Fans who have read the liner notes on the debut NSYNC album may have noticed a quiet dedication — “My Angel in Heaven” — and wondered who it referred to. The answer leads to a brief but meaningful part of Justin Timberlake’s family history.
This article covers who Laura Katherine Timberlake was, her confirmed relationship to Justin Timberlake, the basic facts about her short life, how Justin acknowledged her publicly, and why her name occasionally surfaces in fan research and genealogy records.
Who Laura Katherine Timberlake Was
Laura Katherine Timberlake was the paternal half-sister of Justin Timberlake. Her parents were Charles Randall “Randy” Timberlake and Lisa Perry. Randy is Justin’s father from his earlier marriage to Janet Lynn Bomar.
According to genealogy records, Laura Katherine was born in May 1997 in Memphis, Tennessee. She died within days of her birth. A memorial entry on Find a Grave describes her as a newborn daughter of Randy and Lisa Timberlake of Millington, who died at Methodist Hospital North of complications following birth.
She was never a public figure. Her existence is documented only through genealogical records and a brief memorial entry. There are no photos, interviews, or personal accounts available to the public about her life.
A Note on the Dates
Birth dates vary slightly across different sources. Ancestry and FamilySearch list her birth date as May 12, 1997, and her death date as May 14, 1997. MyHeritage lists both dates as May 14. These small differences are common in genealogy records and likely come down to transcription variations between sources.
What all sources agree on is the core fact: Laura Katherine Timberlake was a newborn who lived only a matter of days. Nothing beyond that is confirmed in the public record.
Justin Timberlake’s Family Structure and Where Laura Fits
Justin Timberlake was born on January 31, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee. His parents were Janet Lynn Bomar and Charles Randall Timberlake, who worked as a Baptist church choir director. The two later divorced.
Justin’s father, Randy, went on to marry Lisa Perry. Together, Randy and Lisa had at least two sons — Jonathan Perry Timberlake, born September 12, 1993, and Stephen — and then their daughter, Laura Katherine, in 1997.
This makes Justin’s half-siblings on his father’s side: Jonathan, Stephen, and Laura Katherine. Justin himself grew up in Tennessee with deep musical roots. His grandfather is credited with introducing him to artists like Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, which played a role in shaping his early musical interests before he moved into pop.
The Timberlake family has a strong Tennessee identity. While Justin’s path took him into the national spotlight at a young age, the family branches on his father’s side stayed largely out of the public eye — including Laura Katherine, whose life began and ended before she could ever know the world.
How Justin Timberlake Acknowledged Her
The most documented public acknowledgment Justin made about Laura Katherine comes from the liner notes of the debut NSYNC album. In the acknowledgments section, Justin included a dedication phrased as “My Angel in Heaven.”
Justin Timberlake’s Wikipedia biography directly connects this dedication to Laura Katherine, noting that his half-sister died shortly after birth in 1997 and is mentioned in that album’s acknowledgments. The NSYNC debut album was released in 1998, just roughly a year after Laura’s passing.
This kind of liner note dedication is a quiet, personal form of remembrance. Artists sometimes include these small acknowledgments in their work to honor loved ones who are no longer here — people who may not be famous, but who still carry weight in their lives.
Beyond this one dedication and brief mentions in his biography, there are no widely documented interviews or detailed public statements from Justin that focus specifically on Laura. The record simply does not support any claim that he has spoken about her at length. The dedication stands as a small but genuine detail, meaningful to fans who take the time to read the credits on his early work.
Why Her Name Appears in Fan Research and Genealogy Sites
Fans who read early NSYNC album credits, or who explore Justin Timberlake’s biography in depth, sometimes come across the dedication or a passing reference to a deceased half-sister. That naturally leads to online searches.
Sites like Find a Grave, FamilySearch, Ancestry, and MyHeritage all contain brief records for Laura Katherine. These entries typically include her name, birth date, death date, parents, and place of birth or death. They confirm the basic narrative — a newborn daughter of Randy and Lisa Timberlake, born and died in Memphis in May 1997 — without adding any personal detail that isn’t documented.
These genealogy platforms serve a straightforward purpose. They help people trace family connections using public records like birth and death registrations, cemetery listings, and memorial entries. For a celebrity like Justin Timberlake, fans sometimes use these tools to build out a fuller picture of the family behind the public persona.
It is worth being careful here. There are unrelated people named “Laura Timberlake” or “Laura Katherine” in phone directories and on social media. Not every search result will lead to the same person. The Laura Katherine Timberlake connected to Justin Timberlake is specifically the 1997 infant daughter of Randy and Lisa Timberlake, as documented in the genealogical and memorial records described above.
Grief and Remembrance in a Public Career
One reason fans find Laura’s story touching is the way it shows a human and private side of someone who became enormously famous at a young age. Justin Timberlake rose to mainstream fame as a teenager through The All-New Mickey Mouse Club and then as part of NSYNC in the late 1990s and early 2000s. That debut NSYNC album, which carried the “My Angel in Heaven” dedication, arrived during some of the most formative years of his career.
For many readers and fans who follow celebrity culture, sites like onebizjournal offer a reminder that the people behind the fame carry personal histories that rarely make headlines. Laura Katherine’s story is one of those quiet, private chapters.
Artists sometimes use liner notes, album dedications, or song lyrics to acknowledge people who shaped them — people who may never appear in a press release or a magazine feature. Justin’s dedication is a good example of that. It is not loud or elaborate. It is just a few words in the credits of a debut album, placed there by a teenager who had just lost a baby sister.
There is no need to read more into it than that. It does not require a dramatic interpretation. The dedication speaks for itself as a quiet, private form of honoring someone who mattered.
What We Know and What We Don’t
The confirmed facts about Laura Katherine Timberlake are limited but clear. She was born in Memphis in May 1997. She died within days at Methodist Hospital North, of complications following birth. She was the daughter of Randy and Lisa Timberlake, and the paternal half-sister of Justin Timberlake.
Beyond those facts, the public record is essentially empty — and that is appropriate. She was not a public figure. She was an infant who did not live long enough to have a story of her own in any public sense. What remains is a family connection, a genealogical record, and a brief dedication in a pop album.
For fans who are curious about the full picture of Justin Timberlake’s background, Laura Katherine’s name is a real and documented part of his family history. She simply deserves to be remembered accurately and respectfully, without speculation or exaggeration.
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