Christopher Alan Kirkpatrick (born October 17, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, music producer, and occasional actor, who is best known for his work as the founding member of the pop group NSYNC, in which he sang countertenor. He also serves as a songwriter and producer and has regularly worked as a voice actor and participant in numerous reality TV shows. 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 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. 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 in the city's high school musical production of Oliver Twist. 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