Justin Timberlake: Prince of pin-ups

When Justin Timberlake played a one-off gig at the Hammersmith Palais last summer, the noise from the 4,000 fans in the audience - the vast majority women - was deafening. But during one of the few brief quiet interludes between songs, a lone female voice rang out from the front row. It was to make a request of the American singer of a somewhat intimate nature, and no one in the audience knew quite where to look. Timberlake, however, just stared straight back at the woman from behind his keyboard, a Hollywood smile on his face. "You're going to what me?" he drawled, before launching into his next number.

The singer, in the middle of a sell-out run at the O2 Arena in London, can expect the same treatment when he steps on stage at Wembley Stadium's Live Earth concert today, where, one suspects, green issues will be the last thing on his fans' minds. For the man dubbed variously as "the sexiest man in pop", "the sexiest man on the planet", and "Trousersnake", this kind of attention is nothing new.

Timberlake, though, is much more than a pretty face. The Tennessean has worked in show business without a significant break since his first big job as a Mouseketeer on the Disney Channel's pre-teen hit The Mickey Mouse Club - a role he won aged 10. Since then he has broken music industry records with the American boy band *NSync, become the world's leading male solo artist, dated some very famous blondes, and played a part in ensuring that "wardrobe malfunction" entered the lexicon.

As a member of a boy band, he was a bit of a joke - albeit a successful joke - but as a solo performer, he has converted critics and public alike. In a great American tradition, Timberlake, 26, has become the white face of black music, and, like Elvis and Eminem before him, evolved into a pop star with credibility. His appeal, says Alex Jones-Donelly, editor of BBC Radio 1's music policy, is that he excludes no one. "He fuses the essence of the iconic sexy pin-up pop star with music that has such broad appeal, from taste-makers to supermarket CD buyers," he said.

Timberlake grew up in Millington, a small town north of Memphis, Tennessee. His parents, Lynn Harless and Randall Timberlake, a choir director at a local Baptist church, divorced when he was four years old. Both remarried, and Harless now runs a media company called JustinTime Entertainment. Timberlake is said to have remained close to his mother - who managed his early career - and speaks fondly of his stepfather, Paul Harless, a banker.

Before his first appearance on The Mickey Mouse Club, Timberlake had a shot at fame on the talent show Star Search, where he sang country songs as "Justin Randall". But it would be The Mickey Mouse Club - on which he appeared with his future girlfriend, Britney Spears, and his future chart rival and touring partner Christina Aguilera - that kick-started his career.

After three years as a Mouseketeer, Timberlake was signed up for a potential new boy band by the pop impresario Lou Pearlman, and, in 1995, *NSync was born. They were extraordinarily successful. Their 2000 album, No Strings Attached, was reported to have been "the fastest-selling album of all time". But all the while, Pearlman - who has now been sued for fraud - was less than transparent in the group's financial details. Timberlake said last year of his time in *NSync that "I was being monetarily raped by a Svengali".

Jonathan Heaf, who has interviewed Timberlake several times for GQ magazine, said the singer's treatment in *NSync had a lasting effect. "He always recounts that one story," said Heaf. "If anything could have put him off the music business, that was it. He was let down by someone he thought he could trust. He always said he couldn't believe that someone he trusted acted so dishonourably to people so young."

*NSync came to an end in 2002, by which time Timberlake had already started work on solo material. His work as a solo artist - which was infused with the influence of hip-hop, R&B, and, most notably, Michael Jackson - was a sharp departure from what he had been singing in the boy band. While Justified, Timberlake's debut solo album, which was released in November 2002, initially sold fewer copies than *NSync's best efforts, it would make him a star in his own right.

Timberlake's emergence as a solo artist coincided with considerable changes in his personal life, as his long-term relationship with his fellow Mouseketeer Britney Spears came to an end. Timberlake instituted a policy he has continued to this day, of keeping tight-lipped about personal matters. But his mother, Lynn, had no such compunction. "Britney grew up on my living room floor," said Harless. "I still love her to death. [Justin and Britney] were together 10 of 11 years and had, from day one, instant chemistry between them. She's a sweet girl."

How the relationship came to an end is a moot point, but there was no denying what it made Timberlake: America's most eligible bachelor. He enjoyed that status, first dating Jenna Dewan, a dancer, in the summer of 2002, and then the singer Alyssa Milano in October 2002. In April 2003, Timberlake met the actress Cameron Diaz at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, and America's most eligible bachelor became half of one of Hollywood's most famous couples.

