Lance Bass facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lance Bass
Bass in 2014
Born	James Lance Bass (1979-05-04) May 4, 1979 (age 46) Laurel, Mississippi, U.S.
Other names	Lansten
Occupation	Singer actor dancer producer
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Michael Turchin ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	2
Musical career
Genres	Pop
Instruments	Vocals piano keyboards

James Lance Bass (born May 4, 1979) is an American singer, actor, and producer. He grew up in Mississippi and became famous as the bass singer for the boy band NSYNC. This band sold over 70 million records, making them one of the best-selling boy bands ever. NSYNC's success helped Bass start a career in movies and TV.

He starred in the 2001 film On the Line, which his company, Bacon & Eggs, also helped make. Bass later started another company, Lance Bass Productions. He also had a music management company called Free Lance Entertainment, which was a partnership with Mercury Records.

After NSYNC's PopOdyssey Tour, Bass moved to Star City, Russia. He wanted to train to go to space on a Soyuz space capsule. Bass was approved by both NASA and the Russian Space Program after months of cosmonaut training. He planned to join the TMA-1 mission to the International Space Station. However, his sponsors pulled out, and Bass could not go on the mission.

In October 2007, Bass released his autobiography, Out of Sync. It became a New York Times Best Seller.

Early Life and Education

James Lance Bass was born in Laurel, Mississippi. His father, James Irvin Bass Jr., was a medical technologist. His mother, Diane, taught math and English in middle school. Lance grew up in Ellisville, Mississippi, with his older sister, Stacy. His family was very Christian and conservative.

When Bass was young, he loved space. At age 9, he went to Cape Canaveral, Florida, with his father to watch a Space Shuttle launch. Bass said this made him sure he wanted to be involved with space. Soon after, he went to space camp in Titusville, Florida. He hoped to study engineering in college and work for NASA.

When Bass was 11, his family moved to Clinton, Mississippi. He started singing in his Baptist church choir. His friend, Darren Dale, encouraged him to try out for local music groups. Bass joined the Mississippi Show Stoppers, a music group sponsored by a museum. He also joined the Attaché Show Choir at Clinton High School. He was also in a seven-man singing group called Seven Card Stud.

At Clinton High School, Bass was elected vice president of his junior class. He was good at math and science. But Bass said his main focus in high school was singing.

Music Career

NSYNC's Journey

In 1995, during his junior year of high school, Bass got a call from Justin Timberlake. Justin and his mother asked Bass to audition for the pop group NSYNC. The group's first bass singer had left. Justin's vocal coach, who knew Bass, suggested him as a replacement. Bass joined the group after his audition. He then left school to move to Orlando, Florida, and practice full-time. Bass said he did not know how to dance before NSYNC. He found the group's dance moves hard to learn.

A TV show called VH1's Driven said that Jan Bolz, a music executive, offered NSYNC a recording contract. But he wanted them to replace Bass because he felt Bass's dancing was not as good as the others. However, Chris Kirkpatrick, who started the band, refused to sign without Bass. The group's manager, Johnny Wright, convinced Bolz that Bass would quickly improve. Bolz agreed, and the group moved to Munich, Germany, to record their first album. NSYNC started touring a lot in Europe. Bass's mother quit her job to travel with the group as a chaperone, because Bass was still a minor.

Bass in 2001

After becoming well-known in Europe, NSYNC signed with the American record label RCA in 1997. The group's first song, "I Want You Back", became popular on the radio in the United States. NSYNC quickly became very famous. Bass described this time as "the death of my own innocence" in his autobiography. The band also had a big legal fight with Lou Pearlman, who first put the band together. They believed he was doing unfair business practices.

NSYNC sued Pearlman and his company, Trans Continental. They said he was taking more than 50% of their earnings, instead of the one-sixth he promised. The group threatened to leave and sign with Jive Records. Pearlman and RCA then sued NSYNC for $150 million, saying they broke their contract. The court dismissed Pearlman's case. After winning back their earnings, NSYNC signed with Jive.

