Chris Kirkpatrick

Chris Kirkpatrick
Kirkpatrick at a screening of Gone Country 2 in August 2008
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick
Born	October 17, 1971 (1971-10-17) (age 49) Clarion, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Origin	Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Genres	Pop, pop rock
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter producer dancer actor
Years active	1995–present
Labels	RCA, Jive
Associated acts	NSYNC, Nigels11, Sureshot

Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick (born October 17, 1971) is an American singer, dancer, songwriter, music producer, and occasional actor, who is best known for his work as the founding member of the pop group NSYNC, in which he sang countertenor. He has appeared on numerous TV shows and provided the voice for Chip Skylark on The Fairly OddParents. He also guest-starred on The Simpsons as himself, along with his fellow NSYNC bandmates, in the episode "New Kids on the Blecch".

Early life and education[]

Kirkpatrick was born on October 17, 1971, in Clarion, Pennsylvania to a single mother (Beverly Eustice) when she was just 16 years old, and is of Irish, Scottish, Spanish, and Native American ancestry.^[1] His mother raised him on her own along with his four younger half-sisters (Molly, Kate, Emily, and Taylor).

Kirkpatrick grew up extremely poor, sometimes homeless, and had to move around a lot, attending many different schools and living in several states such as Pennsylvania, California, South Carolina, and Ohio. At one point, his family lived in a trailer during the winter with no electricity and a giant hole in the side of it, and his mother had to pile dirty laundry in front of it to keep the snow from coming in. Since his family couldn't afford to wash their clothes, he rarely had clean clothes to wear and had to sleep in the piles of dirty laundry at night to keep warm.^[2][3] Chris recalls not always knowing where their next meal would come from and his family relied on food stamps, free school lunches, and donated items to survive.^[4]

Despite their many struggles, Kirkpatrick's family was always a very musical one: his mother was a vocal coach, his grandmother trained in opera, his grandfather was a country-western singer, and his aunts and uncles were all in bands. Not surprisingly, Chris also showed a keen talent for music from a young age. His mother said that as a baby he could mimic songs that he heard before he even learned to speak. "It's weird to hear this little song in a minor key come floating out of an infant's room," his mother said. "And he could keep the beat to anything that was on television. He would just sit there and tap his foot." By the age of two and a half he was even able to sing two-part harmony to the radio and easily memorized entire songs.^[5]

In 6th grade, while living in Oil City, Pennsylvania, Kirkpatrick won the lead role as Oliver in the city's high school musical production of Oliver Twist after hundreds of area students had been auditioned. From then on, Chris realized how much he enjoyed performing and began to study music more seriously, enrolling in gifted classes for music and language. In addition to classical training in singing, he learned to play a number of different instruments, including the guitar, keyboard, and trombone.

In 7th grade, his mother and half-sisters moved from Pennsylvania to Dalton, Ohio where he got a job bagging groceries to help pay the bills as soon as he was old enough to get his working papers.^[6] Kirkpatrick attended Dalton High School where he continued his involvement in music, starring as Lieutenant Joseph Cable in his school's production of South Pacific (musical) and appearing in many other musical productions throughout high school. During this time, he also began participating in show choir and he made the prestigious All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir, which performed at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus, Ohio and opened for New Kids On The Block. Besides music, Chris also participated heavily in sports, including football, basketball, baseball, and track.^[7]

After graduating from high school in 1990, he moved to Orlando, Florida to get to know his biological father, who offered to help him pay for college. He attended Valencia College, originally intending to pursue an acting career in theatre. However, he quickly changed his major to music after receiving scholarships for his involvement in Valencia's choir. Around this time, Chris began forming various a cappella groups and arranging music to practice and perform together at local coffee shops. He also auditioned and became involved as a caroler for the Caroling Company, which eventually led him to a job as a doo-wop singer at Universal Studios.

