While groups including Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC reshaped mainstream pop toward the end of the 1990s, 98° simultaneously climbed the charts and gained visibility on MTV. Nick Lachey fronted the vocal quartet; the former sports-medicine student had entered the world as Nicholas Scott Lachey in autumn 1973 near the Kentucky-Tennessee border. At Cincinnati’s School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Nick and his younger brother Drew balanced strong academics with athletics and began refining their voices. Only after Nick enrolled at Miami University in Ohio did he begin to treat music as a serious profession. He and future bandmate Jeff Timmons received invitations to audition for a developing vocal act in Los Angeles; Drew and their friend Justin Jeffre soon joined, forming 98°. The quartet ultimately issued four platinum-certified albums whose singles “My Everything,” “Way You Want Me To,” and “Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche)” became radio and chart staples throughout North America.
As the broader boy-band wave subsided, Lachey turned toward separate projects. In autumn 2002 he wed longtime partner Jessica Simpson and prepared a solo debut. Their MTV reality series Newlyweds thrust the couple into A-list celebrity status throughout 2003. While the program remained popular, Lachey delivered his first Universal album, the R&B- and pop-infused SoulO, before year’s end. Between recording sessions he pursued acting, appearing in multiple episodes of the WB series Charmed across 2004 and 2005 and taking a supporting role in Nora Ephron’s comedy Bewitched. Before 2005 concluded, Lachey and Simpson publicly announced their separation. Amid intense tabloid coverage, he resumed his recording career in spring 2006 with the number-two album What’s Left of Me.
The release earned RIAA gold certification, and its title track peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, yet Lachey’s studio output soon stalled. Work on a third album began in 2007, but repeated postponements prompted Jive to cancel the project in January 2010; Lachey departed the label that June. During the same period he accepted the hosting role on NBC’s vocal competition The Sing-Off, which ran from its 2009 premiere through 2014. While the series aired, he issued the family-oriented album A Father’s Lullaby on Fisher-Price in 2013. After the program ended, Lachey released the cinematic-covers collection Soundtrack of My Life on his own Little Nicky imprint in November 2014. Following a quiet interval, he joined the cast of Dancing with the Stars for its twenty-fifth season in September 2017. As that season concluded, he issued the single “Someone to Dance With” in November.
