Who Was the Original Fifth Member of *NSYNC? Learn More About the Early Days of the Boy Band

Before Lance Bass, Joey Fatone contacted someone from his days in high school choir to see if he’d be interested in joining a new group

JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass and Justin Timberlake of *NSYNC in 1997 . Photo:Jason Buckner/Mirrorpix via Getty Images

While it might be hard to believe that there was anyone other than Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone in the iconic boy band *NSYNC, there was actually a different singer in the mix before Bass joined the group.

When the band was first starting out, Fatone reached out to his old high school choir pal, Jason Galasso.

Galasso, who per LinkedIn now works as a loan officer in Orlando, sat down for a chat with The Digital Get Down podcast in 2019 to open up about his early ties to the band.

Following his graduation from high school, Galasso went to community college and pursued a career in entertainment, landing a commercial and extra work on shows like Family Matters. Fatone, who was three years behind Galasso in school, contacted him a few years later and told him about a group he was joining, asking if he wanted to be involved.

“If I remember correctly, I think I went over to Joey’s parents’ house and there was only one other guy at the time, the group was still being formed,” he said on the podcast, explaining that the “other guy” was Andrew Rogers, who would go on to become a member of C Note.

Justin Timberlake, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass and JC Chasez. Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Fatone would end up leaving that first group only to later reach out asking Galasso if he had interest in joining another. Chasez, Kirkpatrick and Timberlake were already in.

Galasso said he went to meet the group and audition and was told that “this is what we’ve been missing” after they sang a song together.

When asked about his first impressions of the guys, he remembered thinking, “Dang, Justin is young,” but that he could “sing his butt off.”

At this point though, Galasso was still a part of the first up-and-coming group Fatone had called him about, Unreal, and had a decision to make.

When Lou Pearlman, who created and managed *NSYNC, started to introduce the types of songs the group would be working on, Galasso said he identified more with Unreal’s sound as it was more R&B-focused.

Justin Timberlake and Joey Fatone in 1998.Mikki Ansin/Getty

Once it came time to look at contracts, Unreal was the first to present Galasso with paperwork. He said he took both contracts to a lawyer who told him that while the one from Unreal was “industry standard,” Pearlman’s was different and was as “thick as a phone book.” He admitted he was certainly “a little more hesitant than everybody else.”

On the day *NSYNC — a name Galasso said was created by Timberlake’s mom using the last letter of each of the original member’s first names — was set to sign the contract at a local Orlando restaurant, Galasso backed out.

“Probably not my best moment, to be honest with you,” he recalled, sharing that he broke the news to Fatone just before they planned to leave. Fatone told the rest of the band, and Chasez immediately tried to change Galasso’s mind, he said.

“He’s like, ‘What are you doing? You’re making a huge mistake,’ ” he remembered being told. “Little did I know, I should have listened to JC.”

Galasso and Unreal would end up performing in some local shows around Orlando and even filmed a music video, though eventually went their separate ways.

Reflecting on his choice, Galasso said that *NSYNC “deserve every bit of” the success they’ve had, and while he’s happy for them, he found himself thinking, “God, it would be nice to have that money.”

JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass, Justin Timberlake and Joey Fatone in 1999.Bob Berg/Getty

In 2023, Bass opened up about the realities of what it was like to work under Pearlman — who was charged with conspiracy, money laundering and making false claims in bankruptcy in 2007.

“The worst thing was people thinking we were rich because we were not,” Bass said during an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show. “We were famous but we were not rich. I made way more money after *NSYNC than I did during *NSYNC.”

He added, “Lou [Pearlman] really took the majority of all of our stuff. And the record label too. Horrible deals.”

Pearlman was ultimately sued by several members of different boy bands, including the Backstreet Boys. He died in federal prison in 2016 following his 2008 sentence of 25 years. The story of his Ponzi scheme and the early boy band scene is detailed in the new Netflix documentary Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam, streaming now.