Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake is an easily respected icon that moved the pop music industry to a whole new level. With his soulful charm and seductive vocals, it's not unheard of to refer to him as the prince of pop. Justin Randall Timberlake was born on January 31, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee. He had a strong musical influence in his upbringing, being introduced to gospel music by his father who was a baptist church choir director, and to country music by his grandfather, a country musician. He later started listening to classic R&B artists such as Marvin Gaye, Al Green, and Stevie Wonder. At age 11, Justin performed on a TV show called "Star Search". By 1993, he landed a role as a Mouseketeer on Disney's TV series "Micky Mouse Clubhouse," appearing alongside many other future stars like Britney Spears (which he ended up dating 1999-2002), Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, and future band mate, JC Chasez.

After getting some showtime as a Mouseketeer, Justin had other plans in mind to take his performances to a grander scale. In 1995, he recruited JC Chasez to join him in a pop boy band managed by Lou Pearlman, and thus NSYNC was born. The group began their career overseas in Europe, in 1996. They gained some notoriety and then obtained awareness in the USA when they released their self-titled debut album in 1998. It sold 11 million copies and contained the hit single "Tearin' Up My Heart." The group received good reviews and after successful building block years, they had no intent on stopping there. By the year 2000, NSYNC released their second studio album, "No Strings Attached," selling 2.4 million copies in the first week. The album was home for the hit song "It's Gonna Be Me." In the same year, Justin still had ties to Disney for acting when he landed a role in their TV movie "Model Behavior."

With NSYNC on hiatus by 2002, Timberlake kept his momentum and shifted his focus to solo projects. He partnered up with top-notch producers like Pharrell and Timbaland and started working on new music. These musical geniuses combined, ended up making one of the most respected pop albums in history, "Justified." The album contained hits like "Rock Your Body" and "Cry Me a River" which was rumored to be about Britney Spears. The project not only established Justin as a serious contender amongst other pop artists, but somewhat catapulted him to the top by being such a well rounded performer. In 2003, he set off with Christina Aguilera for the "Justified/Stripped" tour. In 2004, JT performed at the Super Bowl for the halftime show alongside Janet Jackson where a scandalous event occurred when JT ripped off a piece of clothing from Janets costume, revealing her breast. It is believed to be a part of the performance but fans and media didn’t take it that way. JT referred to it as a “wardrobe malfunction” and the term has been used by media ever since.

  After the embarrassing occurrence, JT thought it would be best to take a small break from music and gain more experience in his acting career. He appeared in movies such as “Alpha Dog” (2006) “Black Snake Moan” (2006) and “Shrek the Third” (2007). But by 2006, he also released his second studio album “FutureSex/LoveSounds,” putting him right back to the top of the Billboard charts. The album contained hits such as “SexyBack” and “My Love.” By 2008, Timberlake had won two Grammies corresponding to the album. One for “Best Male Pop Vocal Performance” for the song “What Goes Around Comes Around” and “Best Dance Recording” for “Love Stoned/ I Think That She Knows.”  He ventured on to co-write and produce other artists' projects such as Rihanna’s album “Good Girl Gone Bad” and feature on different songs by artists like Jay Z and T.I. He managed to balance his music and film career while still acting in movies like “The Social Network” (2010) “Bad Teacher” (2011) and “Friends with Benefits” (2011). In 2013, Justin released his third studio album “The 20/20 Experience” and to no surprise, was a hit to listeners worldwide and became the best-selling album of the year in the United States. The album delivered songs like “Suit and Tie” ft. Jay Z and “Mirrors” which is rumored to be about Timberlake’s current wife,  Actress, Jessica Biel. JT continued to retain success with his music and acting when he landed a lead role for the DreamWorks animated film, Trolls (2016) and its sequel “Trolls: World Tour (2020).  To the more present day, JT’s latest album is called “Man of The Woods” which was released in 2018 and is still working on films to be announced.