Chris received his associate degree in music in 1993. Afterwards, Chris received another scholarship to attend Rollins College where he studied music and psychology full time while holding three jobs: 1) performing at Universal Studios Florida as a member of a doo-wop group called The Hollywood Hi-Tones, 2) working as a photographer at Sea World, and 3) waiting tables at a local Outback Steakhouse.^[8] In addition to working and attending college, he also played gigs as a local DJ.

Career[]

In 1994, while working at Universal Studios and singing in The Hollywood Hi-Tones (a throwback doo-wop group of aspiring singers and actors) Chris Kirkpatrick was introduced to Lou Pearlman through a mutual friend that he had met in choir (Charlie Edwards). Edwards had briefly been a part of the Backstreet Boys before quitting, and had heard that Pearlman was interested in financing another vocal group, so he passed the information to Chris.

Initially, when the Backstreet Boys were forming Chris hadn't been interested in joining because he preferred arranging 4-part and 5-part harmonies with a cappella groups rather than singing to tracks.^[9] However, after hearing about the funding that the Backstreet Boys were getting from Lou Pearlman (he was acquainted with Howie Dorough), Chris began to change his mind about it. When Pearlman finally met Chris and saw him perform in his doo-wop group, Lou immediately took an interest in him and his talent, so they discussed the idea for Chris to form a vocal group, of which Pearlman promised to finance if Chris could find other talented young singers to join him.^[10]

Kirkpatrick took the opportunity and made some calls, eventually finding Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez, and the three formed the nucleus of NSYNC. Later, they found Joey Fatone who was also working at Universal Studios at the time. After some difficulty finding a consistent bass singer, the group eventually found Lance Bass through Justin's vocal coach, and the group collectively came together in September 1995. The group all moved into a house together and began practicing their singing and choreography in a hot warehouse in Orlando for hours everyday to help train their vocals and stamina. Shortly after Lance joined the group, they recorded their first ever performance at Pleasure Island in Orlando as their demo for record companies. Afterwards, Chris dropped out of Rollins College to pursue a music career with NSYNC.^[11]

NSYNC[]

With his group, Chris Kirkpatrick sold over 70 million records worldwide during their height of success in the late 1990s and early 2000s. NSYNC first released music and began touring in Europe in 1996. In 1998, the band released its debut album "*NSYNC" which sold 11 million copies and became popular in the United States after appearing on their Disney Special Concert. After the band had a series of financial and legal struggles with their manager, Lou Pearlman, they were finally freed from their contracts in 1999 and signed with Jive Records.

Their sophomore album, No Strings Attached, sold 2.4 million in its first week alone, shattering the Backstreet Boys record at the time and remaining the record for 15 years until it was broken by Adele's 25. In the group, Kirkpatrick sang countertenor/soprano and lead in various songs such as "Thinking of You (I Drive Myself Crazy)" (US version), "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", "Together Again", "Here And Now", and "I Thought She Knew".^[12]

In 1999, Kirkpatrick founded a clothing line called Fu-Man Skeeto, which was a cross between the popular urban and skater fashion trends of the time. The clothing line has since ceased as of 2002.

After the group's Celebrity Tour and nearly 7 years as a group, NSYNC announced in April 2002 that they would be taking a much-needed hiatus, and each member of the group began venturing into their solo projects. Although the group never officially broke up, they have not reunited to release new music since, and there have been mixed responses from members as to whether a reunion would ever happen. NSYNC's last official performance was at the Grammys in 2003 during their Bee Gees Medley Tribute. In August 2013, NSYNC briefly came together for a short performance at the MTV Video Music Awards during Justin's Video Vanguard Award performance. In April 2019, NSYNC reunited (without Justin Timberlake) for a special one-night performance as part of Ariana Grande's headlining set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Post-NSYNC[]

After life with NSYNC, Chris founded the Chris Kirkpatrick Foundation which seeks to enhance the lives of underprivileged children in the US by providing health care as well as educational, developmental, and monitoring programs, citing his difficult childhood as his main inspiration for starting the foundation.

