Justin Timberlake

Birth name
Justin Randall Timberlake
Born
January 31, 1981 (1981-01-31) (age 26) Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Genre(s)
Pop, dance, R&B, hip pop
Occupation(s)
Singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, actor
Years active
1995–present
Label(s)
Jive
Associatedacts
'N Sync, Timbaland, Nelly Furtado, will.i.am, Britney Spears, Esmée Denters
Website
JustinTimberlake.com

Biography

Early life
Timberlake was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Randall Timberlake and Lynn (née Bomar). He has British ancestry.[2] His paternal grandfather, Charles L. Timberlake, was a Baptist minister, and Timberlake was raised in the Baptist religion, although he considers himself more "spiritual than religious", though still a Christian.[3][4] His parents divorced about 1985 and both have remarried; his mother, who now runs an entertainment company called JustinTime Entertainment, remarried to Paul Harless, a banker, when Justin was aged 5; while his father, a choir director at a Baptist church, has two children, Jonathan (born c. 1993) and Stephen (born c. 1998), from his second marriage to Lisa. A half-sister, Laura Katherine, died shortly after birth in 1997 and is mentioned on one of Timberlake's record acknowledgments as "My Angel in Heaven".
Timberlake grew up in Millington, a small town just north of Memphis. His first attempts at a singing career saw him singing country music songs on Star Search as "Justin Randall". In 1993, he got a real taste of fame when he joined the ranks of The Mickey Mouse Club. There he met future girlfriend and pop superstar Britney Spears, future tourmate Christina Aguilera, and future bandmate JC Chasez. When the show ended in 1995, Timberlake recruited Chasez to be in a new all-male singing group Lou Pearlman (an Orlando swindler, now indicted on criminal charges of investment fraud) was forming with Chris Kirkpatrick. The group would come to be known as *NSYNC. In 1999 Justin acted as Jason Sharpe in the made-for-TV movie Model Behavior.

1995–2002: 'N Sync
Main article: 'N Sync
Timberlake was a member of the popular 1990s boy band, 'N Sync, and was considered a teen idol. The group formed in 1995 and started their career 1996 in Germany and hit it big in the States two years later in 1998, eventually releasing the fastest-selling album of all time, No Strings Attached in 2000.[5] In 2002, after the completion of their Celebrity Tour and release of "Girlfriend", the third single from their 2001 album Celebrity, the group decided to take time off, at which point Timberlake began work on his first solo album. The album signaled a transition from his squeaky-clean boy band image to a sexier, more mature look and feel.
Looking back at those days concerning the management by Lou Pearlman, Timberlake said 24 September 2006 in an interview with magazine Rolling Stone: "I was being monetarily raped by a Svengali".[6]

2002–2004: Justified and Super Bowl
See also: Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy
In August 2002, after months of recording the album, Timberlake performed at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, where he premiered his first single, "Like I Love You", a sparse dance track produced by The Neptunes. The song reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Following the single, Timberlake released his debut solo album, Justified, on November 5, 2002. The album was also a success, despite selling considerably less than previous 'N Sync efforts. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 439,000 copies in its first week of release. It eventually went on to sell over 3 million copies in the U.S. and over 7 million copies worldwide.[7] The album contained several tracks which were created to be part of Michael Jackson's Invincible album but did not make it to the final selection of songs used for it. The album also received critical acclaim, thanks to its heavy R&B influence provided by hip-hop producers The Neptunes and Timbaland. It spun off hits throughout late 2002 and 2003, including the top ten singles "Cry Me A River" and "Rock Your Body".
Timberlake supported the album by co-headlining the Justified/Stripped Tour with Christina Aguilera in the summer of 2003. For many dates, The Black Eyed Peas served as the opening act; Timberlake appeared uncredited on their smash hit "Where Is The Love?" which was also released in the summer of 2003. His record company did not want Timberlake to be credited for fear that it would take focus away from his solo releases; still, Timberlake often appeared with The Black Eyed Peas to perform the track live, including during the 2003 MTV Europe Music Awards. By the end of the year, Timberlake recorded a song entitled "I'm Lovin' It." It was used by McDonald's as the theme to their "I'm Lovin' It" campaign. The deal with McDonald's earned Timberlake an estimated $6 million.[8]
In February 2004, during the halftime show of the Super Bowl XXXVIII, Timberlake performed with Janet Jackson before a television audience of over 140 million viewers. At the end of the performance, Timberlake tore off a part of Jackson's black leather costume in a "costume reveal" meant to accompany a portion of the song lyrics, "gonna have you naked by the end of this song". Part of the costume became detached, and Jackson's breast was briefly exposed. Timberlake apologized for the incident saying that he was "sorry that anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance of the Super Bowl... It was not intentional and is regrettable".[9] The phrase "wardrobe malfunction" has since been used by the media to refer to the incident and has entered pop culture.
As a result of the controversy, Timberlake and Jackson were banned from the 2004 Grammy Awards unless they agreed to apologize on screen at the event. Jackson, who already gave a public apology declined to issue a second one. Timberlake attended and issued a scripted apology while accepting the first of two Grammy Awards he received that night (Best Pop Vocal Album for Justified and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Cry Me A River"),causing some from the Black entertainment community to label him a "punk" and"sell out" and call for his "Black Pass" to be revoked.[10] He had also been nominated for Album of the Year for Justified, Record of the Year for "Cry Me A River", and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Where Is The Love?" with The Black Eyed Peas.

