Biography
Nick Jonas is the youngest of the Jonas Brothers, the trio who ruled the teen-pop world in the 2010s. Born in Dallas, Nick grew up with his brothers Joe and Kevin in Little Falls, NJ, the sons of an Assembly of God minister and a sign-language teacher (a fourth brother, Frankie, was too young to join the group). Nick was the first to break into showbiz, acting on Broadway as a pre-teen including a role in Beauty and the Beast, and making his first, self-titled album at age 12. Produced to evoke memories of the Jackson Five and the Osmond Brothers, the album was released on the Columbia label's Christian rock division. It didn't sell and the label suggested Nick team with his brothers for the followup, It's About Time. This too was unsuccessful, but led to their game-changing association with Disney. Their self-titled 2007 album was released on the Disney-associated Hollywood label, which heavily promoted the brothers with enough TV appearances to turn them into teen idols. The album replaced the debut's punk and R&B influences with a shiny bubblegum pop sound, and Nick was often featured as a lead singer and co-writer, beginning with the second single "Hold On" (the initial single "Year 3000" was a cover of a Busted song). The next album A Little Bit Longer was a #1 Billboard debut, and the singles "Burnin' Up" and "Lovebug" gave writing credits to all three brothers. By 2010 they were being handpicked by Paul McCartney to play "Drive My Car" at a White House ceremony honoring him. The brothers disbanded as a group in 2014 and Nick jumped immediately back into both music and acting. Having already co-hosted the Miss USA 2013 pageant he began making guest appearances on the revived "Hawaii Five-O" (CBS 2009- ) and then landed a featured role in the Audience Network family drama "Kingdom" (Audience Network, 2014-16), which ran for three seasons beginning in 2014. In music he began as a creative director and frequent guest on Demi Lovato's 2014 tour, then made a self-titled album with help from Lovato who again joined him on a co-billed tour in 2016. Now aiming for a sexier image Jonas continued to work with female duet partners, scoring a Top 20 hit with that year's "Close," featuring Tove Lo and appearing on his second post-Brothers album, Last Year Was Complicated. As an actor he continued to pursue challenging roles, starring alongside James Franco in the dark drama "Goat" (2017).
