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Lou Pearlman, the man responsible for assembling your favorite boy band(s), passed away on Friday night at the age of 62. He was currently serving out a 25-year prison sentence for running a major Ponzi scheme, a crime he was finally charged with in 2008. In 2006, it was discovered that he had swindled over $300 million from investors, including friends, family and business associates. His company, Trans Continental, ranged from blimps to boy bands, and it was back in the late ’80s when he chartered a flight for New Kids on the Block that he came up with the idea to put together a group of his own.
Pearlman was responsible for creating the Backstreet Boys, and then following their success, *NSYNC, LFO, and O-Town, through his involvement with the reality show Making The Band. All the groups would go on to sue him for fraud and misrepresentation after realizing they were only seeing a fraction of the funds they were owed. (An infamous 2007 story in Vanity Fair also portrayed Pearlman as a “sexual predator.”)
He also tried his hand at movies, producing the films Longshot (which included many boy band cameos), Popstar (featuring his client Aaron Carter) and 2006’s Red Riding Hood (starring Henry Cavill). He remained credited as a creative consultant for Making the Band 2 and 3, once Puff Daddy took over on his quest to create successful music groups.
It’s hard to find the right words about the death of a man who cheated many out of their dollars, and yet is essentially responsible for the majority of the Total Request Live countdown. The reaction was mixed, to say the least, but many that knew him chimed in on Twitter. Everyone from Justin Timberlake to Jacob Underwood shared their thoughts (with the latter providing one of the most honest tweets of the bunch).
