Singer Aaron Carter, who rose to fame with catchy pop songs within the late Nineteen Nineties and later struggled with drug dependancy, was discovered lifeless at his house in Lancaster on Saturday, authorities mentioned.
Carter, 34, was present in his bathtub, in line with two legislation enforcement sources, who requested to not be recognized as a result of they weren’t approved to talk publicly on the incident.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies mentioned they obtained a name about 11 a.m. from a home sitter who discovered him unresponsive. They mentioned they had been investigating the circumstances surrounding his dying.
The previous baby star, the youthful brother of Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter, began his profession along with his self-titled debut album in 1997 at age 9. That yr, he opened for the Backstreet Boys on their tour. He additionally carried out as a gap act for Britney Spears.
Carter rapidly gained a following with songs like “Aaron’s Occasion (Come Get It),” “Loopy Little Occasion Lady,” “I Need Sweet” and “That’s How I Beat Shaq.”
For a swath of millennial pop followers, Carter was a proto-Justin Bieber — puckish and crush-able with squeaky-clean hits about younger love. His visitor look on “Lizzie McGuire” charmed an period of Disney Channel followers. He additionally rapped and have become a tv character, showing on the truth collection “Home of Carters” on E! Leisure Tv.
Though his transition to extra grownup hip-hop and R&B music on albums like 2018’s “Love” (with an edgier look of full-face tattoos) didn’t maintain him atop the charts, 30-something followers nonetheless fondly recalled his place of their lives as a teen idol.
He appeared on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” and had a task within the Broadway Dr. Seuss musical “Seussical.”
“He was very gifted,” mentioned Phil Lobel, a publicist who labored with Carter in his early years and once more when he was 30.
Lobel remembered using with Carter to venues the place younger followers holding posters would mob the tour bus, attempting to get near the star.
“That entire technology of children used Aaron Carter as their soundtrack to their very own lives. And now they’re adults,” Lobel mentioned. “And I feel they had been all hoping that Aaron would have the ability to overcome his issues and proceed to make extra music.”
Carter was open about his struggles with psychological well being situations and substance abuse. In a 2019 episode of the present “The Docs,” he mentioned he suffered from a number of character dysfunction, schizophrenia, acute anxiousness and manic despair, and was taking a bevy of prescription medicines together with Xanax.
Drug abuse had troubled the Carter household earlier than. His 25-year-old sister died of a prescription drug overdose in 2012, main him to say he “would by no means overtake” treatment. In 2017, he cycled out and in of a rehab facility however posted his progress on social media, writing subsequent to a pair of selfies: “Wanted a while to heal and this can be a direct consequence.”
Carter’s troubled relationship along with his brother Nick and twin sister, Angel, grew to become public in 2019 when the 2 sought a restraining order towards him.
Carter mentioned in September that he had enrolled in rehab for a fifth time, looking for to regain custody of his 10-month-old son, Prince, who was underneath the court-ordered care of his fiancée’s mom. Carter mentioned his earlier makes an attempt to wean off sure medicines that had been prescribed throughout rehab resulted in his going to “a really darkish depressive state” and that he “didn’t operate usually.”
In September, deputies checked Carter’s house after followers feared he was utilizing medicine. However deputies discovered no medicine, in line with a legislation enforcement supply. Three days earlier than Carter’s physique was discovered, deputies stopped him in his RV when it was reported to be weaving on an Antelope Valley highway. Deputies decided that he was not underneath the affect.
Carter’s fiancée, Melanie Martin, requested for privateness because the household grieves.
“We’re nonetheless within the strategy of accepting this unlucky actuality,” Martin mentioned. “Your ideas and prayers are tremendously appreciated.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.
