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And second, both Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync are the brainchildren of the same man: Louis J. Pearlman, a florid 44-year-old entrepreneur based in Orlando, Fla., whose countenance suggests Ken Starr crossed with the late Chris Farley. Pearlman's ambition for his Trans Continental Entertainment and related companies is nothing less than to create a new Motown. O-Town, for Orlando, is the name he has given his sprawling $6 million recording studio that doubles as a boot camp for would-be stars. Here the crushes of tomorrow are groomed by teams of choreographers, vocal coaches, personal trainers, marketers, stylists and p.r. experts. Pearlman's stable includes a young girl group and three more up-and-coming boy groups, including C-Note, a quartet of three cute Hispanic guys and one cute blond guy, from whom many in the music industry are expecting big things when their first Latin-inflected CD is released this spring.
On a recent afternoon at the O-Town complex, C-Note is huddled inside a sound room harmonizing with a vocal coach, while down the hall, Take Five, a younger-than-'N Sync quintet for pre-preteen fans, is practicing footwork with a choreographer. Pearlman comes in to take a look, and the kids stop to give him hugs and shake his hand. "What's up, Big Poppa?" one of them asks (they actually call him that). "Did you get a haircut, man?" "You look like Tom Cruise," jokes another. Big Poppa beams.
At present, there are 24 young musicians signed to the studio, most found through ads in the trades or auditions; many are from the Orlando area, where performers now flock because of the increasing film and television production at Disney and Universal, as well as all the singing and dancing jobs at theme-park shows. The O-Town kids are paid $500 to $1,000 a week until their groups take off and they start making real money. Or not. A reporter jokes that if things don't work out, the boys can always go to work for the Chippendales chain, which Pearlman owns. "Or make pizza," Big Poppa adds. He owns a pizza restaurant too. Meantime, he tries to keep his young charges from the well-known temptations, drugs and whatnot, that come with the music business. "Big Poppa's watching," he says. Like a rich uncle, Big Poppa has been known to throw elaborate pool parties or fly group members and their parents to New York City for dinner.
Assembling the right group is a delicate business; as with any ritualized art form, from Kabuki to slasher films, one must follow rules but with a whiff of originality. Pearlman and his staff look at everything--the proportionate size of group members, their height, their weight, their hair color, their personalities onstage and off. Who will be the prankster, like 'N Sync's Chris Patrick? Who will be the lead sex symbol, like Backstreet's Nick Carter? Who can make a credible dangerous guy, the one who dresses more "urban" and maybe even has tattoos?
Pearlman, who grew up in Queens, N.Y., first made his mark on the world by building Trans Continental Airlines, which leases jets to such celebrities as Michael Jackson and Madonna. In the early '90s, when New Kids rented one of his planes, Pearlman was surprised that a kiddie pop group could afford it. When his cousin Art Garfunkel explained that an act like New Kids could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, the seeds of Trans Continental Entertainment were planted.