It’s no surprise at all that he became so successful.”

As Marx recalls: “When I didn’t need him behind the microphone, he’d be down the hall in another studio recording demos and ideas.

“They were all gracious, fun and great to be around,” says Richard Marx, who wrote and produced the ballad “This I Promise You.” But Timberlake’s interest in and attention to the process made the singer stand out. Production on “No Strings Attached” kicked into gear soon after. While they had doubts about whether they would receive adequate attention by signing with the same label as their biggest competition, the Backstreet Boys, Calder and Weiss won them over. Weiss, now CEO of RECORDS, says he and Calder met with the group afterwards at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in the Buckhead section of Atlanta. And, that kid’s going to disaffirm his contract, so the worst-case scenario is that we’re going to have Justin Timberlake as a solo artist.’” But Barry, our worst-case scenario and why we’re going to proceed with this is that you see that young guy up there? That lead singer, Justin Timberlake? This kid could be one of the biggest solo artists in the world. That would be the most amazing thing that could happen. As the executive recalls: “We walked into Chastain Park and stopped halfway as the group was performing and I’ll never forget, Clive Calder looked at me and said, ‘It would be amazing if we can get the whole group. It was around then when Weiss headed to Atlanta’s Chastain Park Amphitheatre to check out the group in concert. But Weiss says that regardless of the lawsuit, Timberlake was planning to nullify his contract upon turning 18. *NSYNC were able to break free of Pearlman’s contractual clutches and sever their recording deal with RCA Records. Having become suspicious of the group’s founder and manager, Lou Pearlman, whose shady financial dealings would be exposed in the coming years and result in prison time before his death in 2016, both *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys were embroiled in a 1999 legal battle with the mogul, the latter forced to cut him in on a portion of BSB’s earnings. Record executives weren’t necessarily looking for a solo star at the time, but Timberlake’s potential was apparent to Jive Records founder Clive Calder, when he and the label’s then-CEO, Barry Weiss, set out to sign the quintet (Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick) as they became free agents.

No Strings Attached by Jennifer Labelle