'''Justin Randall Timberlake''' (born January 31, 1981) is a two-time Grammy Award-winning American pop/R&B singer and aspiring actor. He came to fame as the frontman of pop boy band 'N Sync. In 2002, he released his debut solo album, ''Justified'', which went on to sell over seven million copies worldwide. Timberlake's second solo release, ''FutureSex/LoveSounds'', is slated to be released September 12, 2006.
Biography
Early life
Timberlake was born and raised in Shelby Forest just outside of Memphis, Tennessee to Randall Timberlake and Lynn Bomar; his paternal grandfather, Charles L. Timberlake, was a Baptist minister, but Timberlake considers himself more "spiritual than religious".
His parents are now divorced and both have re-married; his mother, who now runs an entertainment company called JustinTime Entertainment, has re-married to Paul Harless, a banker, while his father, a choir director at a Baptist church, has two children, Jonathan and Stephen, from his second marriage.
Timberlake grew up in Millington, a small town just north of Memphis. He is of Irish and German descent. In 1993, He got his first 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, perhaps most importantly, future bandmate JC Chasez. When the show ended in 1995, Timberlake recruited Chasez to be in a new all-male singing group he was forming with friend Chris Kirkpatrick. The group would come to be known as 'N Sync.
1995-2002: '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 carreer 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.
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. He hoped the album would shed him of his squeaky-clean boyband image in favor of a sexier, more mature look and sound. Around this same time, in March of 2002, Timberlake split from long-time girlfriend and fellow popstar Britney Spears. The break-up heavily influenced Timberlake's writing for his upcoming album, as many songs touched on the topic, most notably the hit single "Cry Me A River".
2002-2004: ''Justified'' era
thumb|left|180px|''Justified'', 2002
On August 29, 2002, after months of recording the album, Timberlake gave a performace at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, where he premiered his first
