Early life

McCartney was born in Westchester County, New York to Scott McCartney and Ginger Sarber, who is now one of his managers; his maternal grandparents, Dick and Joyce Sarber, are from Ukiah, Mendocino County, California. McCartney is of Scottish, Irish, and English ancestry and is a Born-again Protestant Christian. He has one brother, Timothy ("Timmy") Glover Mark McCartney (born December 20, 1996) and one sister, Lea Joyce McCartney (born July 17, 1991), and is not related to former Beatles singer Paul McCartney.

McCartney began performing in local community musicals at the age of seven, before making his Broadway debut in a production of The King and I at the age of ten. He later appeared with The Who's Roger Daltrey in A Christmas Carol, before joining the children's group Sugar Beats as a vocalist. One of the group's albums, How Sweet It Is (1998), was nominated for a Grammy.

Music career

At the age of twelve, McCartney joined the boy band Dream Street, and was a member from 2000 to 2002. McCartney has described the experience as a good "stepping stone" for his solo career. The group earned a platinum record with their debut CD, and broke up while touring with Aaron Carter. At sixteen, he began work on a solo career with a local band, featuring musicians Dillon Kondor (guitar), Peter Chema (bass), Katie Spencer (keyboards), Alex Russek (drums), Karina LaGravinese (background vocals) and Sharisse Francisco (background vocals), under the management of Lauren Stanwick and Sherry Goffin Kondor, the producer and founder of Sugar Beats.

McCartney released his first solo EP, JMac, in July of 2003. The album featured three songs: "Beautiful Soul", "Don't You" and "Why Don't You Kiss Her". In 2004, he performed a duet with Anne Hathaway, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", which is featured on the Ella Enchanted soundtrack. McCartney's first full-length solo album, Beautiful Soul, which was two years in the making, was released later that year, on September 28. The album featured four songs co-written by McCartney. The title song reached #2 on AOL Music and the "Beautiful Soul" music video performed well on MTV's Total Request Live, having been voted into the top 10 fifty times, and peaked at #4. The album achieved platinum status in March 2005.

McCartney's first solo tour, also named "Beautiful Soul", began on May 2, 2005 at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento, California. The United States portion of the tour spanned 56 stops, ending on September 10 at the Madera District County Fair in Madera, California. McCartney has also performed at many amusement parks, including Six Flags and Paramount Canada's Wonderland, and has performed "Beautiful Soul" while making guest appearances on several late night talk shows, including "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". His personal favorite performance was at Toms River, New Jersey. This concert featured a new band, comprised of Dory Lobel (guitar), Zane Carney (guitar), Andre De Santanna (bass), Mitchell Yoshida (keyboards), Karen Teperberg (drums), Margeaux "JoJo" Fernandez (background vocals) and Julie Dickens (background vocals). His July 9 appearance at Paramount's Great America, Santa Clara, California was recorded as a live CD and released in November 2005; this was his first concert DVD.

In the fall of 2005, McCartney toured Australia, and opened for the Backstreet Boys in Europe. His newest single is called "Right Where You Want Me" that has just been released , along with an album "Blow Your Minds", which according to his label's web site, will be released on September 12, 2006.

McCartney has also pursued an acting career, playing J.R. Chandler on the television soap opera All My Children from 1998 to 2001. He was nominated for a Daytime Emmy as an "Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series" for the role, in both 2001 and 2002. In 2004 and 2005, McCartney played Bradin Westerly on the short-lived WB series Summerland, although the series was cancelled in the summer of 2005. The same year, he also modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch.

McCartney will star in the film Keith, which is currently scheduled for a 2006 release, opposite Margo Harshman and Elisabeth Harnois. He is also the voice actor for Roxas in the US release of the video game Kingdom Hearts II.

Personal life

McCartney enjoys sports, especially baseball, bowling, and surfing, which he learned while filming Summerland. He has donated proceeds of his 2005 "Beautiful Soul" tour for disaster relief, recorded radio spots promoting the "Kids For A Drug-Free America" campaign, is a spokesperson for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and is involved in the charity SPACE, which was co-founded by a childhood friend of his mother's.

McCartney is currently in a relationship with Katie Cassidy, daughter of former teen idol David Cassidy. He graduated from Ardsley High School on June 22, 2005.