Joey Fatone named parade grand marshal
Joey Fatone, who soared to fame in the 1990s as part of the groundbreaking boy band ‘N Sync, will be the celebrity grand marshal of the First Ever 15th Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Visit Hot Springs announced this week.
Fatone, who sang baritone with the group, will be joined by Jon Heder of “Napoleon Dynamite” fame as the parade’s official starter. Free concerts at next year’s parade will feature Morris Day and the Time and Grand Funk Railroad.
’N Sync went on hiatus in 2002 and hasn’t recorded new material since, according to The Associated Press. The group did reunite, though, for a one-off performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.
Over the last decade, Fatone has gone on to find success as an actor, host, Broadway star, voice-over artist, dancer, media personality and his recent opening of his own restaurant, Fat One’s Hot Dogs & Italian Ice, according to a biography provided by Visit Hot Springs.
Fatone’s movie credits include “On the Line,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,” “The Cooler” alongside Alec Baldwin and William H. Macy, and “Homie Spumoni” with Whoopi Goldberg, Donald Faison and Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
He hosted the popular, long-running show “My Family Recipe Rocks!” on the Live Well Network,
which highlights the stories of homegrown cooks and their homemade specialties from around the country. Fatone also hosted the cooking competition show “Rewrapped” on the Food Network, the biography said.
In addition to placing second on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2007, Fatone served as host of NBC’s international hit series “The Singing Bee.” He also hosted NBC’s cirque competition series “Celebrity Circus.” He earned his first producer credit for the cable television series “The Singing Office” on TLC, which he also co-hosted alongside Melanie Brown, it said.
His first acting gig came at age 7, when he starred with Robert DeNiro in the feature film “Once Upon a Time in America.”
When Fatone was 17, he got a job at Universal Studios in the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue.
While there, he met another theme park performer, Chris Kirkpatrick, which led to his joining the group ‘N Sync. Before long, ‘N Sync was the hottest act in Europe, the U.S. and beyond, with millions of fans around the world. They quickly became one of the most iconic pop groups in history, the biography said.
In 1998, ‘N Sync released its self-titled debut album, which went on to sell over 10 million copies, and it won an American Music Award for favorite new artist (pop/rock). In 1999, the band signed a new record deal with Jive records. Their album “No Strings Attached” sold 1 million copies in its first day of sales and 2.4 million for the first week, a record that still stands, the biography said.