‘Boy Band Con: Lou Pearlman Story’ tells timeless local tale
One of Orlando’s glitziest and sorriest stories propels the compelling “Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story,” which is streaming on YouTube.
The documentary explains how record producer Pearlman followed a pattern, betraying childhood friends, boy bands and investors. Fans who tune in to learn about Backstreet Boys and ’N Sync will come away with a chilling education about the investors duped by Pearlman in a Ponzi scheme.
Pearlman went from extravagant living and a key to the city to a 25-year sentence for that $300 million scheme. He died in prison in 2016 at age 62.
Director Aaron Kunkel and producer Lance Bass, the ’N Sync performer, describe Pearlman’s pathological lying colorfully. The boy bands were created from stolen money, Bass says, then Pearlman used the music groups to scam other people.
Pearlman may be unknown to many people new to Central Florida. Yet his story is timeless because he exploited young entertainers who flock here.
Bass frankly recounts his fury over Pearlman’s lying and ripping off ’N Sync, yet the film strives to understand what drove Pearlman.
A picked-on, overweight child, Pearlman bragged a lot and thought wealth would bring him popularity, childhood acquaintances recall. He took $3 million Music promoter Lou Pearlman, left, with
from an insurance scam over a crashed airship and moved to Orlando in 1991.
He learned from the success of New Kids on the Block in forming Backstreet Boys, then ’N Sync. He pitted the bands against each other, and when the tired Backstreet Boys passed on doing a Disney Channel special, ’N Sync stepped in and the band’s career took off.
Pearlman considered himself the sixth member of each group and felt entitled to everything. The film explains how both bands broke with him, and Pearlman’s early charm gave way to coldness and meanspiritedness.
“I just wanted to kill him,” says Lynn Harless, mother of Justin Timberlake.
Timberlake and Joey Fatone of ’N Sync are not in the film, but JC Chasez and Chris Kirkpatrick are. AJ McLean is a forceful representative for Backstreet Boys.
Also sharing vivid memories are Ashley Parker Angel of O-Town, Nikki DeLoach of Innosence and Aaron Carter, who still defends Pearlman. The producer kept trying to form groups even as musical tastes had changed.
Orlando attorney Cheney Mason, who represented Pearlman, shares insights, and so do officials who investigated the producer.
Pearlman can be heard in calls from prison taped by childhood friend Alan Gross. As boys, they shared an interest in airships and were like siblings, Gross says. But Pearlman crossed him, a sign of things to come.
Gross, who died in 2018, is a poignant figure who says Pearlman could have had it all legitimately.
“The Boy Band Con” is a cautionary tale told with a lot of style, including animation and a re-creation of Pearlman’s office that looks like a “Godfather” set. Over the humorous closing credits, people read Pearlman’s words and react to them.
Yet the pain in “The Boy Band Con” registers deeply. Backstreet Boys and ’N Sync could fight back against Pearlman, but investors were left devastated and bereft.