Disgraced music manager and producer was serving a 25-year sentence.
Lou Pearlman, former manager and creator of boy bands Backstreet Boys and N Sync, died in prison on Friday this week. Pearlman, aged 62, was convicted in 2008 of conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Former N Sync members Justin Timberlake and Lance Bass paid tribute to the music executive on Twitter.
I hope he found some peace. God bless and RIP, Lou Pearlman.
— Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) August 21, 2016
Word is that #LouPearlman has passed away. He might not have been a stand up businessman , but I (cont) https://t.co/nsczUEVOOQ
— Lance Bass (@LanceBass) August 20, 2016
In the ’90s, Pearlman, the cousin of Art Garfunkel, founded Trans Continental Records and began looking for young male singers in the Orlando area after seeing the success of New Kids on the Block.
His first boy band was the Backstreet Boys, created in 1993 after a $3 million search. The Backstreet Boys became the bestselling boy band in history. In 1995, he created N Sync, another top-charting group that featured a fresh faced Justin Timberlake. The success of both bands established Pearlman in the industry and he became one of the executive producers of the reality TV show Making The Band, which spawned further groups for him to manage including O-Town.
Pearlman’s demise came later in the 2000s after all the groups he’d managed, bar one, took him to Federal Court for fraud. They claimed he had taken the majority of the money they’d earned during his tenure as manager. A 2007 Vanity Fair profile also included accusations of molestation. Pearlman fled to Bali later that year after being accused of running a $300 million Ponzi scheme. He was extradited and convicted in 2008.
Love him or hate him, Lou gave many of us our start. It's a shame he let greed get in his way. #RIP #LouPearlman pic.twitter.com/u91HAuflio
— Ashley Parker Angel (@ParkerAngel) August 21, 2016
