A Chat With VH1's Mission: Man Band

Five boy band legends. One more shot at fame.

MISSION: MAN BAND

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Chris Kirkpatrick/N'Sync

Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick, best known as a founding member of *NSync, was born in Clarion, PA on October 17, 1971. The musical bug bit him early and after graduating high school, he moved to Orlando, FL, in search of a professional singing career. He found that at Universal Studios Theme Park, where he performed as part of the Hollywood High Tones. It was at Universal that Chris met Joey Fatone, a performer in another studio musical.

But Chris had his sights set higher than the Orlando stage and when he met Justin Timberlake on the local audition scene, he convinced Justin to form a band, which lead to creation of *NSync, whose self-titled debut album burst onto the scene overnight, shooting to number two on the Billboard charts and ultimately certifying ten times platinum. N*Sync became one of the most successful groups of all time, selling 28 million albums, locking up the Billboard charts with multiple smash singles, and, for the release of No Strings Attached, shattering the record for most albums sold in a week.

After N*Sync, Chris became the frontman for Little Red Monsters, which later became Nigel's 11. He premiered this new act in late December of 2005 with two live shows in California. Beyond the band, Chris also lends his voice to the animated series The Fairly Odd Parents, where he plays the character of Chip Skylark.

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Jeff Timmons/98 Degrees Jeff Timmons was born April 30, 1973 in Caton Ohio and is best known as the founding member of the multi-platinum selling group 98 Degrees. He has gone solo, at least, temporarily, and plans to perform with his beloved group again that brought such mega hits as The Hardest Thing, I Do, Invisible Man, Give Me Just One Night, Because of You and the number one hit with Mariah Carey Thank God I Found You. After a stellar career with 98 Degrees, Jeff has single-handedly written and produced his first solo album, released as a joint venture between his own company, Rising Phoenix Media, LLC and SLG Music. The album has already given him a Top 20 hit on Billboards AC chart with the lead off single Whisper That Way and was most added at radio every week leading up to his peak position.

Jeff has sang at the White House twice, hosted and appeared on such shows as MTV's TRL, Beach House, House of Style, Video Music Awards, American Music Awards, Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve, The Tonight Show, The Teen Choice Awards (for which he is the owner of their coveted award surf board), and has many platinum records on his wall from all over the globe.

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Rich Cronin/LFO Richard Burton Cronin was born on August 30, 1975 in Kingston, Massachusetts is a singer and song writer currently residing in Orlando, Florida. He was part of the pop trio LFO. The group formed in 1997 when Rich, already a hit on the Boston area music scene, was visiting Orlando where he met Brad, an aspiring model and singer from New York. The two 6'3" performers decided to join forces and Rich promptly returned to his native Boston to pack his bags.

During that time, the duo honed their singing, dancing and songwriting skills in Orlando. Then during the winter of 1999, Brad and Rich met Devin, a soloist from Boston and LFO the trio was born. Cronin wrote and produced two of the group’s biggest hits Summer Girls in 1999 (which is also known as The Abercrombie & Fitch Song) and Girl on TV. Summer Girls single hit No.3 on Billboard's Hot 100, and No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Single Sales chart for six weeks and went Platinum while Girl on TV hit No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100 Single Sales chart, selling over 750,000 copies in the US, and was certified Gold by the RIAA.

On April 14, 2005, Rich was hospitalized with leukemia. Rich joined his Brad Fischetti and Devin Lima in Brooklyn, New York to help lead the Light The Night Walk with 12 year-old leukemia survivor Kimberly Thach, the Society's National Youth Ambassador. West, Cronin and Thach lead approximately 1,000 leukemia survivors, friends, and family members carrying illuminated balloons over the Brooklyn Bridge to commemorate lives touched by cancer.

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Bryan Abrams/Color Me Badd

Abrams was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma November 16, 1969. During his formative years, artists such as The Commodores, Michael Jackson, and Stevie Wonder dominated the music charts and radio airwaves. They became Bryan’s inspirations, and he attempted to emulate the vocal stylings of his idols. Brian’s unique smooth, R&B sound began to take shape while he was a student at Northwest Classen High School in 1984. As a freshman, Bryan formed a group with three of his friends (Sam Watters, Kevin Thornton, and Mark Calderon). The four friends perfected their chemistry and style, eventually settled on the name Color Me Badd. After graduation, Bryan moved to New York City with the other members of CMB to pursue a recording contract. They sang on street corners and in subway tunnels hoping to polish their harmonies and scrape up tip money. Eventually, an executive from Giant Records, a division of Warner Brothers recognized the group’s talent and signed the Color Me Badd to a deal in 1990.

Edited September 2, 200717 yr by Dino