Justin Timberlake
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Like Spears (who Timberlake became romantically involved with), Aguilera, and *NSYNCs JC Chasez, Timberlake got his start on the Disney Channels 90s version of The Mickey Mouse Club. Timberlake and Chasez were on The Mickey Mouse Club simultaneously in their pre-*NSYNC days, and they kept working together when *NSYNC was formed. *NSYNC got started in Orlando, FL, in 1996, when Timberlake and Chasez teamed up with Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick, and Joey Fatone. Released by RCA/BMG in 1998, the vocal quintets self-titled debut album sold millions of copies in both the United States and Europe and contained the smash hits I Want You Back and Tearing Up My Heart. *NSYNCs second album, No Strings Attached, was released on Jive in 2000 and was even more commercially successful; No Strings Attached went double platinum in only one week, and the singles Bye Bye Bye and This I Promise You became major hits.
Jive released Celebrity, *NSYNCs third album, in 2001, and after that, Timberlake started recording as a solo artist. The singer had performed live as a solo artist before *NSYNC, but it wasnt until the early 2000s that he actually recorded an album as a solo act. Justified, Timberlakes first solo album, was released on Jive in November 2002. Like I Love You, the albums first single, became a major hit and was followed by a second single, Cry Me a River (not to be confused with the melancholy Arthur Hamilton standard that was a hit for the late jazz singer/actress Julie London in 1955). Now a bona fide star -- the album had reached number two on the Billboard 200 -- and heartthrob to millions of girls, Timberlake continued his success by appearing on the Black Eyed Peas smash hit Where Is the Love? and in the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXVIII, where he pulled off part of co-performer Janet Jacksons top in the now infamous wardrobe malfunction incident. That event, however, didnt stop him from winning two Grammys that year, and though he stayed out of the studio for a few years in order to concentrate on acting opportunities, Timberlake returned to the music world in 2006 with his Prince-inspired FutureSex/LoveSounds, which featured production work from Timbaland and Rick Rubin, and was followed by a brief club tour.
