Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981), occasionally known by his initials JT, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer.
Raised in Tennessee, he appeared on the television shows Star Search and The All-New Mickey Mouse Club as a child. In the late 1990s, Timberlake rose to prominence as one of the two lead vocalists and youngest member of NSYNC, which eventually became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.
Timberlake began to adopt a more mature image as an artist with the release of his debut solo album, the R&B-focused Justified (2002), which yielded the successful singles "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body", and earned his first two Grammy Awards.
SZA, Steely Dan, R.E.M., Trey Anastasio, Carrie Underwood and Many More Light up 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame Ceremony
variety.comJem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The Songwriters Hall of Fame, which staged its annual awards ceremony on Thursday night, is an institution and an event unlike any other in the music industry, even though many of its elements are hardly unique and many things about it have barely changed over decades, and possibly since it launched in 1969.
Indeed, we say many of the same things about the ceremony in an article very similar to this one every year — it’s a combination of an awards show, a family reunion and a trade event that is invite-only yet features a mind-blowing array of Grammy-level, once-in-a-lifetime performances and tributes, always held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York’s Times Square.
Yet every year features a wildly diverse and drastically different lineup of honorees and performers, which over the years have spanned from global icons like Neil Diamond, Drake, Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, Justin Timberlake, Ariana Grande, Van Morrison, Eurythmics, John Prine, Leon Russell and Elvis Costello to people you’ve probably barely heard of, even though you probably know a dozen of their songs — and all are treated equally in the eyes and ears of the Hall and the tight-knit songwriting and publishing community that attends every year.
On this night, one can see Lady Gaga singing Four Non-Blondes’ hit “What’s Up” to Linda Perry; Stevie Nicks belting “The Rose” to Bette Midler; Emmylou Harris performing Eric Clapton’s heartbreaking hit “Tears in Heaven” for the song’s co-writer Will Jennings; Joe Walsh performing ELO’s “Don’t Bring Me Down” (and saying, “I always wanted to be in ELO — now I have”), and in 2011, the evening ended with Billy Joel and Garth Brooks duetting at the piano in matching Stetson hats.
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