Wle remember the 90's for the coordinated dance moves, body glitter, baggy clothing,
and the glamorous lives of pop stars. But the price of fame was steep for those who
danced and sang their way to the top of the pop charts. Here's the secret world of the
'90s music industry.
Lou Pearlman managed two of the biggest boy bands of the '90s: NSYNC and the Backstreet
Boys.
While he may have had a hand in making them stars, Pearlman was a ruthless extortionist,
working the band members to the bone and paying them pennies in the process. According to
The Guardian, the members of NSYNC were making only $35 a day at one point. It took three
years of performing and selling millions of records until they received their share of
the profits. While Pearlman offered each member of NSYNC a mere $10,000 each, the pop stars
began calling their lawyers. Pearlman tried justifying his actions by claiming that the
band's contract stated he was legally entitled to 90 percent of the members' earnings.
He was also accused of sexual assault. In the YouTube documentary The Boy Band Con,
former boy band members under Pearlman discuss the controversial music mogul. NSYNC's Lance
Bass said on Sway in The Morning:
"The only thing that I ever like, felt a little strange about was he was very touchy-feely."
After taking advantage of many music stars for over 20 years, Pearlman eventually served
jail time. He was serving his 25-year sentence when he passed away from cardiac arrest in
2016.
The Spice Girls are a legendarily successful pop girl band for the ages, with five distinct
members who each had their own personas. The group's debut single, "Wannabe,"shot to Number
1 in 37 countries in 1996, making them instant international superstars. Their first album,
Spice, sold 31 million copies.
It was later revealed that Melanie Chisholm or Mel C, better known as "Sporty Spice,"
was bullied. She also suffered from depression and an eating disorder. According to The Telegraph,
Chisholm admits she experienced feelings of guilt and imposter syndrome when the group
became mega famous.
Chisholm later revealed that one of her fellow Spice Girls bullied her throughout the group's
tenure together. Though she never revealed which group member it was, she told Attitude:
"It's been addressed [...] they were aware of what they'd done [and] apologized."
But Chisholm is in a better place today. She told The Mirror:
"I just kind of feel like I can exhale because I don't need to search any more, I just need
to embrace all these parts of myself. Like everybody, we are so complex, and there are
so many sides to us."
Fans think the life of a pop star is glamorous if everyone knows your name and you're selling
millions of records. But it's never that simple.
'90s Pop and R&B sensation TLC garnered four Grammy Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards,
and five Soul Train Music Awards. The trio had a long resume of chart-toppers. Their
album CrazySexyCool stayed on the Billboard 200 for over two years.
But according to Beat, the group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at peak fame in 1995,
declaring debts of $3.5 million. Their recording contract favored their label and manager over
the performers. The fine print determined that the group only made 56 cents per album
sold, and that was divided by three. According to TLC, the more successful they became, the
deeper into debt they fell.
The trio would have to cope with tragedy a mere few years following their peak success,
when Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was tragically killed in a car accident while on vacation
in Honduras.
"There's always gonna be a sore spot for us because that was our sister."
It's hard to fall in love when you're famous, and it's even harder when you're told to be
something you're not. George Michael was about as big a music star as you could get, with
10 hits that reached Billboard's Number 1 spot, but his status at the top was challenged
one night.
In 1998, Michael was forced to come out as a gay man after a controversial incident involving
the police and a public bathroom in Beverly Hills. George was busted when he tried to
pick up an undercover cop at a well-known meeting spot. Michael attempted to control
the narrative, claiming entrapment, but he officially came out in an exclusive CNN interview
shortly after the arrest.
"I have no problem with people knowing that I, I'm in a relationship with a man right
now, I have not been in a relationship with a woman for almost 10 years."
Michael told GQ Magazine:
"I honestly think it was a desperate attempt to make the trauma in my life about me, because
then, maybe, I could control the outcome. Up to then, the traumas had been out of control
and the outcome always bad."
George had to defend his career after the incident, but it would never be the same.
The struggle sounds trivial now, as music stars today can be out in the open about their
sexuality without their career taking a hit. Because of Michael and others like him, authenticity
is now thankfully celebrated.
Pop diva Mariah Carey, with her trademark high-pitched voice, was at the top of the
music chain in the '90s. When Carey became famous, her family started treating her like,
quote, "an ATM with a wig on," but the real darkness began when she married powerful Sony
music mogul Tommy Mottola, who controlled, threatened, and abused the young star.
The two had a 20-year age gap, and Carey has since compared the union to being a child
bride. Carey told Cosmopolitan:
"He was older than me by a lot and had a lot of power and he wanted me to remain away from
most people, like sequestered."
She even had to ask permission to leave the house. The couple stayed married for eight
years until Mariah finally left.
In his book Hitmaker: The Man and His Music, Mottola expressed remorse for their romantic
partnership. He admitted that the relationship was inappropriate and stated:
"[I am] truly sorry for any discomfort or pain."
Whitney Houston is one of the most beloved and well-known pop singers of the '90s, but
she was constantly told she wasn't, quote, "black enough" for the R&B community. She
was groomed early on to appeal to a white audience. According to the documentary Whitney:
Can I Be Me, her image was a conscious effort by producer Clive Davis and Arista Records
to:
"Bury the New Jersey native's 'hood' upbringing and make her 'classy.'"
