Svenagliobit: Lou Pearlman

Here's a sentence that might bring you up short:

Figures from the pop music world have paid tribute to Lou Pearlman, the founder of Backstreet Boys and Nsync, who has died in prison aged 62 while serving a 25-year sentence for a $300m (£229m) fraud.

Yes, the death of Lou Pearlman, without whom we'd not have had Backstreet Boys on NSYNC, has got those who owe him everything trying to thank him while not upsetting those from whom he took everything.

The Nsync singer Lance Bass tweeted: “Word is that #LouPearlman has passed away. He might not have been a stand up businessman, but I wouldn’t be doing what I love today without his influence. RIP Lou.”

The US singer Aaron Carter also paid his respects on Twitter:

#LouPearlman my old manager died in prison... Rip Lou not the best business guy really at all but he did discover me karma is real

"Not the best business guy" is how you'd describe someone who tries to sell hamburgers at a vegan festival. Pearlman was a disgraceful con merchant - and even Bass' "not a stand-up business man" doesn't really come close to how huge his deception was:

According to the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, at the time of Pearlman’s investigation he owed his investors $96 million, but had less than $15,000 in the bank. The investigation found that Pearlman’s records neglected to show the more than $38 million he had withdrawn for himself and his companies.

You can see why Bass - one of the minority of people who shook Pearlman's hand and came away with the same number of fingers he started with - would be trying to look on the positive.

He ended up in such disgrace that when the Hollywood Review met with Pearlman in jail, you could hear Simon Cowell walking away backwards from a claim to kinship:

So yes, he is well aware of record-breaking pop juggernaut One Direction and boasts, "I know if I was out there, we'd give One Direction a run for their money." He reminisces about his "friendly rivalry" in the '90s with that band's puppeteer, Simon Cowell. (Responds a spokesperson for Cowell: "Simon hardly knows him. They were only ever introduced once, and there wasn't any kind of friendly rivalry.")

And that's before you even get to the rumours of sexual abuse, most deeply investigated by Vanity Fair in 2007:

In the November issue of Vanity Fair, Pearlman, for the first time publicly, is described by several former singers, aspiring singers and their parents as a lecher, who used the same deceptive charms to cop cheap feels off teenage boys as he did to allegedly bilk 1,400 investors out of more than $300 million.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter from prison, Pearlman offered a watertight defence:

He adds that fellow inmates have come to know the real Pearlman through the years and never hassle him about the molestation charges: "They realize that none of that can be true."

'The guys on B Wing don't think I'm a nonce, so how could I be?'

The only trouble with this is that while he's saying he's not a sexual abuser, he also denies having run a ponzi scheme too. In fact, the only thing faster than Simon Cowell trying to distance himself from Pearlman is Pearlman trying to distance himself from the likes of Bernie Madoff. Pearlman insists that he was different because he had a way of making money to repay those he fleeced.

Which is puzzling, as a lot of people invested in a fleet of airplanes which turned out to exist solely as photos in a glossy booklet.

Lou Pearlman was 62. He'd been due to stay inside until 2029.

N'Sync: The last to know

Were you surprised at the recent release of the two-disc Essential N'Sync collection?

You weren't the only one:

Sony released the two-disc album on Tuesday, July 29. Member Lance Bass, however, tweeted his frustration at the label for not informing him and his bandmates.

Bass wrote: "I love when the record label doesn't even tell you they are releasing a new 'NSYNC album tomorrow !"

"Guess the label didn't expect all our amazing fans to still be there for us," he added later on.

I'm not quite sure how Bass thinks that would work - presumably Sony thinks there's still a bunch of middle-aged people desperate to cling to their youth by repurchasing tracks they have already got at least twice already ("still a massive fanbase") otherwise they wouldn't have released the record at all.

Lance Bass tells us he is unsurprised at Bieber's arrest

Lance Bass saw it coming, you know. He knew there was trouble ahead for Bieber. He'd even shared his worries with dozens of listeners to his radio programme:

"I was not surprised at all," he told us at tonight's Delta Airlines pre-Grammys party in West Hollywood. "I host my own talk show on Sirius XM so we've been following the Biebs for quite a few months. The spiral down. So no, we called it a long time ago."

Yes. Yes. "We've been following the Biebs". That's a thing he said.

It might be worth wondering if, following someone on a downward spiral going 'he's heading for the bottom of a downward spiral' actually takes much in the way of predictive powers.

You might also ask if there was anyone at all on the planet who was expecting Justin Bieber to suddenly start a course at his local community college, start dating that nice girl from the next street and generally sort his life out.

Indeed, Channel 4 had already announced a series - "Justin Bieber's Further Descent Into Absolute Dickwaddery" - so obvious was this happening.

Indeed, three States had already got Bieber to pose for mugshots as it'd just save time when the inevitable occured.

Indeed, this year's MTV Awards had already negotiating with The Corrections Corporation of America as they're expecting to need some sort of live link to the rec room this year.

Lance Bass is very much a man watching the sunrise going "knew this would happen. I said the sun hadn't spiralled off into space, never to return."

Still, Lance - having called it - knows what Bieber needs now:

Like I said, he just needs a little chill time to snap him into reality.

Absolutely, Lance. When anyone gets loaded and drives too fast, putting people at real risk of life-changing injuries or death, the solution is booking into a day spa.

It was different for Lance, of course, because he wasn't the popular one in NSync ("was in a group"):

I feel for him because I know exactly what he is going throug," Lance said of Bieber. "I've seen it with Britney, with Lindsay, with all the other teen stars out there. It was easier for me because I was in a group, I had four of my best friends knocking me down when I needed it and a great family. But with solo artists, it's hard because you got a lot of yes people around you and there like, 'Yeah, that's great.' They'll never tell you no. When no one tells you no, your reality is so out the door."

"Hey, I'm going to get drunk and drive too fast - good idea, yeah?"
"Excellent idea, Mr Justin. How about something from the drug cupboard to take the edge off?"

I wonder if Lance's interpretation is as mistaken as you'd expect from someone who has a show on Sirius XM. Surely the problem Bieber will have had is not people saying yes, but rather - as he was a chunk of marketable meat that needed to be TeenBeat friendly - he's been surrounded by a lot of no; and when he finally broke free of that, it's an explosion.

Still, there's something that Bass gets right:

Bass added of Bieber's low jail bail amount of $2,500, "I have a feeling if it was any other person they'd be in jail right now."

Especially as most people can't easily post two and a half grand bail.