Justin Timberlake

Pop Musician

Justin Timberlake was first among equals in the 1990s teen band *NSYNC. Timberlake sang lead on many tracks of the band's multi-platinum albums, including *NSYNC (1998), No Strings Attached (2000) and Celebrity (2001), and his charisma and good looks made him a favorite with female fans. (His popularity was helped by his on-again, off-again romance with pop songstress Britney Spears.) Timberlake went solo with the 2002 album Justified, which established him as a hunky urban leading man in the early Mark Wahlberg mode. Justified won Grammy Awards for best pop vocal album and best male pop vocal performance for the single "Cry Me A River." His second album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, featured the hit single "SexyBack," and put Timberlake back in the spotlight in 2006. That same year he co-starred in two feature films, Black Snake Moan (with Christina Ricci) and Alpha Dog (with Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone).

Extra credit: Timberlake and fellow *NSYNC member J.C. Chasez were regular cast members (along with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera) on the 1990s TV revival of The Mickey Mouse Club... Timberlake found himself at the center of a public rhubarb in 2004, after he ripped off a portion of fellow singer Janet Jackson's costume, exposing her breast, during a halftime performance at the Super Bowl. He later apologized for the incident, attributing it to a "wardrobe malfunction"... Timberlake dated actress Cameron Diaz from 2003 through 2006.

Timberlake and Spears join Alexander the Great in our loop I'm Not Dead Yet!

Other popular singers of Timberlake's era: Usher, Jessica Simpson and Kid Rock.