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 gay rights activist
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, dancer, and producer. He grew up in Mississippi and became famous as the bass singer for the American pop boy band NSYNC. The band has sold over 70 million records, making them one of the best-selling boy bands ever. NSYNC's success led Bass to work in movies and TV shows.

He starred in the 2001 film On the Line, which his company, Bacon & Eggs, also helped make. Bass later started another production company, Lance Bass Productions. He also had a music management company called Free Lance Entertainment, which was a partnership with Mercury Records, but it is no longer active.

After NSYNC's PopOdyssey Tour, Bass moved to Star City, Russia. He wanted to train to go to space as a space tourist 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 July 2006, Bass shared his personal story in a cover article for People magazine. He received the Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award in October 2006. He also released his autobiography, Out of Sync, in October 2007. This book 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 nearby Ellisville, Mississippi, with his older sister, Stacy. His family raised him as a Southern Baptist. Bass has said his family was very religious and conservative, and that he had a "very happy" childhood.

As a young boy, Bass became very interested in space. When he was 9, he went to Cape Canaveral, Florida, with his father to watch his first live Space Shuttle launch. Bass said, "I was certain from then on that my future was to be involved with space." Soon after, Bass attended space camp in Titusville, Florida. He hoped to go to college to study engineering and one day work for NASA.

When Bass was 11, his father's job moved their family to Clinton, Mississippi. Bass started singing in his Baptist church choir. His childhood best friend, Darren Dale, encouraged him to try out for local music groups. Bass joined the Mississippi Show Stoppers, a state music group. He also joined the Attaché Show Choir, a national-award-winning group at Clinton High School. He was also part of a seven-man singing group called Seven Card Stud. They performed at state fairs and for political events.

At Clinton High School, Bass was elected vice president of his junior class. He said he did well in math and science. However, Bass later said his main focus in high school was singing. He remembers "hardly anything" about his schoolwork.

Music Career

NSYNC's Journey to Stardom

In 1995, during his junior year of high school, Bass got a call from Justin Timberlake and his mother. They asked Bass if he would audition for the pop group NSYNC. The group's first bass singer, Jason Galasso, had left. Timberlake's vocal coach, who had worked with Bass before, suggested Bass as a replacement. Bass was accepted into the group after his audition. He soon left school to move to Orlando, Florida, and practice full-time. Bass has said he did not know how to dance before joining NSYNC. He found much of the group's dance moves hard to learn.

According to a TV show called VH1's Driven, a German music executive wanted NSYNC to replace Bass. He felt Bass's dancing "wasn't at the same level as all the others." However, Chris Kirkpatrick, who started the band, refused to sign a contract without Bass. The group's manager, Johnny Wright, convinced the executive that Bass's dancing would quickly get better. The executive 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 very popular in Europe, NSYNC signed with the American record label RCA in 1997. The group's first single, "I Want You Back", started getting played a lot on U.S. radio. NSYNC quickly became an "overnight sensation". Bass describes this time in his book as "the death of my own innocence." As they became more famous in the U.S., the band also had a big legal fight with Lou Pearlman. He was the one who first put the band together. The group believed he was doing unfair business practices.

NSYNC sued Pearlman and his company, Trans Continental. They said he was cheating the group out of more than half of their earnings. Pearlman had promised to take only one-sixth of the profits. The group threatened to leave and sign with Jive Records. This made Pearlman and RCA sue NSYNC for $150 million, saying they broke their contract. The lawsuit was dismissed by the court. 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 went on to sell over 56 million records worldwide. In 2002, the group announced they would take a "break". During this time, Timberlake started recording solo music. NSYNC has not recorded new music since then. Bass has said he feels the group has officially broken up.

In 2007, Bass said he thought 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 has also said he does not have much hope for a reunion. He says Timberlake has "made it clear that he wouldn't be interested in discussing another album any time soon." Despite these comments, Bass has denied having 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.

Free Lance Entertainment

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

Acting Career

Film and Television Roles

Bass appeared as a guest on The WB drama series 7th Heaven. He played Rick Palmer, 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 Chicago train. He then 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. Joey Fatone had a major role. The film 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 marketing to NSYNC fans, the film did not do well financially. It made only $4.2 million in the U.S., but cost $10 million to make. Critics also 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 of September 11, 2001. In his 2007 book, Bass wrote, "That was it... our film was finished... once the country went to war, there was no way our film was going to be on anyone's top-priority list."

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. As a guest star in the 2013 Gravity Falls episode "Boyz Crazy", Bass played in the boy band, Sev'ral Timez, which is a parody of NSYNC. In 2014, Bass guest starred on an episode of the Comedy Central series Review. In this episode, he visited space with the show's main character.

Video Game Voice Work

Bass provided the voice for the Final Fantasy VII character Sephiroth in the video 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 on stage. He finished his time in Hairspray on January 6, 2008.

Media Personality and Reality 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 reality cooking series My Kitchen Rules. They were the runners-up in the competition.

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 new TV series Unicorn Hunters. This is a business investment show where he and other judges decide whether to invest in new companies.

Radio Host

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 that week from a different year in the 2000s.

Podcast Creator

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

In February, he started releasing episodes for another podcast, The Last Soviet. This podcast 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 Appearance

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 received an 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 formed a separate production company called Lance Bass Productions. On May 14, 2007, Brian Graden announced that Lance Bass Productions would work with the Logo network. They planned to produce a reality television show about the music business. It was reported that the show would focus on creating an all-gay boy band. So far, no such project has been made or aired.

In 2008, Bass helped produce The Grand. Bass's company is also said to be working on a music docudrama 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 the controversial methods used on children at an Evangelical Christian reform school in the Dominican Republic. These children were sent there by their parents. The film was sold to Showtime and aired on TV on July 10, 2014.

