Lance Bass
It was just announced that former boy bander Lance Bass will be one of the contestants on the upcoming seventh season of Dancing with the Stars. It had been rumored that ABC might actually assign Lance a male dance partner (Lance came out as being gay two years ago), but he will be dancing with So You Think You Can Dance season 3 finalist Lacey Schwimmer.
James Lance Bass was born on May 4, 1979 in Laurel, Mississippi, but grew up in Ellisville, Mississippi. He had a happy childhood, describing his family as devoutly Christian and conservative. He sang in the choir of his Baptist church. After encouragement from friends, he joined the Mississippi Show Stoppers music group and the Attache Show Choir.
In his junior year of high school, Lance got a call from Justin Timberlake and his mom Lynn. They wanted to know if Lance wanted to join a group of which Justin was a member. Timberlake’s vocal coach had met Lance and recommended him as a replacement for Jason Galasso. Soon Lance moved to Orlando, Florida to rehearse with the rest of ‘N Sync. The band was signed to a record deal with RCA in 1997. After their first single, “I Want You Back,” they achieved fame as a boy band, although they eventually broke with manager Lou Pearlman and sued him for illicit business practices. The band went on to make the fastest-selling record of all time – No Strings Attached – which sold 1.1 million the day it was released. In 2002, the band went on hiatus so Timberlake could record a solo album. They have not recorded any new material since, with Timberlake seemingly closed to the idea of a reunion.
Even before N’ Sync quit recording music; Lance showed an interest in acting. He appeared on 7th Heaven in 2000. In 2001, he starred in the movie On the Line. He went on to make appearances in Zoolander, Cursed, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. He has also done voiceover in films and shows including Robot Chicken, Kim Possible, and Higglytown Heroes. He appeared as Corny Collins on Broadway in Hairspray for six months last year.
Lance had always been interested in space travel and in 2002 he began cosmonaut training in Russia. He completed the training and received a certification. However, his mission was going to be filmed for a documentary and after that fell through and he failed to get other sponsorship, he was rejected from the program. He serves as the World Space Week’s Youth spokesman and is a member of the National Space Society, having served on its Board of Governors since 2004.
In 2006, Lance did a cover story for People magazine in which he admitted he was gay. The same year, he also wrote his autobiography, Out of Sync, which appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list. He received the Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award in 2006 as well.
Lance dated girls until he was 22 years old (including Boy Meets World actress Danielle Fishel), but in early 2006, he began dating Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl. After that relationship ended, Lance briefly dated model Pedro Andrade, then hairdresser Ben Thigpen.
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