Jonathon MoranDecember 30, 2007 12:00am
IT'S not just the female pop stars who are under pressure to keep fit and look good. Nick Carter of The Backstreet Boys lost nearly 20kg to get in shape for the release of the US boy band's latest album, Unbreakable, and upcoming world tour.
"I was really unhealthy the last tour," Carter says.
"I was really fat and disgusting. I never want to get to that again. People are watching you so you have to uphold your image to a certain extent."
The 27-year-old weighed about 100kg at his heaviest, and says it took him six months to lose the weight.
He hasn't gone on any special diets but has simply been eating healthier and working out at the gym.
"I am feeling great," Carter says. "I look better. I feel better. I am ready to get out there and perform. I am so ready.
"It was exercise and eating healthier, eating less calories and more working out – that is pretty much what I was doing."
Carter grew up in the public eye, joining the group at just 12 years of age.
Backstreet Boys have sold more than 100 million albums and 15 million singles worldwide and group members are recognised wherever they go.
Their first two US releases – Backstreet Boys in 1997 and Millennium in 1999 – each sold more than 10 million copies, with the latter reaching No.1 in 25 countries.
Their hits include Quit Playing Games, As Long As You Love Me, Everybody, I Want It That Way, Incomplete and Just Want You To Know.
"We definitely have to just take care of ourselves because we are getting older," Carter says.
"Anybody who is getting older in life, they have to take care of themselves.
"They have to realise that you can't just jump right back into something because you could injure yourself.
"So we all have to prepare ourselves and make sure we are ready – it is a gruelling schedule."
It has been two years since the band last visited Australia and a lot has changed.
They're now a four-piece – (pictured, from left) Brian Littrell, Carter, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough – after Kevin Richardson left the band in June last year to pursue other interests.
"The dynamics of the group is different with Kevin gone," Carter says.
"We are on the exact same page with where we want to be musically, and with what we want to do on the show.
"Kevin was a perfectionist which, maybe at certain times, prohibited the creative atmosphere."
The album title Unbreakable signifies the group's strong bond and all they have been through since forming in 1995.
"No matter what road blocks or adversities that come in the way, whether people have heart issues, whether people go to rehab, whether people leave for a solo stint, whether a member leaves the group, the actual group the Backstreet Boys is unbreakable," Carter says.
The new album continues to offer fans the band's trademark melodies and well-crafted three and four-part harmonies – signs of the mature musicians they have become.
The group devoted 18 months to recording Unbreakable. The first single, Inconsolable, is a piano ballad reminiscent of the group's biggest hits.
Carter says his siblings are also in show business. His singer brother Aaron and three sisters, Angel, Leslie and Bobbie Jean, featured in a reality show called House of Carter.
Carter lives in Los Angeles and many would think he leads the A-list Hollywood life but that is apparently a misconception.
Carter, who has dated the likes of Paris Hilton, Ashlee Simpson and Kathy Griffin, says he doesn't like to mix with other celebrities.
"I am not friends with a lot of people out here in Hollywood," he says.
"I barely know any celebrities out here and I like it that way. It is the craziest thing in the world and they are not real friends. Most of my friends are just normal people."
Backstreet Boys will play the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on February 20.
Source: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22980805-7642,00.html
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