In addition to his charity, Chris started working on several musical side projects, including writing and singing lead for his rock band, called Nigels11, which covertly released a number of songs online such as "Who Am I?", "Mr. Jealousy", "Jodi’s Song", "All She Wrote", "Tokyo", "Say You Will", "My World", "Crazy Girl", "All The Way Around", "Get Out", and "Everybody Gets Lost".^[13]

Besides music, Kirkpatrick also became involved in voice acting, providing his unique voice for the iconic popstar character Chip Skylark on the TV show Fairly OddParents on Nickelodeon. Having appeared in numerous episodes spanning from 2002 to 2009, his character developed a significant fan following with songs such as "Find Your Voice", "My Shiny Teeth & Me", and "Icky Vicky".

Kirkpatrick has mostly preferred to stay out of the limelight since NSYNC, but in 2007 he reluctantly agreed to star in the reality show Mission Man Band as a favor to a friend, alongside Bryan Abrams of Color Me Badd, Jeff Timmons of 98°, and the late Rich Cronin of LFO. The show was about former boyband members of the 1990s striving for another shot at success and debuted on August 7, 2007. Kirkpatrick hosted the show at his Orlando house, and the guys formed the supergroup "man band" called Sureshot in which they recorded three original songs, including "Story Of My Life", "Withoutcha", and "Work That Out" and performed at local sporting events, charities, and fairs. The show's last episode aired on January 1, 2008.^[14][15][16]

In April 2008, it was announced that Kirkpatrick would be a part of the second season of CMT's show Gone Country. Kirkpatrick participated in Gone Country with other cast members: Sebastian Bach, Irene Cara (one episode), Mikalah Gordon, Jermaine Jackson, Lorenzo Lamas, and Sean Young. The show was hosted by John Rich of the country duo Big & Rich. During the show, for which each contestant had to prepare and perform an original song, Kirkpatrick had one of the strongest songs of the competition with "That'll Get Ya By". He dedicated his performance to his mother, who he said: "held the family together". Kirkpatrick surprised many country fans when he stepped on stage and proved he had the writing skills and voice to be a successful country artist.

The prize of having a record produced by John Rich and the promise of play from Kix Brooks on his radio show went to Sebastian Bach. However, John Rich congratulated Kirkpatrick on his success and told him he had one of the best songs in the competition and that he could see it going number one as a country hit. The season two last show episode aired on September 26, 2008.^[17][18]

Since NSYNC, Kirkpatrick has appeared in various music videos for "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" by Good Charlotte, "2nd Sucks" by A Day to Remember, "Irresistible" by Fall Out Boy featuring Demi Lovato, and "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" (2019 Version) by David Archuleta.

Besides TV and music, Kirkpatrick has done some minor acting in movies such as Sharknado 3 where he played a lifeguard and Dead 7 where he played the role of Mayor Shelby.

Kirkpatrick now produces music with his company Working Class Industry, works with charities, hosts and performs many events across the country, writes music with The Dopplegangers, and has collaborated on songs with various artists, including David Foster ("I Will"), Blake Lewis ("She's Makin Me Lose It"), and AJ McLean's project ATCK ("Air").

Personal life[]

Kirkpatrick kept his relationship status relatively private until 2010, when he started dating Karlyn M. Skladany. In October 2012, Kirkpatrick proposed to her in Capri, Italy. They married on November 2, 2013, at the Loews Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida, with all his former NSYNC bandmates in attendance as ushers.^[19] In March 2017, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child.^[20] His wife gave birth to a son, Nash, seven months later on October 10, 2017.^[21]

In 2018, Kirkpatrick sold his half-acre estate (dubbed Casa Della Musica) in Orlando, Florida, after having moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2016, where he currently resides with his wife and son.^[22]

Discography[]

NSYNC[]

• NSYNC (1997)
• Home for Christmas (1998)
• No Strings Attached (2000)
• Celebrity (2001)

Nigels11[]

• (2010)

Filmography[]

References[]

External links[]

• Chris Kirkpatrick Music, the official site
• Chris Kirkpatrick Foundation
• Chris Kirkpatrick at IMDb
• Chris Kirkpatrick on Instagram