Formed about 5 years ago, ‘N Sync was started by member Chris Kirkpatrick, 28, while he was working the scene in Orlando, Florida. In Orlando, he ran into Justin Timberlake, 19, who then brought in JC Chasez, 23, his former fellow Mouseketeer from “The New Mickey Mouse Club.” They soon hooked up with Joey Fatone, 23, who was trying to stay in the business by working as a Walt Disney World performer, and whom they continually ran into in the Orlando club scene. But they decided they needed a bass to balance the vocals, and in came Lance Bass (pronounced like the fish), 21, who was a student of Timberlake’s former vocal coach. The newly formed group was given their moniker from Timberlake’s mother by taking the last letter of each of their first names. (Supposedly, before Lance joined, another guy named Jason was in the group, but he quit early on, thinking they wouldn’t get anywhere. After Lance joined the group, he was given the nickname “Lansten” to make the “’N Sync” work.)
The boys soon hooked up with manager Lou Pearlman, who was also the former manager of the Backstreet Boys, and was the manager behind that “Real World”/”Survivor” hybrid, “Making the Band.” Pearlman owned a company that used to fly grandpa boy band New Kids on the Block, and witnessing their immense success (cash, and fame), decided to form his own boy bands. After some “image consulting” for the boys, and hooking up with pop producer maven Denniz Pop, they released their self-titled debut album with little fanfare. While they achieved relative success over in Germany and Europe, they were virtually unknown in the States.
Spring 1998: the Spice Girls and Hanson have already done wonders for the phoenix-like rising of pop music, and now the Backstreet Boys are making their way with their saccharine pop ballads and their strangely catchy and danceable “Backstreet’s Back.” Enter ‘N Sync’s “I Want You Back” and the rest is history. Sort of. The guys achieve some success with their first U.S. single, but their real hit is with the next single, “Tearin’ Up My Heart.” Now the rest is history. With follow-up hits in “God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You” and “I Drive Myself Crazy” as well as an American Music Award in 1999 for Best New Pop/Rock Group, ‘N Sync was giving the Backstreet Boys some serious competition in the title for most popular (or overplayed) boy band. And while their faces were all over the teen magazines and MTV, ‘N Sync soon disappeared to start on their second album.
While they were releasing hits with Gloria Estefan, ‘N Sync ran into some legal troubles right before the release of their follow-up album. In their now famous battle with their former record label BMG and manager Pearlman, they sued Pearlman for essentially trying to play the puppetmaster, taking as much advantage and money from them as possible, and even trying to take their name. After the settlement of the case, they were able to head over to the home-for-pop label Jive (which handles Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears) and release No Strings Attached on March 21 with no major problems, other than the fact that the lines to buy the albums were too long. Their first single “Bye Bye Bye” became an instant hit, and even those who formerly hated the band now admit to finding the tune catchy and enjoyable. ‘N Sync can even comment back on the accusations that they are a factory-produced group that writes none of their own music – they co-wrote many of the songs on the album, and some of the guys even have producing credits on the album. Now, with the success of the sophomore album, which sold 2 million copies on the first day and is still making a whole lot of cash, the guys are working on finishing up their hugely successful tour as well as pursuing some individual projects.
