Justin Timberlake has managed to do what
is known in the trade as a 'George Michael.' No, not importuning
undercover cops in an LA park toilet but making the tricky transition
from boyband star to international solo superstar.
Timberlake was a natural performer who practically began dancing and
singing when he was still in diapers. He won his very first competition
as a young teenager and prophetically, it was a Dance Like New Kids On
The Block contest, indicating that young Justin was destined to join a
boy band.
Timberlake's relatively untroubled, middle class upbringing makes for an
unlikely, sexually charged R&B hero. He learnt to sing at his nearby
Baptist church in his hometown of Memphis when he was a child and he is
devoted to his mum, just like Memphis' other famous son, Elvis Presley
with whom Justin shares the same love of food. His favourite is peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches although hopefully not the 15ft long
incarnation that Elvis loved.
"We have a very special relationship,'' Timberlake says of his mum.
"She's been my best friend since I figured out who I wanted to be.
With girls, you keep searching for somebody as good as your mother, and
that's a losing battle.'' Lovingly (or disturbingly) enough, Timberlake
has a tattoo on his back of an angel holding a banner that bears his
mum's initials.
Born on January 31, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee, Justin Randall
Timberlake's first 'paid gig' was at the age of 12 when he became a
member of Disney TV's The New Mickey Mouse Club, (where he first met
future girlfriend Britney
Spears). He had made his TV debut a few years earlier on an '80s
talent show, Star Search. He lost but instead of slinking away to a life
of fry ups and chocolate éclairs in typical Rik Waller fashion, he kept
going.
It was at the new Mickey Mouse Club show
in Orlando, Florida that he met up with future *NSYNC bandmate JC Chasez
(and the walking advert for penicillin, Christina Aguilera).
Timberlake and Chasez met up again in
Nashville when working on separate solo projects but when they returned
to Orlando they agreed to join Chris Kirkpatrick's new venture which
would eventually become *NSYNC. Joey Fatone and Lance Bass would make up
the rest of the five piece and it was Justin's mum Lynne who came up
with the band's name by using the last letter in each boy's first name.
(Timberlake's parents split up when he was young although he remains
close to both. He has two step-brothers. He also had a twin sister,
Laura who died minutes after birth.)
Managed by former New Kids on the Block manager Johnny Wright, *NSYNC
were eventually formed in 1995. Enlisting hit pop producers Kristian
Lundin (Backstreet Boys), and Denniz Pop and Max Martin (Robyn, Ace Of
Base ), the team recorded a collection of teen-oriented pop/dance
tracks.
The band found success in Europe first on
the strength of their singles, I Want You Back and Tearin' Up My Heart.
A tour of American roller rinks introduced them to the US audience, as a
result of which I Want You Back became a US No.13 hit in May 1998. Their
self titled debut album was released in 1998 selling millions of copies
in Europe and the US
*NSYNC's 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. By now Timberlake had become the most
prominent member of the group owing to his personal relationship with Britney
Spears his elastic limbed dance moves.
For the band's third album, Celebrity,
released in 2001, Timberlake undertook co-writing and production duties
on some of the urban flavoured tracks which would presage his solo
material. With the boyband thing licked, Timberlake was ready to
temporarily branch out on his own for his highly anticipated solo
effort.
Timberlake's Justified album saw him hook up with prominent urban
songwriting and production heavyweights the Neptunes and Timbaland. He
co-wrote all of the material on Justified in a marked attempt to
distance himself from 'N Sync's adolescent fanbase and woo a more mature
audience. "This is much better than anything I've done with *NSYNC,"
he told Q magazine in 2003.
The album displayed a surprisingly
well-rounded appreciation of varying musical styles including R&B,
hip hop, rock, blues and country. "It's not like I set out to
create some new sound, I just wrote what I wanted to hear and drew
inspiration from the past," he says.
The debut single Like I Love You owed
more than a passing nod to Michael Jackson and featured verses provided
by the Neptunes' protégés the Clipse. The album also included a
collaboration with Michael's sister Janet (And She Said Take Me Now).
The album's standout single, Cry Me A River was rumoured to be about his
breakup with Britney
Spears.
The video featured a blonde Britney
lookalike and the song suggested it was the teen pop queen who had been
unfaithful. Timberlake seemed to cope with the breakup better than
Britney and was soon dating backing dancers and a host of Hollywood
starlets including Alyssa
Milano and more recently, Cameron
Diaz.
A 2003 appearance as a guest host on America's satirical TV show,
Saturday Night Live show led to a slew of film offers for our young
hero. He told Q magazine in 2003 that he had turned down a chance to
appear as the new Superman although he has already starred in a TV
movie, Model Behaviour and been importuned by the ferret-wigged Elton
John to play a young Elton in his video for This Train Don't Stop Here
Anymore.
He has also started his own organisation,
the Justin Timberlake Foundation to help provide funds for music
education in US public schools. Hip popster, in-demand actor and
philanthropist, like those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches he loves
so much, it's enough to make you sick isn't it?.
Timberlake had a cameo in the video for Nelly Furtado and Timbaland's single "Promiscuous". He released his second solo album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, on September 12, 2006. The album, which Timberlake created in 2005, debuted in the number one position on the Billboard chart, selling 684,000 copies its first week. It is the biggest album for pre-orders on iTunes, and beat Coldplay's record for the biggest one-week sales of a digital album. The album was produced by Timbaland and Danja (who produced a bulk of the album), will.i.am, Rick Rubin and Timberlake himself, and features guest vocals by Three 6 Mafia, T.I. and will.i.am. A studio representative described it as being "all about sexiness" and aiming for "an adult feel".
The album's lead single, "SexyBack", was performed by Timberlake at the opening of the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for seven consecutive weeks. "My Love", the album's second single, also produced by Timbaland and featuring rapper T.I., reached number one on the Hot 100, as did third single "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around Interlude". The song is reported to have been inspired by the break-up of his childhood friend and business partner, Trace Ayala, with actress Elisha Cuthbert. In October 2006, Timberlake said that he would focus on his music career rather than his film roles, specifying that leaving the music industry would be a "dumb thing to do at this point".
He was the special guest performer at the 2006 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for being where he sang Sexyback. In January 2007, Timberlake embarked on the FutureSex/LoveShow tour. "Summer Love/Set the Mood Prelude" was the fourth U.S. single off the album, and the next single in the UK was "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows Interlude". The song "Give It to Me", a Timbaland single on which Timberlake guests with Nelly Furtado, reached the Hot 100 number-one spot.
In April 2007, Timberlake was seen entering a London studio with Madonna, thus confirming rumors that he was collaborating with the pop star. He revealed that "we actually wound up with 5 or 6 really good songs, some finished, some unfinished, and we're gonna go back in July and finish some more stuff." When asked if he would be singing with Madonna, he said, "[p]ossibly, yeah!". The new single produced by Madonna, Timbaland and Justin is reported to be "4 Minutes" which Timbaland played at Philadelphia's Jingle Ball
In August 2007, Timberlake sold out two concerts at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, and then played two sold-out shows in Winnipeg at the MTS Centre.
In February 2008, Timberlake was awarded 2 Grammy Awards. At the 50th Grammy Awards Ceremony, Timberlake won the Male Pop Performance Award for "What Goes Around...Comes Around", and the Dance Recording Award for "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows".
