*NSYNC is a five-part pop music vocal group, specifically a boy band, formed in Orlando, Florida, USA. The group members are James Lance Bass, Joshua Scott Chasez (JC), Joseph Anthony Fatone Junior (Joey), Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick (Chris), and Justin Randall Timberlake. The group formed in 1995 under the funding of Lou Pearlman, who hired Johnny Wright (former manager of New Kids On The Block ) to be their tour manager. Lance Bass was not originally part of the group. The bass part was sung by Jason Watkins. Jason left the group early on because he did not like the type of music they were singing. The logic behind the name *NSYNC came from Justin's mother, Lynn Harless. It was created from the last letter of each member's name: Justin, Chris, Joey, Jason, and JC. After Lance joined, the group claimed to call him "Lansten" so his name would fit in the *NSYNC acronym.

Shortly after their breakthrough, *NSYNC fought a court battle against their manager citing mismanagement. *NSYNC left Lou to be managed by Johnny Wright of Wright Entertainment Group . Their defining album, No Strings Attached, released shortly thereafter, proved that the boys were back in business.

The group produces a blend of pop, dance, and R&B that they call "dirty pop". No Strings Attached was the first to feature this type of music; they gave the style a name with their latest album Celebrity.

Their debut album, released by BMG, did well in Europe and the US as did the seasonal Home For Christmas. After moving from BMG to Jive Records, No Strings Attached, released in March 2000, sold 2.4 million copies in its first week of release—the highest record sales in music history (1.1 million of which was attributed to the first day of release). Their fourth album, Celebrity comes in at number two, with 1.8 million records sold in its first week. Their albums have been boosted by a number of successful single releases, including "Tearin' Up My Heart" from *NSYNC, "Music Of My Heart" recorded with Gloria Estefan for the movie Music of the Heart, "Bye Bye Bye", "It's Gonna Be Me" and "This I Promise You" from No Strings Attached. Recent hits such as "Gone" and "Girlfriend" have expanded the group's influence and fan base into the hip-hop crowd as well.

Currently, the group is on hiatus. Justin released a solo album, Justified on November 4, 2002; JC released his solo album, Schizophrenic, on February 24, 2004. Chris closed his clothing business, Fuman Skeeto . Lance abandoned his plans to be the first celebrity in space. Joey is acting in movies (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and on Broadway (Rent). According to JC, they plan to start submitting songs to each other in the spring of 2004, with an album release slated for Q4 of 2004. These plans have likely been pushed back as JC has scheduled a club tour for the spring of 2004.

Discography

• NSYNC (1998, RCA/BMG) #2 US, #30 UK
• Home For Christmas (1998, RCA/BMG) #7 US
• No Strings Attached (2000, Jive) #1 US, #14 UK
• Celebrity (2001, Jive) #1 US, #12 UK

Hit singles

• 1997 "Tearin' Up My Heart" #40 UK
• 1998 "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You" #8 US
• 1999 "I Want You Back" #13 US, #5 UK
• 1999 "Tearin' Up My Heart" (re-release) #9 UK
• 2000 "Music of My Heart" (with Gloria Estefan) #2 US, #34 UK
• 2000 "Bye Bye Bye" #4 US, #3 UK
• 2000 "I'll Never Stop" #13 UK
• 2000 "It's Gonna Be Me" #1 US, #9 UK
• 2000 "This I Promise You" #5 US, #21 UK
• 2001 "Pop" #19 US, #9 UK
• 2001 "Gone" #11 US, #24 UK
• 2002 "Girlfriend" #5 US, #2 UK

External link

• Official site http://www.nsync.com