joanna's space

It's hard to say exactly when Justin Timberlake got hot (but my money's on when he shaved off all that cutesy hair). Within a couple of years he'd gone from one of the squeaky clean N*Sync boys to a tough, tattooed solo artist with serious cred. And (in case you missed it) seriously hot.

Justin Timberlake is a Southern Success story. Born and raised in Tennesee (his b'day is 31st January 1981), JT was born talented. Of course you're too young to remember, but he got his start with Britney and Christina in the Mickey Mouse Club (must've been a rough childhood!). Back then he was a curly-haired ball of all-singing, all-dancing energy. Not much changed between then and his *NSYNC days, really. JT met fellow *NSYNC-er J.C Chasez on the Mickey Mouse Club and in 1996 they went global with their self-titled album selling millions of copies.

*NSYNC were highly successful around the same time as boy bands like Backstreet Boys and Westlife. It was the late nineties, and probably the only hey-day boy bands will ever get to enjoy. So let's skip along a little to where JT went solo (and lost those locks).

Justin released his first solo album. 'Justified', in 2002. It went straight to no.1 in the UK charts, and we didn't think too badly of it here either where 'Justified' finished up at no. 4 in the 2003 ARIA dance/urban release chart. JT's second album, FutureSex/LoveSounds signals a sexier change. First he brought "Sexy Back" and now he's bringing the gorgeous Scarlett Johansson to our screens with the "What goes around... comes around" clip.

I know I mentioned that he's talented, but have I said multi-talented yet? Not only is JT leading the game in dance music, but he can act (he's set to be the voice of a young King Arthur in Shrek the Third) and he has his own fashion label with his BFF Trace Alaya called William Rast. And as if you needed more convincing of the greatness that is Justin Timberlake, check this out for proof of sweetness : William Rast is named after JT and Trace's grandfathers. Aww.