Former NSYNC singer Lance Bass says his boy band years made him far less rich than fans assume. At the peak of the group's success, he claims, his pay topped out at 35 dollars a day. 'People think I'm rotten rich, but I absolutely am not,' he says. The figure is startling for a member of one of the era's biggest-selling pop acts. Bass makes the point to puncture assumptions about how boy band fortunes are divided. His comment fits a wider pattern of former teen idols opening up about lopsided pay deals behind the scenes. The gap between public image and the actual ledger is what he wants people to see.