Justin Timberlake

Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Prince of Pop", Billboard honored him as the best performing male solo act on Pop Airplay and one of the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century. Timberlake remains among the best-selling recording artists of all time, with sales of over 117 million records worldwide. His awards include ten Grammy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, three Brit Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, the Contemporary Icon Award by the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and MTV's Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. He has frequently collaborated with producers such as The Neptunes and Timbaland. Justin Randall Timberlake was born on January 31, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Janet Lynn (Bomar) Harless and Charles Randall Timberlake, a Baptist church choir director. Timberlake has two half-brothers, Jonathan and Stephen, from Charles' second marriage to Lisa Perry. His half-sister Laura Katherine died shortly after birth in 1997, and is mentioned in his acknowledgments in the album NSYNC as "My Angel in Heaven". His family circle includes several musicians; his grandfather introduced him to music from country music artists like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Performing as a child, Timberlake sang country and gospel music: at the age of 11, he appeared on the television show Star Search, performing country songs as "Justin Randall". By that time, he began listening to rhythm and blues musicians from the 1960s and 70s, Wonder and Marvin Gaye, and he had listening sessions with his father of studio albums by the Eagles and Bob Seger. From 1993 to 1995, he was a Mouseketeer on The All New Mickey Mouse Club, where his castmates included future girlfriend and singer Britney Spears, future tourmate Christina Aguilera, future bandmate JC Chasez, and future actors Ryan Gosling and Keri Russell.