Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981), occasionally known by his initials JT, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer.
Raised in Tennessee, he appeared on the television shows Star Search and The All-New Mickey Mouse Club as a child. In the late 1990s, Timberlake rose to prominence as one of the two lead vocalists and youngest member of NSYNC, which eventually became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.
Timberlake began to adopt a more mature image as an artist with the release of his debut solo album, the R&B-focused Justified (2002), which yielded the successful singles "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body", and earned his first two Grammy Awards.
Toronto Musician Francesco Yates Talks Getting Mick Jagger To Dance, Winning Over Drake, Touring With Justin Timberlake & Getting Life-Changing Advice From Paul McCartney
etcanada.comIt’s one thing to have the moves like Jagger — it’s another to wow Mick Jagger so much he starts dancing in the studio. However, such pinch-me moments have become common for “Sugar” singer Francesco Yates, whose musical rise has also seen him make his mark with Drake, tour with Justin Timberlake, and get memorable advice from Sir Paul McCartney. “I feel like people think I’m lying about some of these stories, but I’m not,” laughs the Scarborough, Canada, native, speaking to us before performing at California’s Shoreline Amphitheatre, opening for the Backstreet Boys on their “DNA” world tour. “I feel very lucky.” The 26-year-old musician’s also pinching himself about being back touring after COVID-19 brought his star-studded climb to a halt.
Of course, the pandemic couldn’t dim the drive of a performer who was just two when he began singing and strumming away at a toy guitar.
Mesmerized by the Led Zeppelin, D’Angelo and TLC CDs his father played, Yates attended a music camp where he “fell in love” with live performance at 11. “It was one of the only things where I felt I knew what I was doing,” he recalls. “It felt like home.” READ MORE: Backstreet Boys Stop Their Indiana Concert For A Fainting Fan In The Crowd Learning Beethoven on a piano his parents bought him, Yates left school to pursue music, having realized he was too short for his other passion – basketball.
By then, he’d become enamoured by the “larger-than-life musicality” of Freddie Mercury, Steve Perry, Marvin Gaye, and Prince. “I love the whole Minneapolis sound and the versatility Prince had,” says Yates, whose vocal coach helped him get signed by Nelly Furtado’s manager Chris Smith. “I saw him live twice and it taught me about simplicity and space.
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