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Joey Fatone Finally Explains Why There’s a Star in *N Sync

*N Sync
Joey Fatone has revealed why *N Sync always included a star in the band's name

Dirtyyyy pop secrets! Joey Fatone is finally revealing one of *N Sync’s longtime secrets: Why is there a star in the band’s name? The My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 actor joked that Israeli illusionist Uri Geller may have had something to do with it.

Related: PHOTOS: Biggest boy bands of all time

“We saw him in the UK, and this is when we were obviously establishing *N Sync, and he goes, ‘I see something. It has to do with suns or stars or something with astronomy in your career,'” Fatone, 38, recently recalled to the Huffington Post. “And it’s funny, a year later when we did the first album, for America, they had a star in it.”

Fatone was fuzzy with the details, but never fear: The Huffington Post called Geller for more information. “Of course I bent spoons for them and they were very impressed,” he said. “We sat down and I wrote, on a napkin, *N Sync, and I drew a star in the cafe [in Covent Garden]. And I told them, if they place that star on their first CD, they’re going to shoot up to No. 1.”

Related: PHOTOS: Music video celebrity cameos

He added: “I think drawing and writing down their name and creating that star gave them that subliminal push to go for it.”

Joey Fatone
Joey Fatone attends the 141st Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2.

And fame soon followed. *N Sync became one of the biggest boy bands in music history, and is best known for hits such as “Bye, Bye, Bye,” “This I Promise You,” “Tearin’ Up My Heart,” “Pop,” “Gone,” and “Just Got Paid.”

Fatone and his former bandmates – Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, and Chris Kirkpatrick — launched the group in 1995. They split in 2002 after three studio albums, but reunited at the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2013. The longtime buddies performed during Timberlake’s Video Vanguard Award medley.

Related: PHOTOS: Music video couples

“They loved being all back together,” an insider told Us Weekly at the time. “It felt like the old days!”

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