Title: Pint-size Pop Powerhouse Aaron Carter Aims to put Teen Fannies in 'Seussical' Seats
Source: Daily News (New York)
Source: Section: NOW; Pg. 41
Date: April 9, 2001, Monday
Author: Patricia O'Haire
Topic: Article/Interview
Is Backstreet Boy Nick Carter in danger of becoming known as Aaron Carter's older brother?
The reedlike, blond-streaked Aaron, a pop singer, has seen his first two CDs clear out of music stores faster than peanut-butter cookies at a Girl Scout sale.
His face has graced the covers of a dozen teen magazines.
He can't walk down the street without being mobbed.
He already has a biography out called "Aaron Carter: The Little Prince of Pop" (written by no less an authority than his mom, Jane).
And now, he's starring in his first Broadway musical.
Not bad for a 13-year-old.
"It's very different from doing a concert," Aaron says during a break from the musical "Seussical." He made his Broadway debut last week. "It's a lot more complicated, more scripted and choreographed.
"I've never worked with that many people around before, for one thing," he says without a hint of trepidation. "For another, everybody onstage right now is an expert at what they're doing. Except me."
For Aaron, playing JoJo in the show comes hot on the heels of a North American tour during which his coyly titled album "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)" went platinum.
That followed one in Europe - when his first CD, "Aaron Carter," first spiked the charts.
Aaron has opened for Britney Spears and performed with brother Nick and the Backstreeters overseas - a gig that prompted promoters to craft a solo show for the youngster.
Carter's success is a no-brainer. His age is in direct correlation to his preteen audience, and though, thanks to nature, he's having some trouble hitting those high notes temporarily, so far there's no creepy facial hair to be groomed. This teenybopper is a promoter's dream.
So it's no wonder that the producers of the sagging "Seussical," which has struggled at the box office since opening on Nov. 30, would view Aaron as a lure for his fans and their parents.
Aaron's first public gig was with the Backstreet Boys during their tour of Germany in 1997. When a record producer saw the effect Aaron had on the audience, he immediately signed the then-9-year-old to a recording contract.
Born in Tampa, Fla., on Dec. 8, 1987 - only minutes after his twin sister, Angel - Aaron has three other siblings: sisters Bobbie Jean and Leslie, and a brother, Backstreet frontman Nick.
According to Top of the Pops magazine, Nick was the first to urge Aaron to try to sing.
"If Nick wasn't a singer, then I wouldn't be here," he says. "He supports me and is the one who asked me if I wanted to sing. I was interested in performing before, but I think it would have been a lot harder."
At 5 feet and growing, slim and with a disarming smile, Aaron lives in California with his parents (his father, Bob, is a former truck driver), though he regards Florida as his home. Like the Hansons - and so many other baby-faced pop singers before him - Aaron is rapidly closing in on the day his voice will change dramatically and could curb his career. But if he has any worries about this, they were not evident on the day he sat down for a chat in his dressing room at the Richard Rodgers Theater.
In fact, he is seriously thinking of starting his own group with his siblings.
"We're starting to think about putting together the Carter Five," he says, though Angel "is into modeling, not singing," he admits, with a note of disappointment in his voice. A DEEP THINKER For a newly minted teenager, though, Carter is quite poised. He loves pasta, pizza, the movie "Dumb & Dumber," basketball and football, motorcycles, chilling with friends and taking photographs. He's especially into clouds, sand, trees - "arty stuff, not people" - and marine biology, a likely career choice if he decides to stop singing.
An eighth-grader, Carter rarely gets a chance to attend school; he spends several hours a day with a tutor. "Yeah," he says, he misses having classmates, "but I've been out of school since fourth grade. So I'm kind of used to it now."
And he sometimes is flustered by the things his mother does. Last year, she wrote "The Little Prince of Pop," which "kinda embarrassed me. I told her, 'Mom - c'mon!' But I'm cool about it now."
As for "Seussical," he'll be in it for at least a month. After that?
"I start rehearsing for my next tour. And getting ready for my next CD. We have nine new songs for my next album so far. It'll be out in the fall."
And then? Like any ordinary teenager, he shrugs. Maybe another Broadway show. Or Hollywood.
"I'm definitely interested in being an actor."
GRAPHIC: BROTHER ACT: Aaron Carter has followed an older sibling, Backstreet Boy Nick, to musical success.
