Justin Timberlake was born on January 31, 1981 and is a Grammy Award winning singer. He first became famous as the lead singer of the 1990’s pop band ‘N Sync and later released a solo album in 2002 entitled Justified, selling over seven million copies worldwide.
Timberlake was born in Memphis, TN and began his entertainment career as a child, performing on Star Search and having a role in the Disney Channel variety show, The New Mickey Mouse Club. In 1996, Timberlake joined ‘N Sync, a five-part boy band that released four platinum albums in the U.S. and holds the record for the highest first week sales in music history, thanks to the strong debut of the group’s No Strings Attached album. In 2002, the group went on hiatus and Timberlake decided to launch a solo career.
In 2002, Timberlake released his debut solo album, Justified with lead single, “Like I Love You”, a song he performed at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. The album, which had more of an R&B feel to it as opposed to just pop, claimed the #2 spot on the Billboard Top 200, selling an estimated 439,000 copies in its first week of release. The album would go on to sell 3.5 million units in the U.S. and over 7 million worldwide. From 2002 to 2003, Timberlake would tour with Christina Aguilera on her Stripped tour.
Justin Timberlake has recently made an effort to trade his squeaky clean boy band teenage image for more of an edgy, sexualized persona. Since going solo, Timberlake as also collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas, Nelly, and Snoop Dogg. Timberlake’s biggest run-in with controversy came during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII in February of 2004. Performing with Janet Jackson in front of a TV audience of over 140 million viewers, Timberlake ripped off a part of Jackson’s black leather costume in a “costume reveal” meant to go along with a portion of his song’s (“Rock Your Body”) lyrics, “better have you naked by the end of this song”. The incident, referred to as the “wardrobe malfunction” was replayed countless times by the media.
In 2004, both Timberlake and Jackson were banned from the 2004 Grammy Awards, unless they consented to apologize for the “wardrobe malfunction” at the event. While Jackson declined, Timberlake attended and issued a scripted apology. That very night, Timberlake would take home two Grammy Awards, one for Best Pop Vocal Album for Justified and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Cry Me a River”. In the following year, Timberlake took a break from singing for a couple months to recover from an operation that removed nodules from his throat. In the summer of 2005, he founded his own record company, JayTee records. Timberlake also co-owns his own clothing line, William Rast, along with his close friend, Trace Ayala. Timberlake is currently dating popular actress, Cameron Diaz.
Timberlake is also an aspiring actor. He played a model in the 2000 made-for-TV film, Model Behavior, and in the following year, made an appearance in the film, On the Line, which starred fellow ‘N Sync member, Lance Bass. Timberlake will appear in several films in the near future, including Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan, Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales, Edison Force, and will also be the voice of a young King Arthur in the popular animated film, Shrek 3, scheduled to be released in 2007. Timberlake’s sophomore solo album, FutureSex/Love Sounds, is scheduled to be released on September 12 2006. The album, produced by Timbaland, Will.i.am, Rick Rubin, and Timberlake himself, includes guest vocals by Nelly Furtado and Snoop Dogg. The album’s lead single, SexyBack, first started to receive radio play in early July of 2006.
