Barry Weiss, President Jive Records

"Having seen what Piper had done on stage with *NSYNC and the work that she had done for us as a writer… there was no question we wanted to sign her. None at all. I think we had an offer on the table within a week. We wanted her and we wanted her yesterday, because we knew it couldn't be too long before some exec at another label had seen that HBO special and started making enquiries about her."

Piper

"Jive came to me pretty much right away and… I hesitated, I admit it. I wondered if I should walk before I ran considering I was only just back in the game."

It was Johnny Wright, long time manager of *NSYNC who had guided Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys to fame, who bridged the gap.

Johnny Wright, manager

"I decided to take the initiative and offer to manage her. I knew her well by this point, and I think it was important to her to have somebody familiar in that business side of things looking out for her. I told her that whether she just wanted to keep producing or she wanted to get back on stage, I would help her out."

Piper

"Johnny was a godsend. He was more approachable than the label and… he's an old soul, very wise, and he has this way of putting things that makes things seem a hell of a lot more doable. I had so much confidence in him, and he had so much confidence in me, that he convinced me. And once I'd made that decision, it was like, okay, so let's do it now, get it started. I wasn't going to half ass this, you know? This is just something I always wanted to do, and one way or another I just had to make it happen."

The label wasted no time - Piper was in the studio with hit makers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of the Neptunes the day after the deal was finalised.

Barry Weiss

"We snapped her up in a heartbeat. We'd thought we were going to introduce her to America as a producer and by incredible luck we instead found we had the next big superstar on our hands. We didn't want to sit on that, she didn't want to sit on that and that early drive won her a lot of friends at the label, because she showed us right off the bat how professional she was. She's the most incredibly focussed individual I've ever signed to a label, and it's paid off for her."

They weren't the only ones who were impressed.

Pharrell Williams

"Girl got game, that's all I gotta say about it. She's a musician, she's not one of these little pop tarts that just stands there, can just about hold a note and looks pretty. She's the real deal, and that was apparent to me from the first time we sat and started writing together. Shorty got it."

But not everybody thought so - even before the album came out, Piper was facing scepticism and prejudice amongst an industry and public who knew her only as the blonde at Justin Timberlake's side.

Johnny Wright

"That was something, image wise, that we'd have to disprove. They all thought Justin got her this gig, which is the furthest thing from the truth there is, but we had faith that her talent would out."

Barry Weiss

"We like Justin. But we don't like him enough to spend millions of dollars launching his girlfriend just because he wants us to. We were very happy with the direction she took - it was a very authentic, very current take on the kind of disco music and old school RnB that she herself had always loved but it never felt like just a copycat or a tribute, it was very fresh and sexy and we thought the music industry was crying out for somebody to revitalise pop."

Piper, TRL January 2003

"You know, I think after the whole teen pop thing died pop's become a really dirty word and I want to alter that perception, if I can, I wanna show the world the word pop doesn't have to mean vapid or soulless or manufactured."

The debut album, Hit It, came out with first single That Was Then having hit a respectable 10 on the Billboard Charts, although it wasn't the huge hit the label had hoped for. The video, set in a New York hotel, did steady business on MTV's TRL but wasn't the huge breakout Piper had been looking for.

Piper, The Graham Norton Show November 2004

"In retrospect that song was a little… I mean, I love it, but I think it was a third or fourth single when people already know you and you're showing off some diversity, I needed more punch to start."

The album sold steadily along with second single Candid, but was hardly setting the world alight - the biggest stir around the album was the title.

Piper

"God, that was so stupid. It was Hit It as in '1, 2, 3, Hit It' there was nothing sexual about it. I just could not believe I had groups trying to boycott me over it. It was so stupid, and I think it said more about their dirty minds than mine that they were insisting this was what it meant."

Maggie

"We laughed. I knew what she meant, and even if there was a sexual innuendo - so what? She was 22, her music wasn't being targeted at kids… I didn't see the problem, and I'm a parent too, you know?"

The label and management struggled over the critical choice of third single. With album sales solid rather than spectacular, the record hovering around number 25 on Billboard and previous singles failing to do big business, it was crunch time for Piper.

Johnny Wright

"We have to accept responsibility for the first couple of singles not doing so spectacularly… we picked the wrong songs and stayed a little too safe, especially considering we had somebody we considered very edgy and forward thinking to promote. By third single time… it was now or never. You only have so long to prove yourself as an artist before people lose interest, and if I'm honest if it had been anybody but Piper they'd probably have given up on her already."

Barry Weiss

"Finally, we said… 'what do you want to do'? And she told us she wanted to release Addicted and there was this simultaneous intake of breath in the room, because this was the song we'd all agreed was far too risky. She'd had to fight us to get it on the album, and now she wanted to release it… of course, we're now glad we listened to her, but at the time she really had to talk us into it."

