NSYNC group member Chris Kirkpatrick wasn’t born in Ohio, but he lived here as a teenager and graduated from high school in this state. Who knew that one of the biggest boy bands of the last few decades had a member from Ohio? And, I may add, a group that had one of the biggest songs of those decades?
The city where Kirkpatrick lived is Dalton, Ohio. Kirkpatrick and his family moved there when he was in middle school. His family had numerous financial challenges, which caused them to move to several different states and cities in his youth. He finally settled in Dalton until he graduated high school. While in school, he participated and starred in several musical productions. He eventually made the famous All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir, which, ironically, opened for the New Kids On The Block at the Ohio State Fair.
The high school he graduated from is Dalton High School, which he graduated from in 1990. He soon embarked on a career in the music industry, where he eventually ended up in a pop/r&b group that would soon be called NSYNC. You all know the rest. The group became massive, and in 2000, they dropped what is arguably their biggest and most popular single, Bye Bye Bye (the lead cut from the album No Strings Attached.) The song reached the number four position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and reached near anthem status (yeah…everybody was singing that hook). Bye Bye Bye paved the way for NSYNC to become just as big or, depending on your fandom, bigger than their pop group rivals, the Backstreet Boys (who were the most popular singing group in the world at that time). It also helped the No Strings Attached album become the best selling album of 2000, and to go on and sell 11 million copies.
He wasn’t born in Ohio, but he lived here. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Chris Kirkpatrick developed in this state, and then got in sync with his dreams to be… in NSYNC.
Ba-dump-bump.
Ok, I’ll see myself out.
Miami Valley Music Focus explores the places and people behind the music of Southwest, Ohio. This series is made possible by support from Ohio Arts Council.