In March 2000, NSYNC released No Strings Attached. It became the fastest-selling record ever, selling 1.1 million copies on its first day. In 2001, the group released their Celebrity album. It had the second-highest first-week album sales ever, only beaten by their previous album. NSYNC sold over 56 million records worldwide. In 2002, the group said they would take a break. During this break, Timberlake started recording solo music. NSYNC has not recorded new music since. Bass has said he feels the group has officially ended.

In 2007, Bass believed Timberlake would return after six months to record another album with NSYNC. He felt let down by Timberlake's 2004 choice to focus on his solo career. Bass also said he had little hope for a reunion. This was because Timberlake "made it clear that he wouldn't be interested in discussing another album any time soon." Despite these comments, Bass said he does not have any bad feelings towards Timberlake. He said, "At that time... it did feel like betrayal. I felt heartbroken. All these emotions went through me. Today, I'm really happy, and Justin and I are really great friends. I don't hate him at all. And I understand what he was going through, and it was as hard for him as it was for any of us."

In September 2023, a new NSYNC song, "Better Place", was announced. This happened after the band reunited at the MTV Video Music Awards. The song is part of the soundtrack for the film Trolls Band Together. It was released on September 29, 2023.

Free Lance Entertainment

In 2000, Bass started a music management company called Free Lance Entertainment. This was a partnership with Mercury Nashville, a part of Mercury Records. Bass wanted the company to be "a strictly family-run operation". He hired his parents and sister to find new talent. He signed his childhood friend, country singer Meredith Edwards, for the company's first release. Edwards toured with NSYNC as an opening act in late 2000. Bass also worked with MTV to find more artists. However, Free Lance closed after Edwards's first album, Reach, did not sell well.

Acting Career

Film and Television Roles

Bass appeared as a guest star on The WB drama series 7th Heaven. He played Rick Palmer, a character who was a love interest for Beverley Mitchell's character, Lucy. The next year, while NSYNC was recording Celebrity, Bass got his first main role in the 2001 movie On the Line. Bass played Kevin, a man who falls in love with a woman on a train and tries to find her again.

Bass's production company, A Happy Place (later called Bacon & Eggs), made the film. It featured appearances by Jerry Stiller, Al Green, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora, and Bass's bandmates Timberlake, Kirkpatrick, and Fatone. Joey Fatone had a big role. The movie also had a soundtrack with new songs by NSYNC and Britney Spears. Bass worked with Joey Fatone, Mandy Moore, Christian Burns, and True Vibe for the film's theme song, "On the Line".

Even with a lot of advertising to NSYNC fans, the film did not do well. It made only $4.2 million in the US, but cost $10 million to make. Critics did not like the film or Bass's acting. Bass later said the film's success was hurt by its release date. It came out one week after the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001. In his 2007 autobiography, Bass wrote that after the country went to war, their film was no longer a top priority.

After On the Line, Bass appeared in Zoolander and Wes Craven's Cursed as himself. He played a wedding singer in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. Bass has also voiced characters in animated TV shows. These include Robot Chicken, Disney's Kim Possible, Handy Manny, and Higglytown Heroes. Bass was in the 2008 film Tropic Thunder. In the 2013 Gravity Falls episode "Boyz Crazy", Bass voiced a character in the boy band Sev'ral Timez, which was a parody of NSYNC. In 2014, Bass was a guest star on the Comedy Central series Review. In this episode, he visited space with the show's main character.

Video Games

Bass voiced the Final Fantasy VII character Sephiroth in the game Kingdom Hearts.

Broadway Stage

On August 14, 2007, Bass started a six-month role playing Corny Collins in the Broadway musical Hairspray. This was around the play's five-year anniversary. He finished his role in Hairspray on January 6, 2008.

Media Personality and Shows

In 2015, Bass joined the second season of The Meredith Vieira Show. He was a full-time contributing panelist.

Bass and his mother competed in 2017 on the FOX cooking show My Kitchen Rules. They finished as the runners-up.

In 2020, Lance appeared with his friend Joey Fatone on Meredith Vieira's game show, 25 Words or Less.

In April 2021, Bass became a panelist for the TV series Unicorn Hunters. This is a business investment show where judges decide whether to invest in new companies.

