ARTIST

*NSYNC

Orlando, Florida certainly appears to be the hotbed town for transplanted young male musical talent. The members of mega-hearthrob group *NSYNC, as well as their screech-inducing peers the Backstreet Boys, all emigrated from various parts of the country to converge in this land (well, World, to be exact) of Disney and ultimately become modern teen dreams.

Joshua "JC" Chasez and Justin Timberlake originally came to Florida to work as presenters for the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Show. Joey Fatone, a longtime pal of JC's, and Joey's co-worker Chris Alan were meanwhile holding down jobs at Universal Studios. The four got to know each other through their respective work and personal contacts, and, since all were interested in performing, decided to start their own group.

The boys began spending hours of their free time choreographing and practicing dance routines in a local studio. Their vocals didn't need quite as much fine-tuning; much to their delight, they found the four-part equation of their harmony almost perfect from the start. The only thing missing was a bass voice to ground the whole.

After an exhausting search for a suitable low-end vocalist, Justin finally decided to ask his own singing teacher for a suitable candidate. The coach promptly came up with the phone number of Lansten "Lance" Bass (yes, that's his real, very ironic, surname). Justin called immediately and talked the Mississippi-based singer onto a plane to Orlando for an audition, at which Lance's strong vocals won everyone over instantly. However, Lance, an academic sort who planned to work in a scientific field, wasn't too sure he wanted to join the group. It took some serious persuasion from the rest of the guys to convince him to give up music as a hobby and instead adopt it as a career. Of course, though, Lance finally did decide to join and finalize the *NSYNC lineup.

Perhaps Lance didn't quite know what he was getting into, but he most likely has no regrets regarding his decision. *NSYNC, named for the last letters of each member's first name (an idea that came from Justin's mom), hit the national top 10 almost from the minute they released their first single, "I Want You Back."

When not fending off lovestruck females, the five guys all enjoy winding down much like any other young men their age - by playing video games and shooting hoops out in front of the house JC, Chris, and Justin share.

Written by Wendy Hermanson