All the while, Timberlake was constantly on the road, touring his new material and promoting his new album. Most journalists who came across him in this period were surprised by what they found. The charisma of the on-stage Timberlake disappeared when he left the spotlight. He could seem withdrawn, surly even. Interviewers were given strict "hands-off" warnings about topics - mostly, but not exclusively, relating to girlfriends present or past - and some were made to wait days for their 10 minutes with the new King of Pop.

"He seemed to be a typical stage-school kid to me," said Jessica Callan, whose journalistic encounters with Timberlake were documented in her recent memoir, Wicked Whispers. "He knew he needed to do press to promote his stuff, but he resented it. You'd wait two and a half hours for him to turn up, and when he got there he loathed it. He was so rude.

"We were told 'You can't ask him any questions'. Well, we were journalists. We needed to ask him questions. But, when we did, he'd walk off if he didn't like one of them. He had one of those massive American entourages, with enormous bouncers, which could be quite intimidating as well. Paul McCartney, David Bowie and Mick Jagger, who are proper legends, never gave us any trouble. He's got a bit to learn from them."

But Timberlake makes no apology. "I really remove myself from [press speculation]," he told The Observer Music Monthly last year. "I grew up an only child and in a very humble environment where you had your own life and I would prefer it to be that way for the rest of my time. You have to remind yourself that all of this is promoted by money. They want to make money off you. I don't say that in a jaded way. The motive is always money."

Timberlake's aversion to the media would have to be put to one side after the Super Bowl in 2004, when he unintentionally enlivened the half-time entertainment. During a duet performance of "Rock Your Body", his attempted "costume reveal" had the effect of exposing Janet Jackson's right breast, complete with nipple decoration. America was scandalised.

Despite issuing an apology - during which Timberlake memorably regretted the "wardrobe malfunction" that had led to Jackson's exposure - both singers were banned from the 2004 Grammy Awards unless they agreed to apologise on stage at the event. Timberlake's crawling speech, during which, some felt, he let Jackson take the blame, made him as many enemies as friends. "If I recall," said Queen Latifah, shortly afterwards, "there were two people on that stage. He loses a lot of my respect for not taking responsibility for his actions."

The brouhaha blew over, and despite gloomy predictions from some conservative American commentators, Timberlake's vertiginous trajectory was unchecked. In the immediate aftermath of Nipplegate, Timberlake branched out into film - acting in movies such as Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan, and Southland Tales, and voicing the part of a young King Arthur in Shrek the Third.

Musically, he collaborated with other musicians, including Nelly, the Black Eyed Peas, Nelly Furtado, and Snoop Dogg. He wrote and recorded his 2006 collection of baby-making music, Future Sex/Love Sounds. And while he wasn't recording platinum-selling records or acting in Hollywood, he started his own clothing label, William Rast. "I think he tries to appear like he does it all without trying," said Heaf. "But he's nose to the grindstone at everything. He is obsessive about getting everything right. To give an example, he's taken up golf. He's obsessed with his game. He studies it. It's not recreation - he genuinely wants to be really good at it. But he wears that attitude really lightly. I think he wants to be seen as one of the boys."

Timberlake does, occasionally, relax. He likes a night out, but rarely finds the time. He has been open in interviews about his occasional, casual drug use. And, he is now reported to be dating the American actress Jessica Biel. "I've never done anything that bad," he said. "I don't show up drunk to functions; the drugs that I do have been in my own private time. I've never been arrested - though not to say that I won't... We all make mistakes."

For someone with a noted recalcitrance towards media intrusion, that is some admission. It speaks of a man who is aware, and wary, that private lives can destroy public ones. He should not worry. His fans will forgive him almost anything, as long as he turns up at Wembley today with a smile on his face and magic in his sneakers.

A Life in Brief

BORN Justin Randall Timberlake, 31 January 1981, Memphis, Tennessee.

EARLY LIFE First appeared on TV show Star Search, before joiningThe Mickey Mouse Club aged 10. There he met future girlfriend Britney Spears. In 1995, he joined a new all-male singing group, *NSync.

CAREER After initial European success, in 2000, *NSync released the fastest-selling album of all time, No Strings Attached. In 2002, during a break Timberlake released his debut solo album, Justified; it sold 439,000 copies in its first week of release, and eventually more than seven million worldwide. Second solo album Future Sex/Love Sounds, was released in 2006 and received the highest ever number of iTunes pre-orders. Also started an acting career, with roles in Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan and Shrek the Third.

HE SAYS "I'm a perfectionist. I can't help it. I get really upset with myself if I fail in the least."

THEY SAY "He fuses the essence of the iconic sexy pin-up pop star with music that has such broad appeal, from tastemakers to supermarket CD buyers." Alex Jones-Donelly, editor of Radio 1's music policy