Justin Timberlake has revealed that he originally offered *NSYNC's 'Gone' to Michael Jackson who turned it down but then wanted to record it as a duet with 'JT' but it was all too late and then Michael died etc.
In an interview for Oprah's Master Class (as quoted here), the 'Tunnel Vision' hitmaker explained how he'd offered 'Gone' to Jackson's 'camp' only for them to say 'no thanks', so he recorded it for *NSYNC's 'Celebrity' album instead.
Then this happened:
"[He] said that he wanted to cut the record, but he wanted it to be a duet between himself and I. And I said, ‘It’s already out. We’ve already cut this song as an *NSYNC record.’"
Good to know Michael had his finger on the pop pulse.
He went on:
“I’m on the phone, I’m literally punching myself in the face, because I said, ‘I can’t do that. Could we do an *NSYNC featuring Michael Jackson? Or Michael Jackson featuring *NSYNC?’ And he was very absolute about the fact that he wanted it to be a duet between himself and I."
Timbers then went on to say that the whole debacle gave him the confidence to make a solo album, so that's something at least.