Radio Shows

Bass hosted Dirty Pop with Lance Bass, a daily evening radio show. It focused on pop culture and entertainment news on OutQ, an LGBT-focused station on Sirius XM. Bass also hosted the weekly "Pop2Kountdown" on Pop2K. This show counted down the 30 biggest hits from a different year in the 2000s.

Podcasts

On January 3, 2023, Bass released a trailer for his podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The first episode aired on January 9, 2023. He interviewed his former bandmate JC Chasez of NSYNC.

In February 2023, he started another podcast, The Last Soviet. It tells the story of Sergei Krikalev's time on the Mir space station during the fall of the Soviet Union. It also shares Bass's own experience training at Star City.

Dancing with the Stars

Bass was a contestant on season 7 of Dancing with the Stars. He was paired with swing dance champion Lacey Schwimmer. Bass and Schwimmer made it to the grand finale and finished in third place.

Production Companies

In January 2001, Bass started his first film production company, A Happy Place. He worked with film producers Rich Hull, Wendy Thorlakson, and Joe Anderson. The company focused on family-friendly films. It won the Movieguide award for "Excellence in Family-Oriented Programming" for its first movie, On the Line. After On the Line, A Happy Place changed its name to Bacon & Eggs. It produced its second movie, Lovewrecked, in 2005. The film first aired on ABC Family in January 2007. It starred Amanda Bynes, Chris Carmack, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, with Bass in a small role. This movie also received mostly negative reviews.

Bass later started a separate production company called Lance Bass Productions. In May 2007, Brian Graden announced that Lance Bass Productions would work with the Logo network. They planned to create a reality TV show about the music business. It was reported that the show would focus on forming an all-gay boy band. This project has not been made or aired yet.

In 2008, Bass helped produce The Grand. Bass's company is also working on a music docudrama. This documentary will be about the lives of rock bands on tour.

In October 2011, Bass introduced his own boy band called Heart2Heart. In August 2013, Bass became an executive producer for the documentary film Kidnapped for Christ. The film shows controversial methods used on children at an Evangelical Christian reform school in the Dominican Republic. The film was sold to Showtime and was released on TV on July 10, 2014.

Personal Life

Bass dated actress Danielle Fishel from TV's Boy Meets World in 1999 and 2000. Fishel said she was "so in love" with Bass. Bass ended the relationship after one year.

Bass married Michael Turchin on December 20, 2014, in Los Angeles. Former NSYNC bandmates Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, and JC Chasez attended the wedding. Justin Timberlake was on tour and could not be there. The wedding was filmed and shown on a special E! TV show called Lance Loves Michael: The Lance Bass Wedding. It aired on February 5, 2015. Bass and Turchin were the first same-sex couple to have their wedding shown on cable television.

After four years of marriage, the couple decided to have children with the help of a surrogate. In March 2020, Bass announced that the couple had lost a baby through miscarriage at eight weeks. This was the couple's ninth attempt with a surrogate. In June 2021, Bass announced they were expecting twins. Their son and daughter were born in mid-October 2021.

In a 2006 interview, Bass said he has Attention-Deficit Disorder. In August 2024, he shared that he has type 1.5 diabetes. This had been misdiagnosed a few years earlier as type 2. Bass's favorite music bands are Aerosmith, the Goo Goo Dolls, and Journey. His favorite actress is Lucille Ball, whom he watched on I Love Lucy re-runs. He is a big fan of Dr. Seuss. He has a room in his Jackson, Mississippi, home filled with Seuss items. Bass has said he is a Christian and goes to church regularly. He is the godfather of his former bandmate and best friend Joey Fatone's daughters, Briahna and Kloey.

Bass and husband Michael Turchin in 2016

Space Travel Plans

In early 2002, Lena Banks, a space supporter, was working on a project called "Youngest Person in Space". They first planned a US version of a space competition show. Later, it became a documentary about a celebrity training for space.

Banks heard that Lance Bass wanted to go to space from a friend's daughter. Bass had always dreamed of space travel. Banks talked to Bass's managers, who told him about the project. Bass was surprised but agreed. In August 2002, Bass started cosmonaut training in Star City, Russia.

