'N Sync
Shortly after their breakthrough, *NSYNC fought a court battle against their manager citing mismanagement. *NSYNC left Lou to be managed by Johnny Wright of Wright Entertainment Group. Their defining album, No Strings Attached, released shortly thereafter, proved that the boys were back in business.
The group produces a blend of pop, dance, and R&B that they call "dirty pop". No Strings Attached was the first to feature this type of music; they gave the style of music a name with their latest album Celebrity.
Their debut album, released by BMG, did well in Europe and the US as did the seasonal Home For Christmas. After moving from BMG to Jive Records, No Strings Attached, released in March 2000, sold 2.4 million copies in its first week of release—the highest record sales in music history (1.1 million of which was attributed to the first day of release). Their fourth album, Celebrity comes in at number two, with 1.8 million records sold in its first week. Their albums have been boosted by a number of successful single releases, including "Tearin' Up My Heart" from *NSYNC, "Music Of My Heart" recorded with Gloria Estefan for the movie Music of the Heart, "Bye Bye Bye", "It's Gonna Be Me" and "This I Promise You" from No Strings Attached. Recent hits such as "Gone" and "Girlfriend" have expanded the group's influence and fan base into the hip-hop crowd as well.
Currently, the group is on hiatus. Justin released a solo album, Justified on November 4, 2002; JC released his solo album, Schizophrenic, on February 24, 2004. Chris closed his clothing business, Fuman Skeeto, Lance didn't go into space, and Joey is acting in movies (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and on Broadway (Rent). According to JC, they plan to start submitting songs to each other in the spring of 2004, with an album release slated for Q4 of 2004. These plans have likely been pushed back as JC has scheduled a club tour for the spring of 2004.
