Pretty soon, both groups were trying to get him to sign. And, more consequentially for Galasso, they hadn't yet signed any contracts. Meanwhile, 'N Sync was starting to fashion a look and they were talking about putting a showcase together for Disney's Pleasure Island. They even took a field trip to Shaquille O'Neal's house to check out his home studio in Orlando, but they had not yet recorded any music. So when Pearlman came over with "this European-style techno, I was just like, 'Hmm, okay.'" So, he went ahead and traveled with the other guys in Unreal to Atlanta to cut a demo, which he thought turned out great. ![]() "Because I remember, the first time Lou Pearlman brought over some music, he was thinking about the type of music that we would be doing, and I come from an R&B, hip-hop background. "But then I heard him sing, I'm like 'Oh, it doesn't matter how old he is, he can sing his butt off."Īt the same time, however, the bass singer was also in a three-man group called Unreal, "so I'm still trying to decide, you know, what I want to do, what direction I want to go in as far as which group I want to go with," Galasso, who's in the mortgage loan business these days, recalled. "I remember I'm like, 'Dang, Justin's young!'" he recalled. Coincidentally, he also knew Chasez because, as Galasso explained on The Digital Get Down podcast in 2019, he "used to kind of hang out with The Mickey Mouse Club" stars like Chase Hampton and Keri Russell.Īfter they "locked in perfectly" on a rendition of Boyz II Men's "End of the Road," that was it, he was in the as-yet unnamed group. That role was originally played by Jason Galasso, who had known Fatone from choir in their high school days and was dabbling in the singing-group arts when he got a page (1990s, FTW) out of nowhere from his old acquaintance. He went back with Chris and formed a group and little by little that spun off to eventually be 'N Sync."īut wait, Lance wasn't the first fifth member of 'N Sync! Pearlman and Timberlake picked the appropriately named 16-year-old up at the airport in the former's black Rolls Royce.īackstreet Boy Howie Dorough, who knew Kirkpatrick way back when, gave himself a little pat on the back later on for all this serendipity, telling Pop Crush in 2015 that BSB asked Pearlman "to help out in any way that he could and still fulfill his dream. Timberlake's vocal coach advised them to check out this kid from Mississippi, Lance Bass, who flew down to Florida on Oct. They continued the search in Orlando, and Kirkpatrick thought of Joey Fatone, 18, who he knew from his days performing at Universal Studios-and who Chasez knew from his time living in Florida when he was working for Disney. ![]() ("JC was the cool older guy, and Justin wanted to be just like him," co-star Christina Aguilera remembered fondly to Rolling Stone.) ![]() They eventually happened upon The All New- Mickey Mouse Club alum and aspiring singer Justin Timberlake, 14, who recommended fellow former Mouseketeer JC Chasez, 19. Pearlman agreed to put up the money if Kirkpatrick would do the work of actually finding other talented guys to join him, and so the sifting through demos and watching countless hours of tapes began. Not that global superstardom happened overnight.Īfter Chris Kirkpatrick, who was 23 at the time, was passed over for the Backstreet Boys-the first instance of shady impresario Lou Pearlman capturing boy band lightning in a bottle-he dusted himself off and told Pearlman he was still interested in being in a group. In 21 days he went from putting the finishing touches on the homecoming float at his Mississippi high school to performing at Disney World's Pleasure Island, 'N Sync's first real gig, on Oct. ![]() "It changed my life," Bass told EW.com in 2015, recalling the fateful day he got the call from Timberlake (who got Bass' name from his voice coach). As 'N Sync, the five lads would embark on one hell of a ride that resulted in not only global fame, fortune, eight Grammy nominations and millions of records sold, but which also altered the course of pop music history forever.Īnd all in just a few short years-though, obviously, it feels as if 'N Sync has always been a part of the fabric of our lives. 1 is the day-back in 1995, when he was 16-that Bass met JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and Justin Timberlakein Orlando, Fla., and was accepted into their fledgling boy band right away. It's been more than 25 years since Lance Bassmet those four "jackasses"-and we don't mean Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O.
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