Personal Life and Family

Bass dated actress Danielle Fishel from TV's Boy Meets World in 1999 and 2000. Fishel said she was very committed to the relationship and was "so in love" with Bass. Bass ended the relationship after one year. He continued to date only women until he was 22.

In his autobiography, Bass talks about two relationships he had before media speculation. One was with someone named Jesse from Miami, Florida, with whom Bass lived for two years. The other was with an Idaho native named Joe. Bass started dating Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl in early 2006. This relationship got a lot of attention from tabloids. This led to Bass's decision to share his story. Bass described his relationship with Lehmkuhl as "very stable." However, the couple broke up several months later. Soon after, Bass briefly dated Brazilian model and TV host Pedro Andrade. From August 2007 to March 2008, Bass dated New York-based hairdresser Ben Thigpen. After dating for a year and a half, Bass got engaged to Michael Turchin in September 2013. Bass and Turchin married on December 20, 2014, in Los Angeles.

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 calls himself a "huge Dr. Seuss fan." He has a whole room in his Jackson, Mississippi, home dedicated to Seuss items. Bass has said he is a Christian and goes to church regularly. He considers himself to be non-denominational. He is the godfather of his former bandmate and best friend Joey Fatone's daughters, Briahna and Kloey.

Marriage and Family Life

Bass and husband Michael Turchin in 2016

Bass began dating painter and actor Michael Turchin in January 2011. They became engaged in September 2013. They married on December 20, 2014, at the Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Former NSYNC bandmates Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, and JC Chasez attended. Justin Timberlake, who was on his The 20/20 Experience World Tour, was not there. The wedding was filmed and shown on TV in a special E! program: Lance Loves Michael: The Lance Bass Wedding. It aired on February 5, 2015. Bass and Turchin were the first same-sex couple to get married 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 the couple had lost a baby. The surrogate had a miscarriage at eight weeks. It was the couple's ninth attempt at surrogacy. In June 2021, Bass announced they were expecting twins by early November. Their son and daughter were born in mid-October.

Space Travel Dreams

In February 2002, Lena Banks, a space supporter, contacted Bass. She suggested he be part of her Youngest Person in Space project. Banks brought in her colleague David Krieff of Destiny Productions. Through a series of events in August 2002, Bass started cosmonaut training in Star City, Russia. Bass was considered to host a U.S. version of a space competition show. The show would have contestants go through tough training to win a seat on a Russian Soyuz space capsule. Instead of a game show, the producers decided to film a documentary about a celebrity training and going into space. They planned to air it on a major TV network.

A colleague mentioned Banks' space project to a friend. The friend's daughter, an NSYNC fan, then shouted, "Lance Bass wants to go into space!" She had read about Bass's lifelong dream of space travel online. Banks spoke to Bass's management, who told him about the idea. "At first he thought we were joking," Banks said. "I assured him it was for real; he accepted and we moved forward with the project."

To be allowed into training, Bass had to pass very strict physical exams. These exams may have saved his life. Doctors found he had cardiac arrhythmia, a heart problem. He agreed to have heart surgery to fix it. In 1999, he had gone to the hospital while on tour. He thought he had a stomach virus. While there, doctors found his heart problem.

After several months of training, Bass received his cosmonaut certification. He then went to Houston's Johnson Space Center (JSC) for astronaut training. He was scheduled to fly into space on the Soyuz TMA-1 mission. It was set to launch on October 30, 2002. The capsule was to fly to the International Space Station and land in a desert in Kazakhstan.

But the original deal to air the documentary about Bass fell apart in mid-2002. Bass's team then turned to MTV. MTV agreed to sponsor the trip but then backed out due to "payment, insurance, and indemnification issues." Soon after, all of Bass's other sponsors also pulled out. One sponsor left because they worried their brand would be damaged if Bass died on the mission. Bass was eventually removed from the program. He was replaced on the flight by Russian cosmonauts Yury Lonchakov and Sergei Zalyotin, and Belgium's Frank De Winne.

Space Advocacy Efforts

In 2003, Bass became the Youth Spokesman for World Space Week. Bass has said he believes young people becoming more interested in space exploration "will help the future of our planet." From 2003 to 2005, Bass traveled to American high schools during World Space Week. He spoke with students about space exploration. He encouraged them to consider careers in science and mathematics. Bass is a member of the National Space Society. This is a non-profit group that supports space exploration. It was started by Wernher von Braun. 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 with GQ magazine, Bass said he "absolutely" still plans to go to space. He hopes to work on a space documentary. Bass has also kept his fluency in Russian, which he had to learn during his training.

Autobiography Release

After the public reaction to him sharing his personal story, Bass announced he was releasing 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 writer Marc Eliot. Eliot also wrote the book's introduction. Simon Spotlight Entertainment, a part of Simon & Schuster, published it. The book includes details about his relationships that 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 for the week of November 11, 2007.

Charity Work and Causes

Bass has been involved with many charities. In 2001, he started The Lance Bass Foundation. This non-profit group aimed to help with the health needs of children from low-income families. In 2003, Bass gave $30,000 to start the Amber Pulliam Special Education Endowment at the University of Southern Mississippi. It was named after his younger cousin, Amber Pulliam, who has Down syndrome. This fund 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 victims of the hurricane, working with uBid.com. Money from the auction 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 directly affected by the hurricane. That same year, Bass appeared on an episode of 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 rescue shelter. He posed with them in a PETA ad, encouraging 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 took part in GLAAD TV ads. 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)

NSYNC Albums

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

Filmography

Film Roles

Television Roles

Video Game Voice Roles

See also

In Spanish: Lance Bass para niños