Piper

"That song was just… I'd done it with Pharrell, and we made the whole thing in this 48 hour fever. I was desperate to release it because I knew it was crunch time, and I just thought I have to make an impact, and this was the song on the record that I thought slapped you round the face when you heard it. It was time for that next step up. This was the big time now. I needed to sock it to 'em and I thought Addicted was the song that would do that"

Piper recruited old pal Wade to choreograph a sexy routine for the song, which formed the basis of the now infamous video.

Wade

"The video was shot in Miami and this really dirty Latin cantina of a club, these girls were all in the tiniest dresses… and Piper just wanted to really go full out with the sexuality. And I said to her, are you sure, and she just looked at me with that face that told me I was asking a stupid question, and I went away and watched a lot of Latin ballroom to come up with the influence for the routine, and then relied on Piper to give it that sassy, flirtatious vibe that she did."

Barry Weiss

"It was a gamble. We were nervous, very nervous."

The gamble paid off. Addicted was number one on its TRL debut, and the single remained in the Billboard charts for an astonishing 22 weeks, including three weeks at number one. Suddenly, everybody wanted a piece of Piper Tenshaw, and covers on Rolling Stone, Elle, Cosmopolitan and GQ magazines swiftly followed.

Justin

"I didn't manage to see my girlfriend for about two straight months after that, but on the bright side I could always catch her on TV!"

Piper

"Oh God I had no idea what was going on. It was insane. I'd been doing the radio stations, doing TV… but I wasn't that in demand. Suddenly, everybody wanted me everywhere and I was looking at every single second of my day scheduled for me. I'd never known what I was doing at exactly 8.23 before, it was a weird feeling, and it all passed me by in this big crazy blur. It was like - Dear God, is this happening to me?"

Ben Houghton, cousin

"That was when I started lying about being related to her! It was amazing, it was my little cousin just all over the joint. Everybody was asking me about her, everybody. I made the mistake of telling a couple of people that was my cousin in the Addicted video and they'd ask me which one and I'd be like… well, the one singing, and they freaked. I got a lot more party invites after that though so I guess I can't complain!"

Barry Weiss

"The album shot up the charts after that, and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief because we had been worried. But of course, Piper's instincts had been dead on, and suddenly everybody wanted a piece of her."

The public clamoured for more, and Hit It shot up the charts, peaking at number three in the US and even hitting number one in England, sweet vindication for a one time UK resident.

Piper

"I just… it was the most fantastic experience of my life up until that point. I'd be flipping stations on my radio and hear my song four or five times, I was calling TRL to introduce it as number one, I had my English PR calling me real early in the morning to tell me the album was officially number one there, and I honestly felt like the luckiest human being on the planet. It was every dream I'd ever had coming true all at once, and I think the fact that I'd had to wait for it so long between getting dropped by the first label and then the album not doing immediately well, that when it did happen I appreciated it like a million times more."

Johnny Wright

"It was very gratifying. It had been a slow burning record, and it took us a while, but once it exploded it exploded everywhere and she had great sales in the UK, Germany, Australia, Japan as well as America, and then the awards started rolling in."

And roll in they did… Piper picked up American Music Awards, Billboard and Radio Music Awards, MTV Europe and Brit Awards and the much coveted Video of The Year at the MTV VMAs. Fourth single This Dreaming was a slower number but an instant hit, giving Piper her second Billboard number one and dispelling any talk of Addicted being a fluke or Piper Tenshaw being nothing but a boy band man's arm candy.

Justin

"I think what sets her apart is the fact that she might be a pop artist, but she is still an artist and an incredibly versatile one. She's completely in charge of her music, and woe betide anybody who thinks otherwise. And I think once people realised that Addicted came from her, they then saw her name all over the album credits, and with the interviews people were learning more about her and her previous work and then the haters had to shut up, because they were proved wrong. And I gotta say that was great because every time I read crap about her, I wanted to smack somebody. I think it bothered me more than her."

It was Piper's role as Justin's girlfriend that kept her in the public eye even when she wasn't working - now that the second half of the couple was also famous in her own right, together their star power doubled and they became the darlings of tabloid gossip. Barely a week went by without reports on their romance.

Piper

"I still find it funny that after they used to say we were getting married every single week, when we finally did get married they had no idea for months. I remember being very overwhelmed by the attention that we got as a couple… and the flack, too. People liked to accuse me of using him a lot, which irritated me because I was earning my own way as far as I was concerned. We weren't doing cheesy duets or whatever, all we did was turn up to awards together because we were apart so often it was the only chance we actually got to spend time together."

