Aaron Charles Carter was born on December 7th, 1987, in Tampa, Florida, where his parents ran a retirement home. He has an older brother, Nick Carter, who became a singer and teenage heart-throb with The Backstreet Boys. There are also three sisters in the Carter household, his twin, fashion model Angel, actress Bobbie Jean, and singer Leslie. He also has a half-sister, Ginger, from his father's first marriage, and a half-sister and half-brother, Taelyn and Kenden, from his father's subsequent marriage. Inspired by his older brother, Carter took an early interest in music and joined his first band, Dead End, at the age of seven, performing with them for two years. They eventually split due to musical differences and Carter took the opportunity to travel with The Backstreet Boys, performing onstage with them in Berlin when he was just ten years old. Such was the impression he made that he was immediately offered a record contract, and thus he began his solo career.

In 1996, Carter worked on the fundraising EP “Let the Music Heal your Soul” with artists including 'N Sync and The Moffatts. His first single, “Crush on You,” was released in 1997 and immediately became a European hit. After enjoying considerable success across Europe, his début album, Aaron Carter, also proved popular in the United States. Unfortunately, it later emerged that Carter had not received all the royalties due to him for his work, and his parents took his manager Lou Pearlman to court. Ironically, Carter's own mother was later to end up in a legal dispute with him over money after she divorced his father. Following the release of his fourth album, Another Earthquake, Carter faced a legal challenge from Trans Continental Records, who claimed that he had reneged on a recording contract. Later, the contract was declared void because Carter was only seventeen when he signed it.