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Jeff Timmons
AGE 32
FORMER EMPLOYER 98 Degrees
WHERE HE WAS THEN Timmons was the J.C. Chasez to Nick Lachey's Justin Timberlake (in other words, he was the other cute one). The group released four albums before separating shortly after Sept. 11. ''It was so crazy [when the band broke up],'' says Timmons today. ''No one knew what was going to happen, so we just said we were gonna go to our families and get off the road. I have two kids, and I missed quite a bit of my daughter's first couple years because I was gone.''
WHERE HE IS NOW The now-divorced dad is working on his second solo album. His first, the adult contemporary-ish Whisper That Way (available on his website, was independently produced and marketed by Timmons himself. But don't worry, 98 Degrees fans: He says his next album will be much more pop. Still, you won't see Timmons popping up on reality TV anytime soon. ''I was approached to do The Surreal Life,'' he says, ''and I said, ‘No, it's not for me.' It could be hurting me financially, but not everything's about money, man.''
Justin Jeffre
AGE 32
FORMER EMPLOYER 98 Degrees
WHERE HE WAS THEN The goateed, platinum-blond one, Jeffre usually stayed more covered up than his chest-baring compadres but worked his bass vocals to groupie-squealing effect on singles like ''Because of You.'' Despite all of the group's preteen love, Jeffre bristles at the term boy band. ''I understand why people call us a boy band,'' he says, ''but we never looked at ourselves as that. We weren't a manufactured group. We put ourselves together. We threw ourselves in the fire by moving to L.A. and struggled. We weren't the type of group who lip-synced and danced around. We actually weren't very good dancers, except for Drew [Lachey, who's now putting his moves to good effect on ABC's Dancing With the Stars].''
WHERE HE IS NOW Working on campaign reform in his hometown of Cincinnati. No, we're not kidding. Jeffre actually ran for mayor of Cincinnati in 2005. ''I felt like the city had been moving in the wrong direction and people were really disconnected from the process,'' says Jeffre, who ran independently but was ultimately endorsed by the Green Party. ''I think my being in the race helped to raise its profile. We got some national coverage, which is one of the reasons I wanted to run: to try and get people to pay attention and take an interest.'' Jeffre lost the election, attracting only a tiny percentage of the vote. Even so, he says he might run again. ''I had a friend tell me, 'Don't run. You'll become disillusioned,''' he says. ''And I said, 'Well, I am disillusioned. That's why I'm going to run.'''
— Tim Stack
