Lachey starred in the hit reality television series Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica with his then-wife, Jessica Simpson. The series ran on MTV for four seasons, from 2003–2005.

Early years

Nicholas Scott Lachey was born near the border of Kentucky and Virginia in Harlan, Kentucky to Cate Fopma-Leimbach and John Lachey. He has a brother, Drew, a stepsister, Josie, a half brother, Isaac, and two adopted siblings, Zac and Kaitlin. Growing up in Ohio, he attended Cincinnati's well-regarded public School for Creative and Performing Arts, developing his vocal talent and aspiring to become an entertainer. After graduation he attended the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, California. After a year at USC, he wanted to be closer to his family and transferred to Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio, where he studied sports medicine. He then went on to play football for one year at Florida State University. While playing football, he received a phone call from long time friend, Jonathan Lippmann, who recently met Jeff Timmons. After Lippman talked Lachey and Justin Jeffre into moving to L.A., the foursome started singing everywhere they could. Lippmann left the group to start the Christian group True Vibe and was replaced by Nick's brother, Drew Lachey.

98 Degrees

main: 98 Degrees Other band members were his brother Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre and Jeff Timmons. 98 Degrees have released 4 albums to date. Their debut album was the self-titled 98 Degrees, however the band's first real success came with their follow up album 98 Degrees and Rising. Other albums include This Christmas and Revelation. In 2002, they released a compilation album "The Collection." Since the release of "The Collection" 98 Degrees has sold over 10 million records.

SoulO

On November 11, 2003, his solo debut album, SoulO, was released. Despite being released during the success of Newlyweds, the album was a commercial failure and received poor reviews.Fact: date=January 2007 He released two singles from the album: "This I Swear" (the theme song from Newlyweds) and "Shut Up", a pop track featured in Newlyweds as Lachey was making the video. The making of the music video for "Shut Up" was chronicled on the show Making the Video, and it starred Dax Shepard of Punk'd fame as well as Jennifer Morrison of House, M.D..

What's Left of Me

The first single from the album was the title track, "What's Left of Me", released on February 21, 2006. The song quickly became a hit, reaching a peak position of #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The subsequent album of the same name was released in May 2006, and debuted at # 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, once again thrusting Lachey into the spotlight. In June 2006, the single "What's Left of Me" hit #1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay. Soon after the release of the single "What's Left of Me", the media fired up speculation that the song's lyrics were about Lachey's divorce with Jessica Simpson. In the single's music video, Vanessa Minnillo, the MTV VJ and television personality, played Simpson's role, showcasing the last days of the couple's relationship. The music video for Lachey's second single off the album, "I Can't Hate You Anymore", debuted on MTV's TRL on July 26, 2006, peaking at #4. In the spring of 2006, the album What's Left of Me was RIAA certified Gold, after selling more than 500,000 copies domestically.