LFO (American band)

Lyte Funkie Ones (LFO) was an American pop band consisting of lead singer and primary songwriter Rich Cronin (August 30, 1974 – September 8, 2010), Devin Lima (born Harold Lima, March 18, 1977), and Brad Fischetti (born September 11, 1975). Before Lima joined the group in 1999, the third member was Brian Gillis (known as "Brizz"), who was with the group from its start in 1995. The band is best known for their hit songs "Summer Girls", "Girl on TV", and "Every Other Time". The band sold over 4 million records worldwide.

History

Origins and Gillis' departure (1995–1998)

In 1995, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Rich Cronin met Brian "Brizz" Gillis. LFO had marginal success with the remake of the Yvonne Elliman song, "If I Can't Have You", which missed the Top 40, reaching No. 54 on the UK Singles Chart.^[1] In 1997, they released a cover of New Kids on the Block's 1990 hit "Step By Step" as a single. In 1999, Gillis was frustrated with the lack of progress that the group had made so he left to pursue a solo career, which led him to multiple college tours and a job in the music industry, with a radio promotion position in Florida with BMG.

Lima's arrival

After Gillis left, Fischetti and Cronin still wanted to continue to pursue their dreams of making it big, so they headed back to the United States and had an open audition. Devin Lima, an employee of a hardware store at the time, was chosen in place of Gillis. Devin decided that the group should discontinue being called Lyte Funkie Ones and use the name LFO exclusively instead. In the UK, however, they were unable to use the abbreviated name of LFO due to an IDM act on the Warp Records label, who had been using the name since 1988.

Still signed with Trans Continental and now with Arista Records, LFO recorded some new material with Dow Brain, Brad Young and Danny Wood of New Kids on the Block, at Underground Studios second location, the basement of a 200+ year old house in Needham, Massachusetts. Wood had been a long-time friend of original member Brian Gillis. Among the songs LFO had recorded in an attempt to make a demo was a song called "Summer Girls". It was produced by Dow Brain and Brad Young of Underground Productions. This song gave LFO their path to success. "Summer Girls" made its way to the Top 10, eventually reaching the number 3 position on the Billboard Hot 100, and the number 1 position on the Billboard single sales chart. New York City radio station Z100 (WHTZ 100.3FM-MHZ), part of the Clear Channel network, also helped LFO's popularity through frequent promotion and airings of the song "Summer Girls" before the song's national Top 10 status.

Debut album

Their debut album, LFO, sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide, and it scored two Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Summer Girls" and "Girl on TV". In 1999, "Summer Girls" was nominated for a Billboard Music Award for Top Selling Single of the Year; the song sold over 1.5 million copies in the US. The song itself contained numerous non sequiturs, such as "You're the best girl that I ever did see/The great Larry Bird, jersey 33" and "Fell deep in love, but now we ain't speakin'/Michael J. Fox was Alex P. Keaton". This album featured many vocals from original member Brian. The label loved the original versions of the records so much that they left all of the vocals from Brian, including leads on "Can't Have You". The group was a part of a show called LFO Live from Orlando (1999).

The year 2000 was a busy year for LFO, featuring nonstop tours, performing at over 230 concerts that year. They also served as opening act for Britney Spears, and co-headlined Nickelodeon's All That Music & More summer tour. They also found success in the UK at the same time when second single, the Dow Brain and Brad Young co-written "Girl on TV", entered the UK chart at #6. In 2000, the band won the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Group of the Year. Play Along Toys made dolls of the group in 2001.

Life Is Good and first split (2000–2002)

They appeared on The Amanda Show as guest stars, singing a song while Amanda danced in the background with the show's signature 'dancing lobsters'. At the end, LFO described Amanda as 'the most beautiful girl in the world'. The episode has been repeated on Nickelodeon since its creation.

In the summer of 2001, the group released their sophomore and final album, Life Is Good, with the release of only two singles "Life Is Good" and "Every Other Time", which was the only commercial release from the album. After lackluster record sales of the album and the late-1990s/early-2000s boyband craze coming to an end, LFO officially decided to part ways in February 2002.

Reunion and second split (2009–2010)

On June 3, 2009, LFO posted a blog entitled "LFO is Back" on their unofficial MySpace page which announced that they had reunited and were going on the Malcolm Douglas Tribute tour beginning September 23, 2009, with Rookie of the Year, Go Crash Audio, and Kiernan McMullan.^[2] A new song titled "Summer of My Life" was also announced in association with the reunion.^[3]

However, the reunion was short-lived. On September 28, 2009, LFO announced through their YouTube page LFOVIDEOS that they had permanently disbanded. They never had a chance to record a third studio album because of the death of Rich Cronin. However, the individual members of the band planned to continue making music with their various side projects.^[4] Rich Cronin died, at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts on September 8, 2010, after battling leukemia.^[5][6]

Post break-up

In an attempt to form a pop group without having it labeled as a boy band, Cronin founded Bad Mood Mike in 2003. The project failed, as it never produced an album, and ended after a few months. Cronin was later in a group called Loose Cannons with Toothpick (Doug Ray). He was also part of the TV show Mission: Man Band, which aired on VH1.

In March 2005, Cronin sought treatment for constant headaches, and was diagnosed with leukemia. He underwent chemotherapy in Boston, and by January 2006, his leukemia was in remission. In 2008, Cronin launched his first solo-studio album named Billion Dollar Sound.

Lima released his first solo track back in 2006. It is a cover of the Sly & the Family Stone song of the same name “If You Want Me to Stay” for the tribute album Different Strokes by Different Folks. It led to him performing in a tribute to Sly Stone on the 2006 Grammy Awards, alongside Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Maroon 5, Joss Stone, John Legend and will.i.am.^[7]

Lima, along with his new band The Cadbury Diesel, has released their debut record Mozart Popart in July 2008. Lima is performing music under the alias Live From Orlando.^[8][9] The disc helped push Lima past the bubblegum tunes of his past, thanks to the rock and roll feel of songs like “Hangin’ With You” and the soulful R&B tune “Me Veda.” He and his band performed a song called Rocky Road for the film American Pie Presents Beta House back in 2007.^[10] In late 2013, Lima formed a group with electronic artists DJ Shakka and Ayj as The Mack Pack, releasing two singles in 2014, "Golden" and "Out of Control" (including a video^[11]), and are currently working on several singles.^[12]

Brad Fischetti has since become a pro-life activist. He tweets about it from time to time. In a statement to E! News, Fischetti, denies harassing any women outside the clinic, but he adamantly stands by his anti-abortion views and says he regrets not speaking out more when LFO was at the height of its fame. He is also a musical director for a church.^[13]

Fischetti and Lima are currently collaborating on a new hip-hop project called The Xiles. They released a Christmas EP last year and revealed in December that they’d already begun recording their debut album, American Genie: Volume 1. They announced through their YouTube username that they were working on it.

Live performances on TV

The group has been on numerous TV shows and episodes as performers. These include All That and The Amanda Show. They made a cameo in the 2001 film Longshot.

Members

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

Notes

References

External links

• LFO at AllMusic
• LFO Live in Orlando Part 1 on YouTube
• LFO Live in Orlando Part 2 on YouTube