The record producer and manager, who was behind both NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, passed away in prison, TMZ reported on Sunday morning, from unknown causes where he was serving a 25-year-sentence. No other inmates named Louis Pearlman appear in the federal prisons database. Neither company actually existed, but Pearlman had convinced investors to give the fake companies over $300 million. He pleaded guilty to fraud charges in 2008.
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The Backstreet Boys filed legal action against Pearlman in 2008, claiming they were owed nearly $3.5 million (£2.6 million). He might not have been a stand up businessman, but I wouldn’t be doing what I love today wthout his influence. RIP Lou.” Justin Timberlake also took to Twitter to share his views on Pearlman: “I hope he found some peace.
Pearlman is best remembered for recruiting, managing, and promoting Backstreet Boys and ‘NSYNC, the most popular acts of the millennium boy-band craze.
Pearlman fled the USA in January 2007 and was arrested five months later in Indonesia.
The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC were two of the most successful male vocal groups of the 1990s, appealing to teen audiences with carefully constructed harmonies.
In 2010, Pearlman suffered a stroke while behind bars, according to media reports.
Pearlman boosted the careers of entertainers who later achieved solo fame, like ex-Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and former *NSYNC member Justin Timberlake.
Aaron Carter, another former Pearlman client, stated that “karma is real” in his reaction to Pearlman’s death.
Evan Agostini/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesNEW YORK – MARCH 6: Record impresario Lou Perlman and singer Aaron Carter attend the 6th Annual T.J. Martell “Family” Day’ Indoor Carnival Benefit at Cipriani’s Fifth Avenue March 6, 2005 in New York City.
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It was revealed that Pearlman was raking in insane amounts of money for their work, but they weren’t getting a fair cut.
