Joey Fatone

Photo: Patti Perret/Disney Channeljoeyfatone.edit.02_0.jpg656931
Photo: Patti Perret/Disney Channeljoeyfatone.edit.01_0.jpg656942
Photo: Patti Perret/Disney Channeljoeyfatone.edit.03_0.jpg656953
Photo: Patti Perret/Disney Channeljoeyfatone.edit.04_0.jpg656964

Photo: Patti Perret/Disney Channel

Although he's no longer tearin' up our hearts as a member of 'N Sync, Joey Fatone is tackling new territory as a host, singer, dancer and dad to two daughters: nine-year-old Brihana and four-month-old Kloey. It's that last role that inspired him to take a guest spot on the Disney Channel's tot rockin' show Imagination Movers. On the Saturday, May 22 episode at 10am, Fatone plays baseballer Joey Giordano, who enlists the Movers' help when he realizes that his big game conflicts with his son's birthday party. It's the kind of quandary the always-busy Fatone can totally relate to. Somewhere between promoting his brand-new single, "Radio," and juggling other entertainment and family commitments, the busy papa squeezed in a quick chat with Time Out Kids about his career, his Brooklyn boyhood and being a kid at heart.

Did you always want to go into showbiz?
Yeah. When I lived in Brooklyn my dad was always into the arts. He sang in a '50s doo-wop group–nothing big–but I always listened to him and developed a fascination with street harmonies. When I moved to Florida at 13, I started singing and doing plays.

What did you do for fun as a kid in Brooklyn?
If we got good grades we'd go to a place called Nellie Bly [now known as Adventurers' Family Entertainment Center]. It was a theme park where they had video games. Day to day, I'd just hang around with friends on the block. We'd sit on the stoop and talk and play music and stuff. We'd go to movies. I wasn't that athletic, but I'd try to play stickball.

Have your kids been to your old neighborhood?
I've brought Brihana back to the city. There's a pizza place in Brooklyn she loves called Spumoni Gardens. She keeps asking if she's from New York or from Florida. I tell her she's a Floridian, but she's kind of a New Yorker because I keep bringing her back to taste all the food and culture, and we still have family living in Staten Island.

Any other favorite NYC spots you like to hit with the family?
I've taken her to Nellie Bly. We like to see Broadway shows. We've been to the ice-skating rink in Central Park a bunch of times. She loves to go to the American Girl Place. For the past seven years or so we've gone to New York for Thanksgiving to watch the parade, and she thinks it's the greatest thing. I can't wait until my other daughter gets a little bit older so I can take her.

Tell us about your guest role on Imagination Movers.
I play a baseball player with a huge dilemma. My son's birthday party is on the same day as one of the biggest games of my career, and I have to try to figure out how to have this party for my son and play the game. The Imagination Movers agree to help me, so we go through different trials and test out different things.

Why did you decide to take this part?
It was a lot of fun and it changes things up a bit. Also, I want my kids to be excited about what I do. My daughter doesn't care about what I did with 'N Sync, but once I did Hannah Montana about a year ago, I became God to her. My nephew loves Imagination Movers, so it's going to be cool for him to see me on that.

How's life treating you now that you have two kids?
I'm loving it. It's a lot of work, obviously, but it's really great. I'm traveling around right now and it's one of the first times I've been away from them, which is a little nerve-racking. I definitely miss them.

I read somewhere that your wife feels like she's got three kids sometimes, with you being the third.
[Laughs] I'm the third kid, definitely. I'm kind of a big kid at heart. I'm a fun guy, I always want to take my daughter to theme parks and stuff like that.

Does Brihana have showbiz aspirations?
She loves to sing and entertain, and she's done some plays at school already. She did The Wizard of Oz where she was a crow. She was actually offered the part of the Wicked Witch, but she turned it down because she got nervous and wasn't sure she could learn the lines.

What else are you up to these days?
Right now I'm in L.A. because I'm doing some stuff with Dancing with the Stars [see below], and I just flew in from Rhode Island, where I'm working on a horror movie called Inkubus. And I just released a single, "Radio," off my upcoming album.

Will your album sound anything like 'N Sync?
No, not at all. I would say it's pop and kind of rock. "Radio" is a fun song, nothing too serious. I don't know what you'd want to call it. Let me know if it sucks! [Laughs]