movies

At the height of their career, the Backstreet Boys were earning $12,000 a year. Here's why.

 

For anyone over the age of 25, the Backstreet Boys were a household name, and kinda still are TBH.

It’s hard to believe that the popular 90s band earned just $US 12,000 per year at the height of their career.

At a time when the band was permanently on tour and 28 million copies of their 1997 self-titled album were sold, something didn’t quite add up.

According to news.com.au, the band’s manager Lou Pearlman was a con artist.

The American manager was alleged to be a child predator, and also managed bands such as *NSYNC and Take 5.

In 2008, it was revealed the manager was running an elaborate Ponzi scheme, whereby he paid profits to early investors using funds obtained from newer investors. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, after the scheme left many without their retirement savings.

While the band might have peaked in the 90s, they are still very relevant.

In May this year, the Backstreet Boys popped on some dresses and platform heels during their annual fan cruise (yes, this is a thing that happens) and lip-synced the Spice Girls’ greatest hits.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Party Like It’s 1993 Deck Party #SpiceBoys #BSBCruise2018

A post shared by Nicole Reneé (@nicole.cook13) on

ADVERTISEMENT

It all went down during a night that was themed ‘party like it’s 1993’.

The Spice Girls didn’t form until 1996 but hey, let’s not worry about the details when there’s an ageing boy band in drag, stuck in the middle of the ocean with a boat full of middle-aged women ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .