Jesse McCartney Performs at Thanksgiving Football Game in Detroit

Generation Gap: Who is Jesse McCartney?

Jesse McCartney? Who in the world is Jesse McCartney?

There was this teenager (?) singing on my television screen during the halftime performance of the Tennessee Titans and Detroit Lions Thanksgiving football game. His name appeared at the bottom of the screen: Jesse McCartney.

Never heard of him.

Being far older than the aforementioned singer, my mind first went to Paul McCartney. Pardon - Sir Paul McCartney. Perhaps this young man was a son, a relative? I knew I was showing my age, so I was thankful (remember, it's Thanksgiving) that no one was around to notice my pop culture knowledge gap.

So I did what any normal person in dire need of information on a topic one has never heard of does these days. I jumped to Wikipedia.org.

It turns out that, trivia nut that I am, I had somehow missed a rising actor, a boy band singer, and multi-platinum selling solo recording artist. Jesse McCartney, it turned out, was 21 (not a teenager) and had done quite well for himself over the past decade.

And I had somehow missed him. Avid fan of "TMZ" and "Entertainment Tonight," talk shows and award shows, I had still managed to miss this guy. I have teenagers in the home who watch "Hannah Montana" and all those other Disney and Nickelodeon tween shows and I still somehow managed to miss this guy.

Jesse McCartney.

For those like me, totally clueless as to why this young man was performing during halftime at one of the most watched television events of the year, let me fill you in. McCartney, who is not related to Sir Paul, has been on stage since he was a child. He was part of a boy band, Dream Street, for three years beginning in 1999. He has released three solo albums, the first of which, "Beautiful Soul," sold over five million copies. He promoted his latest, "Departure," with Jordin Sparks, "American Idol" for Season 6, on a summer tour that ended in September.

He is also dating actress Danielle Panabaker.