James Lance "Lansten" Bass, 19, has a secret life. When the ever-smiling, ever-courteous, clean-talking native of Clinton, Miss., isn't performing bass vocals, he's managing the careers of two country up-and-comers: Meredith Edwards and Jack Defeo. Where does he find the time? "I do it at night in hotel rooms," he says. "It's all on the phone." For help, he's recruited his mother, Diane, and sister, Stacy, 22, to head up his management company, Free Lance Entertainment. (Dad Jim is a laboratory manager in Clinton.)

Somehow, Lance has always managed to fit it all in. "In school, I had to do everything. I wa the president of this, president of that, in this club, in that. Student Council. Honor Society. Plus, I had two jobs," he says.

His third full-time job: Mr. Social. "I never wanted an enemy, so I tried to be friends with everybody," says Lance, probably the most approachable member of the group. "One night, I'd go out with this clique, next night, I'd go out with another." The strategy helped earn him the honor of Friendliest Student. But "never Smartest or Most Athletic" he laments.

For all his ambition, Lance is the only member who didnt' anticipate a career as a performer. "I started liking music in ninth grade, but I thought 'There's no way I even have a chance,'" he says. That was until Justin, with whom he shared a vocal coach, called to recruit him.

"From day one, I knew it was going to work," Lance says. "The first time we sang together, I wa slike, 'This is it.'"

Well, anybody present at the Rosemont concert-where the fans' screams nearly drowned out the band's harmonies-would be inclined to agree that 'Nsync is it. The same conclusion could be reached the next day on the banks of Lake Michigan, where they guys are taping a segment for Brazil's popular TV show Planet Xuxa. A crowd of fans gather around, clamoring for photos and autographs. When a family with a stroller approaches, the group gather round the six-month-old, cooing and playing with his feet. Sensing the perfect shot, the show's director requests, "Sing him a lullaby!" 'Nsync's selection? The old Vanilla Ice hit "Ice Ice Baby."

Did these five ever foresee causing such a commotion? "From the beginning, we said, 'Let's be huge,'" says Justin earnestly. "we didn't want to be the next anybody. We wanted to be the first Nsync."