Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick (born October 17, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, music producer, podcaster, and occasional actor, who is best known for his work as the oldest member and founder of the pop group NSYNC, in which he sang countertenor and lead in various songs including "Thinking of You (I Drive Myself Crazy)", "Together Again", "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", "I Thought She Knew", "Just Got Paid", and many songs from their Christmas album, Home for Christmas.
He has also regularly worked as a voice actor, most notably as the character Chip Skylark on the Nickelodeon series The Fairly OddParents, and participant in numerous reality TV shows, including Celebrity Big Brother, The Masked Singer, and Gone Country.
Early life and education
Kirkpatrick was born on October 17, 1971, in Clarion, Pennsylvania to single mother, Beverly Eustice, when she was 16 years old. She raised him on her own along with his four younger half-sisters (Molly, Kate, Emily, and Taylor). He is of Irish, Scottish, Native American, and Latin ancestry.
Kirkpatrick and his family grew up in poverty and on welfare, sometimes homeless and living out of a car, and had to move around a lot. As a result, he attended many different schools and lived in several states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, South Carolina, and California. At one point, his family lived in a trailer during the winter with no electricity and a 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. Kirkpatrick recalls frequently going without food and not always knowing where their next meal would come from, often relying on food stamps, free school lunches, and donated items to survive. Due to his family's financial problems, Kirkpatrick struggled in school and began working on a farm while still in grade school to help his mom make ends meet.
Despite their financial struggles, Kirkpatrick's family was 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. Kirkpatrick also showed a keen talent for music from a young age. In 6th grade, while living in Oil City, Pennsylvania, Kirkpatrick won the lead role as Oliver Twist in the city's high school musical production of Oliver!. From then on, he began to study music more seriously, enrolling in gifted classes for music and learning to play a number of different instruments. In 7th grade, he moved to Dalton, Ohio and attended Dalton High School where he continued his involvement in music, starring as Lieutenant Joseph Cable in his school's production of South Pacific and appearing in many other musical productions throughout high school. In addition to musicals, Kirkpatrick participated in his school's choir, and made the All-Ohio State Fair Youth Choir, which opened for New Kids On The Block at the Ohio State Fair. Besides music, Kirkpatrick also participated heavily in sports, including football, basketball, baseball, and track.
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, where he originally intended to pursue an acting career in theatre. However, he changed his major to music after receiving scholarships for his involvement in Valencia's choir. While at Valencia, Kirkpatrick began forming various a cappella groups and arranging music to practice and perform at local coffee shops. Later, he 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. Kirkpatrick 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. In addition to working and attending college, he also played gigs as a local DJ.