- You're the one I wanna chase, you're the one I wanna hold...
Jesse Abraham Arthur McCartney (born April 9, 1987 in Ardsley, New York) is a Teen Idol, formerly of the Boy Band Dream Street. He released his first solo album in 2004. "Beautiful Soul" is regarded as the song that shot him to fame. He's also an actor and voice actor.
He gained recognition in the late 1990s by starring in the daytime drama All My Children as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo musical career.
Additionally, he has appeared on shows such as Summerland (2004) and Greek. He also is known for lending his voice as Theodore in Alvin and the Chipmunks and its sequels, as well as voicing the characters Roxas and Ventus in the Kingdom Hearts video game series, developed by Square Enix. He then voiced Robin/Nightwing for Young Justice.
Known for songs such as "Leavin'", "Beautiful Soul", "How Do You Sleep", "She's No You" "Shake" and "Right Where You Want Me".
His first album was known for its blue-eyed soul/pop vibe. His second album had some themes and chords that were very reminiscent of Maroon 5, and his third album had some very Justin Timberlake vibes in it.
No relation to Paul McCartney.
Discography:
- Beautiful Soul (2004)
- Right Where You Want Me (2006)
- Departure (2008)
- Have It All (2012)
- In Technicolor (2014)
His acting credits include:
- All My Children (1998-2000) as Adam "J.R." Chandler, Jr.
- Law & Order (2000) as Danny Driscoll
- Summerland (2004) as Bradin Westerly
- What I Like About You (2004) as himself
- The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005) as himself
- Kingdom Hearts as Roxas, Ventus (voice)
- Kingdom Hearts II (2006)
- Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (2009)
- Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (2010)
- Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (2011)
- Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] (2012)
- Kingdom Hearts III (2019)
- Kingdom Hearts III: Re𝄌Mind (2020)
- Hannah Montana (2007) as himself
- Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007) as Theodore (voice)
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009)
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (2011)
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015)
- Horton Hears a Who! (2008) as JoJo (voice)
- Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs & a Baby (2008) as Lucky (voice)
- Keith (2008) as Keith Zetterstrom
- The King and I as Louis (1997-1998 national tour)
- Disney Fairies as Terence (voice)
- Tinker Bell (2008)
- Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (2009)
- Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue (2010)
- Pixie Hollow Games (2011)
- Secret of the Wings (2012)
- The Pirate Fairy (2013)
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2008) as Max Matarazzo
- Greek (2009) as Andy
- Young Justice (2010-13, 2019-present) as Richard "Dick" Grayson / Robin / Nightwing (voice)
- Young Justice: Legacy (2013)
- Locke & Key (2011) as Tyler Locke
- CSI (2011) as Wes Clyborn
- Chernobyl Diaries (2012) as Chris
- Army Wives (2013) as Tim Truman
- Young & Hungry (2014-15) as Cooper Finley
- Fear the Walking Dead (2016) as Reed
- Major Crimes (2016) as Dawson Tucker Yale
- The Masked Singer (2020) as Turtle.
Tropes that apply to him:
-
Celebrity Voice Actor: Still counts as one to some degree, even though he's been doing it semi-regularly for years now. - Cover Version: "The Stupid Things", originally by Robin Thicke.
- Development Hell: AND HOW. His fourth album Have It All went through this
- Double Entendre:
- "The Best Day Of My Life" refers to a one night stand turned relationship, nobody over the age of 15 would read it that way though. Also his second and third albums.
- Listen to "Right Where You Want Me" as an adult and marvel at how this managed to remain unedited on any Disney station with such lyrics as "baby don't be gentle, I can handle anything".
- Plenty in the second and third albums.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Telling his girlfriend not to be jealous in "She's No You".
- Hidden Depths: "Bleeding Love", Leona Lewis's worldwide smash hit, was originally written and recorded by him.
- Ink-Suit Actor: What he more or less is for Terence in the Disney Fairies movies.
- Intercourse with You: Present in albums second and third. All subtlety goes out the window on "Into Ya".
- Living Emotional Crutch: "Because You Live" is a sweet example."Because you live
I live..."
- New Sound Album /Genre Shift: "Departure" has an R&B edge none of his other albums have.
- Re-release the Song: 'Beautiful Soul' cleaned up for A Cinderella Story.
- Refuge in Audacity: "Into Ya" throws all subtlety out the window for a hilarious result.
- Silly Love Songs: Several, but one that is still pretty well-remembered is "Beautiful Soul".
- Shout-Out:
- His song 'The Stupid Things' has a line, "And feeling two feet small", a most likely nod to The Beatles' song, 'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away'.
- The music video for 'Beautiful Soul' is heavily influenced by the film Y tu mamá también directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The video features several scenes that are lifted from Cuarón's film.
-
Signature Song: In his Teen Idol days, he was known mostly for just "Beautiful Soul". He was also the cowriter for Leona Lewis's signature song "Bleeding Love" and recorded a demo of it. - Star-Making Role: In voiceover, Kingdom Hearts II. A lot of fans weren't even aware that he had an acting career of any sort before he got cast as Roxas.
- Unplugged Version: He does extremely well live with just a guitar.
- Updated Re-release: Departure was rereleased with five bonus tracks and called Recharged...
- Don't want a minute to go to waste, I want you and your beautiful soul...
