Backstreet Boys and NSync impresario Lou Pearlman dies in prison aged 62

Lou Pearlman, the disgraced music impresario who launched the Backstreet Boys, NSync and other boy bands in the 1990s before being convicted of a Ponzi scheme, has died at 62, according to the prison where Pearlman was serving a 25-year sentence.

The former producer and manager died on Friday at the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana, Texas, where he was held after pleading guilty in 2008 to charges that included conspiracy and money laundering.

No cause of death was given.

Pearlman ushered in the boom of pop boy bands after he was enamoured with the success of New Kids on the Block.