Lachey started his professional singing career at Kings Island with close & very best friend Justin Jeffre in the mid-1990s singing in a do-wop singing group quartet throughout the park and water park.[6][7] Lachey was a member of the boyband 98 Degrees along with his brother, Drew, Justin Jeffre, and Jeff Timmons. Their debut album was the self-titled 98 Degrees; however, the band's first real success came with their follow-up album 98 Degrees and Rising. 98 Degrees has sold over 10 million records. 98 Degrees performed a one-off summer reunion show in Hershey, Pennsylvania, at the Summer Mixtape Festival on August 18, 2012, their first concert in more than a decade.[8]
During the summer of 2003, the reality showNewlyweds: Nick and Jessica, starring Lachey and then-wife Jessica Simpson, began airing on MTV. The couple starred in the television special The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour, which aired in 2004 and was compared to The Sonny & Cher Show.[9] In 2005, Newlyweds won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Reality Show before wrapping shortly after.[10] On November 11, 2003, his solo debut album, SoulO, was released.[11] Despite being released during the success of Newlyweds, the album was a commercial failure. Lachey took a recurring role in the series Charmed where he played a dyslexic ghostwriter between 2004 and 2005.[12]
What's Left of Me was released on May 9, 2006, and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. The album was certified Gold, after selling more than 500,000 copies domestically. The first single from the album was the title track, "What's Left of Me", released on February 21, 2006. The song became a hit, reaching a peak position of number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The video for "What's Left Of Me" featured former MTV VJ, Vanessa Minnillo. Lachey recorded "Ordinary Day" for the Oprah Winfrey-produced film, For One More Day. Lachey began working on his third solo album in 2007.[13] Lachey also starred in a well-known TV series, One Tree Hill, as a singer at Red Bedroom Productions. It was announced in January 2010 that Jive Records had put his new album on hold indefinitely.[14] In June 2010, Lachey confirmed that he had parted ways with Jive Records. In July 2010, Jive Records confirmed they had parted ways with Lachey.
Taking the Stage, a musical reality show documenting the personal lives of high school students at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, premiered on MTV in March 2009. It was produced by Lachey. In December 2009, he hosted The Sing-Off, a long form four-part American singing competition featuring a cappella groups, a role he reprised in December 2010 for the show's second and third seasons on NBC. Lachey was a contestant in the NBC celebrity reality competition series called Stars Earn Stripes.[15]
On January 16, 2014, VH1 announced Lachey would resume hosting Big Morning Buzz Live, upon its return on March 3, 2014.[16][17] On September 6, 2017, Lachey was announced as one of the celebrities who will take part in the 25th season of Dancing with the Stars, competing against his wife Vanessa. He was paired with professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd.[18] Murgatroyd's husband, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, was paired with Vanessa. On October 23, Lachey and Murgatroyd were the fifth couple to be eliminated from the competition, leaving in ninth place.[19]
Lachey was among a group of investors that placed a marijuana legalization initiative on the Ohio ballot in 2015.[25] The initiative sought exclusive grow rights for the group members while prohibiting all other cultivation except small amounts for personal use.[26] Lachey appeared in a TV ad advocating for passage of the initiative, but it was ultimately defeated.[27]
Lachey is on the Entertainment Council of the hunger-relief organization Feeding America.[28]
In December 1998, Lachey and fellow singer Jessica Simpson were introduced by their shared manager at a Christmas event. They subsequently began dating after meeting again at a Teen People event in January 1999, but broke up for five months beginning in April 2001 until getting back together following the September 11 attacks.[30] They became engaged in February 2002,[31] and married on October 26, 2002, in Austin, Texas.[32] In November 2005, after months of tabloid speculation, Lachey and Simpson announced they were separating. Simpson filed for divorce on December 16, 2005, citing "irreconcilable differences".[33][34] The couple's divorce was highly publicized worldwide and was reportedly finalized on June 30, 2006.[35]
Soon after the release of "What's Left of Me", Lachey's 2006 music video starring Vanessa Minnillo, he and Minnillo began dating.[36] They briefly broke up in June 2009,[37] but by October 2009, Lachey confirmed that they were back together after having been "single for a minute".[38] Lachey and Minnillo became engaged in November 2010,[39] and married on July 15, 2011, on Sir Richard Branson's private Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands.[40] The wedding was filmed and televised on TLC.[41] They have three children: Camden John, born September 2012, Brooklyn Elisabeth, born January 2015, and Phoenix Robert, born December 2016.[42][43][44]
^MacKenzie Wilson (November 9, 1973). "(Nick Lachey > Biography)". allmusic. Archived from the original on February 28, 2024. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
^Susman, Gary (July 2, 2004). "Nick Lachey joins 'Charmed' cast". Entertainment Weekly. pp. The MTV Newlyweds star will appear in a guest role for six episodes next season as a bumbling dyslexic ghostwriter who fills in for columnist Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) during her sabbatical and ends up falling in love with her. Archived from the original on October 2, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2008.
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