Justin

"The gossip at that point was ridiculous. I couldn't sit down for an interview without her being brought up in like three seconds flat. I mean, I love her, I don't mind talking about her, but people just got way too personal with it."

Johnny Wright

"In any one week, three out of five tabloids would be speculating on an engagement and the other two would be claiming they were about to split up."

Lynn Harless

"We used to laugh so hard about it… when Piper came to stay she and I would be sitting there reading all these rumours over our coffee and just laughing over how untrue it all was. I distinctly remember one that they'd got engaged and were house hunting, but about to split up over choosing where to live and I just remember her rolling her eyes and saying 'they managed to get all three rumours in one article, that's efficient' and I was just tears rolling down my face, laughing so hard."

Maggie

"Lynn travels with Justin much more than I do with Piper, so she used to call to keep me updated, but at the same time I couldn't help worrying because… Piper had boyfriends before, but Justin had always been different, and I worried about it because long distance relationships are hard and she was so constantly busy, so constantly tired, and every spare minute she was on the phone to Justin or flying to see Justin. I just worried about that moment where suddenly the gossip wasn't so easy to brush off."

That moment was yet to come, but in the meantime Piper didn't miss a beat. She was already in the middle of recording the follow up to her platinum selling debut and planning a huge world tour that would take her across America, Europe and the Far East in a gruelling promotional blitz.

Barry Weiss

"Because we had missed out with the first two singles, we hadn't been able to get Piper out on tour as early as we would have liked. We wanted to strike while the iron was hot with album two and Piper was all for it, once she gets the momentum going she's hard to rein back in. She's definitely one of the hardest working artists I've ever met - no matter how many appointments you throw at her, how many tour dates you ask her to do, she'll immediately say 'let's do it'. She's never been one to rest on her laurels."

Pharrell Williams

"I didn't have so much to do with that, but the couple of songs I did were a huge step up even from the first record. She had this idea in her head for a much harder sound, sort of Addicted taken to the next level, where the first record had been much softer. Like, if Addicted was the standout on the first record, the most edgy thing on there, on the second album it wouldn't have stood out at all because everything was left of that."

Piper

"I was just so hungry at that point, I had this feeling in my bones that this was nothing, this was barely a beginning, and I was going to show 'em all. The second album just kind of threw itself into my lap because I was in the zone and the label wanted it out real quick and I think it was only a few months between the last single off Hit It and the first from Going For The Knockout."

Going For The Knockout was both a title and a mission statement - the album received rave critical reviews for it's harder, edgier dance sound and its unique blend of pop, dance and hip hop. First single Dangerous Games stirred up more controversy for its provocative video, featuring Piper as the femme fatale who uses and loses a series of men.

Justin, Making The Video: Dangerous Games 2004

"Oh boy. People are gonna watch my girlfriend doing this… I think I need to go kill Wade Robson."

Maggie

"That was the only video of hers which really just knocked me for six. I mean, it fits the song and she looked beautiful but I just… never want to see my daughter doing that!"

Johnny Wright

"She wanted to come out as version two - sexier, stronger, just more enhanced. And we, at this point, having seen Addicted and how the public had responded to it, were happy to go that way. She wasn't afraid of the controversy and neither were we."

Rachel Rodriguez, Rolling Stone magazine

"Was it controversial? Definitely. The world had barely cottoned onto how good this girl was when she was already pulling the rug out from under them coming back even harder and more provocative than ever. She did cop some flack from groups who felt it inappropriate, but she just said, 'hold up, I'm in my twenties, I'm making music for people my age, I'm not aiming this at your kids and if it's too much for them you draw that line, you police your own homes instead of trying to censor me.' She wasn't stumbling out of clubs drunk, in fact she's tee total, she wasn't being promiscuous or wild, she was in a steady relationship, and as far as role models go I don't think she was a bad one, she just wasn't hiding the sexuality that comes along with being that age. It wasn't like she's ever tried to market herself as some virginal princess, she'd been doing it this way from the start and she objected to people trying to put that limitation on her."

Mark Jacobs, fan site webmaster

"If anything, I think that controversy actually encouraged people to buy the record rather than boycott it. I mean, the crowd I see at Piper's concerts aren't little kids, they're people my age, her age, rarely much younger than eighteen, and that's who she's catering to. And the e-mails I get always praise her for being really approachable and polite in person, really good with her fans, and I think her fans get the distinction between her singing a song in character and her real self. I think people who got so het up about the record were just taking it too seriously."

Piper

"I don't care what anybody else thinks. They'll have opinions all day long, I have to do what feels right to me as an artist and if they don't like it, I'm not making them buy the record. People should just learn to live and let live."