Nick Jonas Biography
Summary
"Nicholas Jerry 'Nick' Jonas" (born September 16, 1992) is an American singer-songwriter and actor best known as one of the Jonas Brothers, a boy band he created with his brothers Joe and Kevin.
The Jonas Brothers originally started with a solo singing career for Nick, but when his brothers Kevin and Joe sang backup for him, the record producer liked their sound and signed all three of them.
Biography
Nick was born in Dallas, Texas to Denise and Paul Kevin Jonas Sr. He was raised in Wyckoff, New Jersey and is of Irish, Italian, German, and Cherokee descent. He was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at the age of 13 and wears an OmniPod insulin pump to help him manage his diabetes.
The Jonas' are known for their wholesome, family-friendly image. The brothers are all committed Evangelical Christians, their father is a former pastor, and they were homeschooled by their mother. In addition, they all famously wear purity rings on their left-hand ring finger and have vowed not to have premarital sex. Joe has said that the rings symbolize 'a promise to ourselves and to God that we'll stay pure 'till marriage,' and Nick had stated that 'it's pretty awesome, and the rings are just one of our ways of kind of like being different than everybody else out there.' They started wearing the rings when their parents, Denise and Kevin Sr., asked them if they wanted to. They also abstain from alcohol, tobacco, and drugs.
Career
Acting
Broadway
Nick's career started when he was discovered at the age of 6 in a barber shop while his mother was getting her hair cut and was referred to as a professional show business manager. At the age of 7, he began performing on Broadway. He had acted in several plays, including "A Christmas Carol" (in 2000 as Tiny Tim and Scrooge at eight), "Annie Get Your Gun" (in 2001 as Little Jake), "Beauty and the Beast" (in 2002 as Chip), and "Les Misérables" (in 2003 as Gavroche). After "Les Misérables" closed, he performed in "The Sound of Music" (as Kurt) at the Paper Mill Playhouse.
Television
On August 17, 2007, Nick, along with his brothers, guest starred in an episode of Hannah Montana. The episode debuted alongside "High School Musical 2" and a sneak peek of the new Disney Channel show "Phineas and Ferb". The episode broke basic cable records with a record 10.7 million viewers and became basic cable's most watched series telecast ever.
Nick and his brothers, Joe and Kevin, filmed a Disney Channel Original Movie called "Camp Rock" where they play a band called 'Connect Three.' Joe plays the lead male role and lead singer 'Shane Gray'; Nick plays the role of 'Nate,' a guitarist; and Kevin plays the role of 'Jason,' also a guitarist. A soundtrack for the movie was released on June 17, 2008. The movie premiered on June 20 in the USA on Disney Channel, and Canada on Family.
The Disney Channel reality short series, "Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream", premiered on Disney Channel on May 16, 2008. The show, which will tentatively run until September 5, 2008, documents Nick, Kevin, and Joe's lives on the Look Me In The Eyes Tour.
Singing
Solo artist
In 2002 while performing in "Beauty and the Beast", Nick had written a song with his father called 'Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer).' With background vocals from the "Beauty and the Beast" cast, Nick performed the song on the 2002 annual Broadway 'Equity Fights AIDS' album, "Broadway's Greatest Gifts: Carols for a Cure, Vol. 4". In November 2003, INO Records received a demo copy of 'Joy To The World (A Christmas Prayer).' The label released the song to Christian radio, where it quickly became popular on Record & Radio's Christian Adult Contemporary Chart. While Nick was working on his solo project, Joe followed in his footsteps to Broadway, appearing in Baz Lurhmann's production of "La Boheme".
By September 2004, an executive at Columbia Records found out about Nick's song. Nick was soon jointly signed to INO Records and Columbia Records and released the single 'Dear God'. A second single, 'Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)' (a new solo recording), was released on November 16. It was supposed to be followed by a December release of a self-titled solo album Nicholas Jonas, but the album had been pushed back; it did, however, get a limited release. Nick, along with Kevin and Joe, had written several other songs for the album.
In early 2005, Columbia Records' new president, Steve Greenberg, listened to Nick's record. While Greenberg did not like the album, he did like Nick's voice.
[[Jonas Brothers]]
After meeting with Nick and hearing the song, 'Please Be Mine', written and performed by the brothers, Daylight/Columbia Records had decided to sign the three as a group act. After being signed to Columbia, the brothers considered naming their group 'Sons of Jonas' before settling on the name 'Jonas Brothers.'
"It's About Time", the brothers first album was released on August 8, 2006. According to the band's manager, it was only a 'limited release' of a little over 50,000 copies. Because Sony was not interested in further promoting the band, the Jonas Brothers then considered switching labels. The band was ultimately dropped by Columbia Records in early 2007.
After shortly being without a label, the Jonas Brothers signed with Hollywood Records in February 2007. Around the same time, brothers began appearing in commercials for Baby Bottle Pops, singing the jingle. Their self-titled second album, "Jonas Brothers", was released on August 7, 2007. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in its first week.
The Jonas Brothers' third studio album, "A Little Bit Longer", was released in the United States on August 12, 2008.
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Nick Jonas.