2004–2006: Collaborations and acting
After the Super Bowl controversy, Timberlake put his recording career on hold in an attempt to jumpstart his acting career. Timberlake had a few minor acting roles during his early music career, including a bit part as a model in the 2000 made-for-television film Model Behavior, and a cameo in the 2001 film On the Line, but was seeking more substantial roles. The first role he took during this time was as a journalist in the thriller Edison Force, which was filmed in 2004 and received a direct-to-video release on July 18, 2006. He also appeared in the films Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan, Richard Kelly's Southland Tales, and voiced a young King Arthur in the animated film Shrek the Third, released on May 18th, 2007. He also appeared as a young Elton John, in the video for John's song, "This Train Don't Stop There Anymore".
Meanwhile, he continued to record with other artists. After "Where Is The Love?", he again collaborated with the Black Eyed Peas on the 2005 track "My Style" from their album Monkey Business. Additionally, Timberlake was featured on Nelly's song, "Work It", which was remixed and included on Nelly's 2003 remix album. When recording the 2005 single "Signs" with Snoop Dogg, Timberlake discovered a throat condition. Nodules were subsequently removed from his throat[11] in an operation that took place on May 5, 2005. He was advised not to sing or speak loudly for at least a few months. In the summer of 2005, Timberlake started his own record company, JayTee Records.

2006–present: FutureSex/LoveSounds

Timberlake at concert in St. Paul, Minnesota (2007)
Timberlake had a cameo in Nelly Furtado and Timbaland's video for her single "Promiscuous". He released his second solo album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, on September 12, 2006. The album, which Timberlake created in 2005,[12] debuted in the number one position on the Billboard chart, selling 684,000 copies its first week. The album is also the biggest album ever 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,[13] 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".[11] The album's lead single, "SexyBack", was performed by Timberlake at the opening of the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. It began receiving radio and Internet play on July 7, 2006, and premiered at #90 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles and by week nine it reached number one, where it remained for seven consecutive weeks.[14] "My Love", the album's second single, also produced by Timbaland and featuring rapper T.I., reached number one on the Hot 100 for the week ending November 11, 2006. Timberlake performed the album's third single "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around Interlude" on the December 16, 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live, the same week it debuted at #64 on the Billboard Hot 100. 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.[15] In October of 2006, Timberlake confirmed 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".[14] Justin was featured in the 2006 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for being the special guest performer. Timberlake performed the first single SexyBack at the first part of the show, and later performed a medley of My Love and LoveStoned/I Think She Knows Interlude. In January 2007, Timberlake embarked on the FutureSex/LoveShow tour. According to the sweetescape.com, Summer Love/Set the Mood Prelude is confirmed to be his fourth single off the album as it already has charted on the Pop 100 Airplay at #1.[16] According to Justin's official UK site, the next single in the UK is "LoveStoned/I Think She Knows Interlude".[17] The singles What Goes Around.../...Comes Around Interlude, and Give It To Me also reached the number 1 spot, the former just one week, and the latter two weeks atop The Billboard Hot 100. In April 2007, Timberlake was seen entering a London studio with Madonna, thus confirming rumors that he was collaborating with the pop star. Justin 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." And asked if he would be singing with Madonna, he said, "Possibly, yeah!"[18]

