Biography

Early life and acting career

McCartney was born in Ardsley, New York, to Scott and Ginger McCartney. McCartney 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 icky Ullman. McCartney moved to Los Angeles to become an actor when he was 11. He later appeared with The Who’s Roger Daltrey in A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. From 1998–2001, McCartney played Adam Chandler, Jr. on the ABC soap opera All My Children, a role for which he earned a Daytime Emmy nomination. He also later starred in the short-lived series Summerland, which aired on the now-defunct The WB network for two seasons.

McCartney co-starred along with Elisabeth Harnois in an independent teenage drama feature film directed by Todd Kessler, Keith, shot during late-2005/early-2006, featuring McCartney in the title role. As of now, no official release date has been announced.

In 2006, McCartney was also featured as the voice of Roxas in the Disney/Square Enix videogame Kingdom Hearts II.

Music career

Early career

In 1999, McCartney joined the American pop boy band Dream Street, and was a member until 2002. Jesse McCartney has described the experience as a good “stepping stone” for his solo career. The group earned a gold record with their debut CD, and broke up while touring with Aaron Carter. At fifteen, he began work on a solo career with a local band, featuring musicians Dillon Kondor (guitar), Peter Chema (bass), Katie Spencer (keyboards), Alex Russeku (drums), Karina LaGravinese (background vocals), Sharisse Francisco (background vocals), 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”, “She’s No You” and “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.

Beautiful Soul (2004–2006)

His first full-length solo album, Beautiful Soul, which was two years in the making, was released on September 28, 2004. The album featured four songs co-written by McCartney: “That Was Then,” “Get Your Shine On”, “What’s Your Name”, and “She’s No You”, as well as songs written by Desmond Child and Chris Braide. The title song reached #2 on AOL Music and the “Beautiful Soul” music video performed well on MTV’s Total Request Live, having been voted into the top 10 fifty times, and peaked at #4. The album, having sold over 1.5 million records, has achieved platinum status.

His first solo tour, also named Beautiful Soul (opened by singer/songwriter and actress Brie Larson), 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. Jesse McCartney has also performed at many amusement parks, including Six Flags and Canada’s Wonderland, and has performed “Beautiful Soul” while making guest appearances on several late night talk shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

This tour featured a new band, comprising Dory Lobel (guitar), Zane Carney (guitar), Andre De Santanna (bass), Mitchell Yoshida (keyboards), Karen Teperberg (drums), Margeaux “JoJo” Fernandez (background vocals) and Julie Dickens (background vocals). In the fall of 2005, Jesse McCartney toured Australia, and opened for the Backstreet Boys in Europe, the summer of 2005. His July 9 appearance at Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara, California was recorded as a live CD and released in November 2005; this was his first concert DVD.

Right Where You Want Me (2006–2008)

His second album, titled Right Where You Want Me, was released by Hollywood Records on September 19, 2006. The first single from the album, also called “Right Where You Want Me”, began receiving radio play on July 11, 2006 and was written by Jesse McCartney, Adam Watts and Andy Dodd; McCartney, who co-wrote all of the songs on the new album, has said that he believes the single takes him in a “new direction musically”. The second single was “Just So You Know”. The song “Invincible” was written by McCartney in memory of one of his high school friends who had died in 2003 due to drinking and driving. Although as stated by his management that he will not be launching a new tour because of lack of support from his record company, McCartney has done various shows in Italy and also in the United States.

Departure (2008–present)

After a year and a half, it has been confirmed by his management that McCartney has finished recording for his third album. The first single will be “Leavin’”, which can be heard on his official music MySpace. The new music video for Leavin can be viewed on YouTube or jessemac.com. The album is to be released May 20, 2008 in the United States and Canada, and will be called Departure, as confirmed by McCartney on his Saynow and MySpace accounts. It is described as having a completely different sound than his debut and sophomore efforts.

McCartney recently did a collaboration with the reggae/hip-hop band Cipes and The People. During this period he co-wrote with OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder the #1 hit single “Bleeding Love” for British singer Leona Lewis, the biggest selling UK single of 2007, and a #1 in more than 28 countries.

source: WikiPedia