Nicholas John McCarthy (born 13 December 1974) is an English-German musician. His main focus is on songwriting and song production. He is also a guitarist, singer and keyboard player. McCarthy was a founding member of the Glasgow-based band Franz Ferdinand, and remained until his departure in 2016.

McCarthy was born in Blackpool, England. He grew up in Vagen near Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The artist Anna McCarthy is his younger sister. As a teenager he stole a car with friends and since then has been nicknamed "McCarThief". He graduated from High School in Bad Aibling and was trained classically as a pianist and double bassist at the Munich Conservatory.

On 2 July 2005, McCarthy married his Austrian fiancée Manuela Gernedel in Bavaria, Germany. Franz Ferdinand turned down a Live 8 spot so that the pair could marry. They have two children.

Before his breakthrough with Franz Ferdinand, Nick McCarthy was a member of the bands Kamerakino and the jazz band Scatter. He also played double bass, cello and Arabic lute in the band Embryo, whose music is described as a "fusion of jazz, rock and ethnic world music".

He is active in numerous bands and music projects and works as songwriter and producer at "Flokati Studios" in Munich as well as at "Sausage Studios" in Hackney Lane in London.

The Flokati Studios, founded in 2020, are where Nick McCarthy works with the musician Mario Schönhofer among others. He co-founded Sausage Studios with Sebastian Kellig in 2012.

In 2001 McCarthy moved to Glasgow. There he met vocalist and lead guitarist Alex Kapranos at a party. The two met up with Paul Thomson who had played drums with The Yummy Fur. With the addition of Bob Hardy, the band became Franz Ferdinand. Although McCarthy was classically trained on the piano and double bass, he initially tried his hand on drumming but then became the band's guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist and (co-)songwriter.

McCarthy left the band in 2016 to focus on family matters and other musical projects.