Other work

Timberlake in the video for "Dick in a Box."
Timberlake has opened several restaurants in the United States. In 2005 he launched the William Rast clothing line, sold in Bloomingdale's, with childhood friend Trace Ayala. The 2007 line will contain cord jackets, cashmere sweaters, jeans and polo shirts.[19] In 2004, ABC hired Timberlake to write a song for its NBA coverage. In October of 2005, the Grammy Association awarded Timberlake for humanitarian efforts in Tennessee, alongside writer/director Craig Brewer, also a Memphis native.
Near the end of 2002, Timberlake was the first celebrity to appear on Punk'd, a "candid camera" type show created by Ashton Kutcher to trick celebrities. Three episodes later, he set up Kelly Osbourne to be "punk'd", thus making him the first celebrity to appear on the show more than once. Timberlake later spoofed Ashton Kutcher and Punk'd in a 2003 episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live. In 2006 he hosted the European MTV Music Awards. On December 16, 2006, he hosted Saturday Night Live, doing double duty as both host and musical guest for the second time. During this appearance, he and Andy Samberg performed an R&B song for a skit entitled "Dick in a Box," which some radio stations have aired as an unofficial single from Timberlake. Apart from Nite Runner, Justin Timberlake are recording another track with Duran Duran, called Falling Down.
Timberlake is going make an appearance on 50 Cent's third album Curtis with Timbaland for a track called "AYO Technology", which will be the album's fourth single.[20]. Also, another possible collaboration will occur with Lil Wayne for his upcoming album Tha Carter III with Nelly Furtado and Timbaland. [21]

Personal life

Timberlake golfing in 2006.
Two early teen romances, first to a school sweetheart and then to aspiring pop singer Veronica Finn predated intense media interest, but both ended unhappily. Timberlake then entered a high-profile celebrity relationship with fellow pop singer Britney Spears, with whom he had worked on the New Mickey Mouse Club. This ended abruptly in March 2002, amidst allegations of Spears' infidelity with choreographer Wade Robson, a mutual friend of Spears and Timberlake. Lynn Harless says as a mother she too was devastated regarding the break-up, but to this day speaks warmly of Spears, "Britney grew up on my living room floor. I still love her to death. They (Justin and Britney) were together 10 or 11 years and had, from day one, instant chemistry between them. She's a sweet girl. I just hate what she's going through now." The breakup influenced the lyrics and theme of Timberlake's hit "Cry Me A River", one of the most popular singles from Justified.[22]
Timberlake later dated actress-dancer Jenna Dewan (in mid-2002) and actress-singer Alyssa Milano (between September and October of 2002). Timberlake began dating actress Cameron Diaz soon after they met at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in April 2003. Regular rumours of break-ups reported in the tabloid press were invariably denied.[23][24] On the December 16, 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live, Diaz introduced Timberlake as the night's musical guest, and the couple actually did split up shortly afterwards. They issued a joint statement on January 11, 2007:[25]
“
It has always been our preference not to comment on the status of our relationship, but, out of respect for the time we've spent together, we feel compelled to do so now, in light of recent speculation and the number of inaccurate stories that are being reported by the media. We have, in fact, ended our romantic relationship and have done so mutually and as friends, with continued love and respect for one another.[26]
”
In January 2007, Timberlake was linked to Jessica Biel when pictures surfaced of the two snowboarding in Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival. On May 12, 2007, the gossip was refueled with the release of romantic pictures of Timberlake and Biel on multiple dates, specifically caught kissing while dining in the UK accompanied by producer/mogul Timbaland and the Manchester United footballer Alan Smith.[27][28] Timberlake was given Sexiest Man titles by Teen People and Cosmopolitan magazines.