Though her hits played on the R&B airwaves, Houston received significant pushback from
the Black community at the time. She was booed at the 1989 Soul Train Awards while presenting,
and Reverend Al Sharpton even labeled her "Whitey" Houston. Houston later said in an
interview,
"You're not black enough for them, you're not R&B enough. You're very pop. The white
audience has taken you away from them."
Houston struggled with pleasing both audiences her entire career and struggled to fit into
the right box. But she paved the way for future Black pop stars like Beyoncé and Rihanna,
who have both spoken out about double standards when it comes to race in the music industry.
Britney Spears was just a teenager when she became a megastar, and from day one, her squeaky-clean,
girl-next-door image was calculated with every move she made. As Bidisha wrote in The Guardian:
"And what must a princess be? Well, white and Aryan preferably, but also ever-smiling,
pure, gracious, grateful and — above all — well behaved."
Spears was groomed from an early age as a cast member of The Mickey Mouse Club, alongside
one-time boyfriend Justin Timberlake.
But when she decided to go outside of that persona, she was criticized and hyper-sexualized,
eventually leading her to a major public breakdown. Spears survived the damaging press and ultimately
kept performing. In 2018, she took up a residency in Las Vegas in a show called "Domination"
and continues to inspire fans around the globe.
To this day, Britney Spears still doesn't quite own her own narrative and is still technically
under a conservatorship managed by her father, which she is now legally challenging.
Girl group Destiny's Child shot Beyoncé into the limelight, and she's never left. But before
the group sold hit records, there were two members who controversially left. In fact,
there was almost never a group to begin with, as Beyoncé threatened to go solo early on.
The original foursome broke onto the music scene in 1997 with their hit single, "No,
No, No," and swiftly became known for their recurring theme of female empowerment. The
ladies were longtime childhood friends and recorded two records together, but LaTavia
Roberson and LeToya Luckett soon began claiming unfair treatment, including unequal pay and
favoritism toward Beyoncé. The two ultimately were kicked out of Destiny's Child after asking
for new management.
In his book, Becoming Beyoncé, author J. Randy Taraborrelli writes:
"[Roberson and Luckett] had questions about the money they were earning, and they felt
they were not getting enough attention both on record and on stage."
After being kicked out without warning, Luckett, only 18, revealed she slept in her car for
a time. She told The Independent:
"During my journey I was staying at people's houses [...] I slept in a car in LA while
I was making my first album."
Only Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland remained, and a third group member, Michelle Williams,
was added in 1999.
Jennifer Lopez and Sean "Diddy" Combs had one of the most high-profile relationships
of the decade. According to Yahoo Life, the pair met while Lopez was recording her debut
album On the 6. Diddy was a producer on the album, and they began dating in 1999. Their
relationship only lasted two years.
In 1999, the pair was present when a triple shooting incident occurred outside Times Square's
Club New York, where they were enjoying a night out with friends.
Lopez and Diddy fled the scene, but were both arrested and charged with criminal possession
of a weapon and stolen property, according to a police spokesperson. Lopez only spent
14 hours in jail before she was released. Their lawyers stated the couple were victims
of circumstance who had been in a life-threatening situation when they were stopped and questioned.
The '90s pop star and The Voice co-host Christina Aguilera began working when she was seven
years old. She later admitted that she, quote, "felt guilty" when she wasn't working, telling
Yahoo Entertainment:
"It's been embedded in me since I was little — you're shamed if you don't want to keep
up."
Like Britney Spears, Aguilera was also part of The Mickey Mouse Club, and her solo career
took off with the hit "Genie in a Bottle" in 1999. She later recounted her time as a
child star as being uncomfortable. She said:
"You're all pitted against one another. It's a weird space to grow up."
Aguilera also witnessed domestic violence as a child. She told Bustle:
"My dad was very dominant with my mom, and I always knew I was never going to let a man
take advantage of me like that."
She even sings about it in her song, "I'm OK."
"It takes real strength to leave a situation like that with nothing."
The king of Latin pop, Ricky Martin, has been an out gay man for more than a decade. But
he had to conceal his identity early in his career. It ate away at him so much that he
had a breakdown in 1999 and had to halt his world tour.
The "Livin' La Vida Loca" singer later reflected on his struggles and leaving the tour. He
described his feelings at the time to People, stating:
"I need to go home. I need silence. I need to cry. I need to be angry. I need to forgive
myself for allowing myself to reach this level, to get to where I'm at."
Martin said in an interview with "Proud Radio":
"My music was being heard all over the world, regardless of the language. I could high five
God, but I wasn't living to the fullest. I was sad. I was depressed."
In 2010, Ricky officially came out on his website and he's now happily married with
four children.
Alanis Morissette became a pop rock sensation with her third studio album Jagged Little
Pill in 1995. With tracks like "You Ougha Know" and "Right Through You," Alanis has
never exactly been shy in expressing her feelings toward the men in her past.
Morisette has become an outspoken critic of how the music industry treats women, saying
that some are forced to sign non-disclosure agreements to stop from speaking out about
their abusers. Having her own negative experiences within the industry as a teenager, Morisette
sang about an abusive relationship with a music executive in "Hands Clean." She told
The Sunday Times:
"Almost every woman in the music industry has been assaulted, harassed, raped. It's
ubiquitous — more in music, even, than film. It's just so normalized."
Morrsette told the Independent that she would have done things differently if she could
go back, saying:
"I would have had a few extra guardians [...] There were a lot of people with the title guardian
around me that were often, at times, the very people who were not a guardian."
Morisette has since had a steady, successful music career, earning a whopping seven Grammy
Awards.
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