NEW YORK • He dated a Dream girl and now faces a nightmare. On Wednesday, Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter had to deny an allegation that he raped a teen pop singer 15 years ago.

Melissa Schuman, a member of girl group Dream in the late 1990s, claimed in a blog post earlier this month that he forced her to have oral sex and raped her in 2002.

She was 18 and he was 22 then.

She said she told him she was a virgin and did not want to have sex before marriage.

Carter, now 37, said in a statement that he is "shocked and saddened" by her accusations.

"Melissa never expressed to me while we were together, or at any time since, that anything we did was not consensual.

"It is contrary to my nature and everything I hold dear to intentionally cause someone discomfort or harm," he added.

Schuman left Dream in 2002.

After the band made a brief comeback in 2015, it folded again last year.

She wrote on her blog in a Nov 2 post that she had decided to come forward after women made accusations against other prominent men in entertainment and politics.

The Backstreet Boys were one of the biggest boybands of the late 1990s and early 2000s, with hits such as Quit Playing Games With My Heart. They performed in Singapore last month.

Carter and the band have a concert residency in Las Vegas that is scheduled to run through February.

Last month, an unnamed woman also accused him and a friend of sexual assault in 2006. Carter's representative said she "fabricated the claims" in hopes of getting money.

REUTERS