Lance Bass Biography

Date of Birth

4 December 1979, Laurel, Mississippi, USA

Birth Name

James Lance Bass

Nickname

Lansten
Scoop
LBeezy

Height

5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

Lance Bass is the quintessential illustration of a highly successful and driven jack-of-all-trades: singer, host, actor, producer, writer, entrepreneur, philanthropist and cosmonaut.

Beyond his fame as a member of the phenomenally successful group *NSYNC, where the group sold an impressive 60 million plus records worldwide, Bass has made himself a household name throughout the globe. With countless career highlights in music spanning the past 20 years, including multiple Grammy® nominations, two diamond RIAA awards, MTV Video Music Awards®, American Music Awards® and People's Choice Awards® to name a just a few, he has expanded his accomplishments into multiple entertainment mediums.

Bass can currently be seen as a daily contributing panelist on The Meredith Vieira Show (2014), which he joined in September of 2015. In 2007, Bass lit up Broadway, starring as "Corny Collins" in the smash hit, "Hairspray", published his revealing memoir, "Out of Sync", and danced his way to the finals on season seven of ABC's hit competition show, Dancing with the Stars (2005). In 2003, he was inducted into the Mississippi Musician's Hall of Fame, making him the youngest person to ever receive this honor. In 2012, he joined Sirius XM and launched a pop culture daily radio show, called "Dirty Pop", with Lance Bass and, during the weekends, hosts their "Pop2k Countdown", where he can still be heard today.

Building on his passion for film and documentaries, Bass has established himself as an acclaimed producer with titles like Kidnapped for Christ, where he was awarded the Audience Award for Documentary Feature during it's Slamdance premiere this past January and Mississippi I Am, which recently won Best Documentary at the Manhattan International Film Festival. This November, he is being recognized for his outstanding achievements at the Mississippi Film Festival with an encore screening of Mississippi I Am. Other producing credits include the Miramax film, On the Line (2001), where he not only served as Executive Producer, but was also the film's star and earned him the coveted Movieguide® Award for excellence in family-oriented programming. In 2005, he executive-produced Randal Kleiser's romantic comedy, Lovewrecked (2005), starring Amanda Bynes, Chris Carmack and Jamie-Lynn Sigler. He is also the recipient of the Golden Apple Award® as Male Film Discovery of 2001.

While known for his success in music, including a #1 European dance single, in 2014, called "Walking On Air" and featuring newcomer Bella Blue, Bass has made numerous memorable guest appearances in film, television and as the animated voice in several popular children's cartoons. With his sights focused on hosting, Bass is preparing for his fifth consecutive year as co-host of the American Music Awards' Coca-Cola Red Carpet, has guest-anchored the KTLA Morning News in Los Angeles, filled in for Harvey Levin on TMZ and has become a frequent correspondent with the landmark entertainment show, Entertainment Tonight.

As an entrepreneur, he founded Famous Yard Sale, which was inspired by his memories of weekend yard sales in his hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, where he reinvented the yard sale as a virtual auction marketplace for celebrities to donate their excess belongings and raise money for their favorite charities. This led him to create and executive produce the Lifetime series Celebrity Home Raiders. Currently, he has partnered up with Slavco and Daniel Tuskaloski, and TeliApp to create Sparxx, a social relationship and dating app specifically designed for the LGBT community with the goal of breaking the mold of conventional LGBT dating apps. Sparxx was designed to help men and women and their personally defined sexuality, find meaningful and long lasting relationships.

Philanthropically, Lance remains active in various charitable organizations including serving on the Young Hollywood Board of the Environmental Media Association. He is also the National Youth Spokesperson for World Space Week, consistent with his interest in space travel. A fact that many are unaware of, Bass is a certified cosmonaut after several months of training in the Russian space program where Bass received cosmonaut certification and continued on to Houston's Johnson Space Center to take part in astronaut training. Additionally, Lance is a strong advocate for animals and has been a spokesperson for animal rescues all over the country, including directly working with Lucky Puppy, a dog rescue based in Los Angeles, CA.

Bass currently resides in Los Angeles with his husband Michael Turchin, whom he married in 2014 and was featured as a wedding special on E! in early 2015.

Trivia

Was the last member to join *NSYNC, after being recruited by Justin Timberlake.

Performed at the Christmas Tree Lighting at Rockefeller Center, with *NSYNC. [December 1999]

Performed, with *NSYNC, at the 1998 and 1999 Miss Teen USA pageant.

Member of boy group *NSYNC.

Started his own film production company, Bacon & Eggs, in 2000. In 2005, he started a television production company, Lance Bass Productions.

Performed, with *NSYNC, on Céline Dion's Céline Dion: All the Way... A Decade of Song & Video (2001) TV special. [November 1999]

Dated Danielle Fishel.

Is afraid of flying.

Was part of a competition singing group called Attache.

Has an older sister, Stacy Bass.

Born at 1:20 PM CDT.

Mother Diane Bass is a sixth grade teacher and father Jim Bass is a former Lab Technician.

His band nicknames are Pez "'cause I have a big Adam's apple" and Scoop "because when (the guys) ask me about our itinerary, I always know."

Began his career at age 11 singing in the Clinton Community Choir, near his hometown of Laurel. At 12, he successfully auditioned for a spot in the Mississippi Show Stoppers, a state-wide choral group sponsored by the Agriculture and Forestry Museum.

Tried to get a ride on a Russian space mission, but was asked to leave the program when his financial backers failed to come up with the $20 million necessary to board.

Currently writing a horror film screenplay/script titled "Imaginary Friends". [2005]

Had a year-long relationship with Reichen Lehmkuhl.

Is the godfather of Joey Fatone's daughter, Briahna Fatone.

Shared a vocal coach with Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears.

Is close friends with Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

Engaged to Michael Turchin [September 5, 2013].

Release of his book, "Out of Sync: A Memoir". [October 2007]

Annouces a 6-month stint as "Corny Collins" in "Hairspray" on Broadway. [July 2007]

Officiated the wedding of Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Cutter Dykstra, son of Lenny Dykstra. [January 16, 2016].

His dog, Lily was killed by coyotes in his backyard on February 28, 2017. She almost turned eight-years-old at the time of this incident.

Quotes

The beginning of the shows are different. One time we'll say 'Hello, Denver'. Another time we'll say 'Hello, Memphis'. It's always different.

I knew that I was in this popular band and I had four other guys' careers in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was gay), it would overpower everything. [To People Magazine, on his sexuality.]

The thing is, I'm not ashamed -- that's the one thing I want to say... I don't think it's wrong, I'm not devastated going through this. I'm more liberated and happy than I've been my whole life. I'm just happy.

I'm still a Christian. I was not raised in a Christian church to hate people. I was taught to love people and accept people ... I know what I believe. I'm at peace with my family, my friends, myself and God, so there's really nothing else that I worry about.

I can tell you right now, when I was in high school in Mississippi, I was one of the first ones to jump on the bandwagon to make fun of a gay person, and look how I turned out. I had the secret this whole time. And so if people can look at me and see that I was one of those bullies that, like, always made fun of gay people and I had this huge secret, there is always more to the story than you see. [talking to MTV News in October 2010]