To train, Bass had to pass tough physical tests. He had found out he had a cardiac arrhythmia in 1999. This condition was not dangerous but would stop him from joining the cosmonaut program. So, he had heart surgery to fix it.

The Russian space program offered a shorter four-month training program. But his training was often stopped because of money problems. He finally got his cosmonaut certification after paying the last $450,000 himself. He then went to Houston's Johnson Space Center (JSC) for more training.

Bass was supposed to fly into space on the Soyuz TMA-1 mission on October 30, 2002. The capsule would go to the International Space Station and land in Kazakhstan. However, the original deal to air the documentary about Bass, which was a main source of money, fell apart in mid-2002. Bass's team then turned to MTV, who first agreed to pay for the trip but then backed out. Soon after, all of Bass's other sponsors also pulled out. One sponsor worried their brand would be harmed if Bass died on the mission. Bass was eventually removed from the program. He was replaced by Russian cosmonauts Yury Lonchakov and Sergei Zalyotin and Belgium's Frank De Winne.

Space Advocacy

In 2003, Bass became the Youth Spokesman for World Space Week. Bass believes that if young people are more interested in space exploration, it will help the future of our planet. From 2003 to 2005, Bass traveled to American high schools during World Space Week. He talked to students about space exploration and encouraged them to study science and math. Bass is a member of the National Space Society. This is a non-profit group that supports space exploration. Bass has been on the National Space Society's board of governors since October 2004. Other members include actor Tom Hanks and author Sir Arthur C. Clarke. In a 2007 interview, Bass said he still plans to go to space. He hopes to work on a space documentary. Bass also still speaks Russian, which he learned during his training.

Autobiography

After people reacted to his personal life news, Bass announced he was writing an autobiography. The book, called Out of Sync, was published on October 23, 2007. It was co-written by The New York Times best-selling author Marc Eliot. Simon Spotlight Entertainment, a part of Simon & Schuster, published the book. The 208-page book covers what Bass calls "the first chapter" of his life. It starts with his childhood in Mississippi. It then talks about his efforts to go to space and the money problems he had with his sponsors. The book ends with Bass's decision to share his personal life with the public. The book includes details about relationships he kept private from family and friends. He talks about NSYNC's 2002 decision to take a long break. Bass said Justin Timberlake was the only reason NSYNC did not get back together. Out of Sync appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list on November 11, 2007.

Charity Work

Bass has worked with many charities. In 2001, he started The Lance Bass Foundation. This group helped low-income children with their health needs. In 2003, Bass gave $30,000 to start the Amber Pulliam Special Education Endowment at the University of Southern Mississippi. This fund is named after his younger cousin, Amber Pulliam, who has Down syndrome. It helps students from Mississippi's Pine Belt who want to work in special education.

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Bass started "uBid For Hurricane Relief". This was a celebrity auction to help hurricane victims. The money raised went to the Child Welfare League of America, The Brett Favre Fourward Foundation, and Ashton Kutcher's RockWorks Foundation. Many of Bass's family members in Mississippi were affected by the hurricane. That same year, Bass appeared on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. He made a donation to a Russian woman to save a camp for disabled children in Russia.

Bass is on the board of directors for the Environmental Media Association. He has also worked with Animal Avengers, Shannon Elizabeth's animal rescue group. He has two dogs he adopted from a shelter. He posed with them in a PETA ad, asking people to adopt animals instead of buying them. In August 2007, Bass wrote a guest article for LOGO's "Visible Vote '08" blog. In it, he supported gay marriage. In September 2007, Bass was in TV ads for GLAAD. These ads promoted acceptance for the LGBT community. Bass has also helped raise money for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

Discography

As a Solo Artist

• "Walking on Air" (2014, single)
• "Perfect This Way" (2023, single with Station Little)

NSYNC Albums

• 'N Sync (1998)
• No Strings Attached (2000)
• Celebrity (2001)

Filmography

Film Roles

Television Roles

Video Game Roles

Images for kids

• 

  Bass in Atlanta, Georgia, October 2007

See also

In Spanish: Lance Bass para niños