to radio on September 8, 2010 and was released digitally
on September 21, 2010. The song peaked at #54 on the Hot 100. On October 18, 2010, it
was announced that Have It All would be released in January 2011. On November 30, it was announced
that the album release would be pushed up to December 28, 2010, the Tuesday following
Christmas. On December 3, 2010, McCartney announced through his Facebook page that he
pushed the release date for the album back to early 2011. On April 7, 2011, McCartney
responded to a question on his Twitter page about the delay, saying "The Release of Have
It All has been put on hold until we hear about the outcome of Locke & Key", the television
series in which he had a lead role. On November 3, McCartney said via his WhoSay page "2012
is still the magic year for the record to finally come out." On May 6, 2012, McCartney's
mother said on Twitter that the replacement of the President of his label, Hollywood Records
in January, 2012 is delaying the release of his album. In March 2013 issue of Glamouholic
magazine that he has covered, an exclusive interview was conducted and he confirmed the
release of his anticipated fourth studio album, after all the disbandments of his record label,
within this year. Have It All, however, would go on to never be officially released.
On May 13, it was confirmed on On Air with Ryan Seacrest that Jesse McCartney will be
joining the Backstreet Boys & DJ Pauly D on their new tour "In a World Like This" kicking
off on August 2, 2013. On August 13, the singer released the lead single "Back Together" from
his upcoming album which will be on his new independent label, Eight0Eight Records. He
performed it live on the Today Show on August 15, 2013. On December 10, 2013, McCartney
released a four song EP titled "In Technicolor, Part 1" with the as-yet-untitled album to
follow in Spring 2014. He says this album will be an "authentic 70s disco-pop record."
On May 6, 2014 McCartney released a new single titled "Superbad" and released the music video
soon afterwards. McCartney's fourth studio album, In Technicolor
was released on July 22, 2014. Other ventures
Acting career McCartney appeared with The Who's Roger Daltrey
in A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. From 1998–2001, McCartney played Adam Chandler,
Jr. in the ABC soap opera All My Children, a role for which he earned two Young Artist
Awards and two Daytime Emmy Award nominations. He also later starred in the short-lived series
Summerland, which aired on The WB for two seasons, playing orphaned teenager Bradin
Westerly.
In 2005, McCartney appeared as himself in the Disney Channel show, The Suite Life of
Zack & Cody. In 2007, he starred as himself in the Disney Channel show, Hannah Montana.
In 2008, McCartney was also featured as the voice of Horton Hears A Who!s JoJo McDodd.
McCartney also voiced Theodore in the 2007 film Alvin and the Chipmunks, the 2009 film
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, and the 2011 film Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,
in addition to voicing Terence in the 2008 film Tinker Bell. He also voices Robin in
the Young Justice series. In 2008, McCartney co-starred along with Elisabeth
Harnois in an independent teenage drama feature film, Keith, directed by Todd Kessler. It
is his movie debut, and features McCartney in the title role. Keith was released on September
19, 2008. According to Entertainment Weekly in December
2008, McCartney was negotiating to play against type in the role of the Fire Nation's Prince
Zuko in M. Night Shyamalan's feature film adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
In February 2009, British actor Dev Patel replaced McCartney, whose tour dates conflicted
with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in martial arts. McCartney has expressed
an interest in directing and producing films and even considered enrolling in a film school.
McCartney appeared as a recurring character in the ABC Family series Greek for several
episodes playing a star football talent who joins Kappa Tau. His character eventually
decides to depledge the fraternity after citing pressures between football and Greek life
combined with Rusty stealing his girlfriend Jordan.
McCartney also worked in several installments of the Square Enix video game series Kingdom
Hearts. He was featured as Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II in 2006, and reprised the role in
2009 in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. He also provided the voice work for Ventus, a character
in the video game of the same series Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. He reprised both roles
in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, released in 2012.
McCartney confirmed in early February 2011 via Twitter, and on the website Perezhilton.com
that he will have a major role on the new Fox pilot "Locke and Key." In May 2011, Fox
announced that it would not be picked up to the series.
McCartney also starred in the horror film Chernobyl Diaries, released on May 25, 2012.
He has been added to the Season 7 cast of the Lifetime Network series Army Wives, portraying
a young soldier deployed to Afghanistan with an 18-year-old wife at home.
Fragrance In June 2011, McCartney introduced a new women's
fragrance called Wanted By Jesse. Philanthropy
In 2005, McCartney participated in "Come Together Now", a charity single to benefit the victims
of the 2004 Asian Tsunami and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.
Later in 2005, McCartney signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit
organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underserved
public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on LKR's Honorary Board of Directors.
He has donated proceeds of his 2005 tour for disaster relief, recorded radio spots promoting
the "Kids For A Drug-Free America" campaign, is a spokesperson for the St. Jude Children's
Research Hospital, and is involved in the charity SPACE, which was co-founded by a childhood
friend of his mother's. McCartney performed at the Hope Rocks concert in 2005 to benefit
the City of Hope Cancer Center. He appeared in the Concert for Hope October 25, 2009 with
Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato . Filmography
Films Television
Video games Discography
Beautiful Soul Right Where You Want Me
Departure In Technicolor
Tours 2004/2005: Beautiful Soul Tour
2005: Backstreet Boys: Never Gone Tour 2006/2007: Right Where You Want Me Tour
2008: Departure Mini-Tour 2008: Jesse & Jordin LIVE Tour
2009: Headlining Tour 2009: New Kids on the Block: Full Service
Summer Tour 2013: Backstreet Boys: In A World Like This
Tour 2014: Jesse McCartney: In Technicolor Tour
References
External links Official website
Jesse McCartney at the Internet Movie Database Jesse McCartney at AllMusic