LFO

Lyte Funky Ones (LFO) was an American three-man pop group consisting of Rich Cronin, Devin Lima (born Harold Lima), and Brad Fischetti. Before Devin 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 song "Summer Girls".

Although they are commonly referred to as LFO, Lyte Funky Ones (originally spelled Lyte Funkie Ones) can be used in order to not confuse them with the British electronic group LFO, who objected to the band's use of their name as they had been recording under this moniker since 1986. Before Brizz left the group in 1999, they were almost always referred to as Lyte Funky Ones. Subsequently, they shortened it to LFO to sound less "cheesy". When asked what "LFO" stands for, they commonly reply, "We like it because it looks cool as a logo. It's just a fact."

Origins

In 1995, in Boston, Massachusetts, Rich Cronin met Brian Gillis, known as Brizz. Brizz convinced Rich to start a group with him, so Rich and Brian moved to Orlando and met with Lou Pearlman who asked aspiring model and long-time friend Derek Bugley, a Pilates Instructor in downtown Boston, if he wanted to join the group, to which he agreed.

On the first floor of their recording studio which was named "The Newport House" on Thames Street in Rhode Island, Joseph Dibilio and Derek Bugley created "Summer Girls" which would go on to become their most popular song. It was mainly taken from Joe's time as an aspiring model and retail clerk at Abercrombie & Fitch during his freshman year of college at URI. "Girl on TV" was created the next summer with the help of Matthew Meegan and Greg Thayer, who collaborated on the project while they worked at the Dockside/Riptide Bar in Newport, RI.

Their biggest single, "The Way You Like It", was produced by Chris Cate better known for all the BSB and 'N Sync hits. They also had another hit called "If I Can't Have You", which missed the top 10, reaching #11 on the UK charts. In 1999, Brizz was frustrated with the lack of progress that the group had made so he left to pursue a solo career, which lead him to multiple college tours and a job in the music industry with a radio promotion position in Florida with BMG.

Their success

After Brizz left, Bugley 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 or Dumas, an employee of a hardware store at the time, was chosen in place of Brizz. Dumas decided that the group should discontinue being called Lyte Funky Ones and use the name LFO exclusively instead.

Still signed with Trans Continental and now with Arista Records, LFO recorded some songs in former New Kids on the Block singer Danny Wood's basement. 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". This song would change their lives, and give LFO their path to success. As well as the basement in Boston, the Newport House continued to serve as a recording studio as well as a party haven.

The song was leaked to a friend at a radio station and was so catchy, LFO made it to the Billboard Hot 100. "Summer Girls" made its way to the Top 10. z100, a major Clear Channel radio station located in New York, also helped their popularity.

Their debut album, LFO, sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide, and 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 U.S. 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 Brizz. The label loved the original versions of the records so much that they left all of the vocals from Brizz including leads on "If I Can't Have You".

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 "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.

The beginning of the end

2001 was a disappointing year for LFO, as it was the beginning of the end. . Their second album, Life Is Good, in comparison to their debut album, did quite poorly, only selling roughly 300,000 copies worldwide. Joe Dibilio and Derek fell into a deep bout of depression. Matthew Meegan, who had been recording with the band, began an addictive spiral of illicit prescription drugs, sometimes staying at the West Deck and the Landing for days, on a coke and heroin binge. Brad Frischetti, and the rest of the group as well, were reportedly greatly affected by the tragedy of September 11th, 2001. Having just minor success with two of the songs on the album, the larger success being their song "Every Other Time" which was a massive hit on the radio and Total Request Live, had not been released as an official single. "Life Is Good" was the only single to have been released on compact disc from that album, compared to four songs being released as a single on CDs from the first.

After LFO

In an attempt to form a pop group without having it labeled as a boy band, Rich Cronin founded Bad Mood Mike in 2003. The project failed, as it had never produced an album, and ended after a few months.

As of July 19, 2003, they are on an indefinite hiatus so that the members can work on other projects. Part of the hiatus was due to the fact that Devin and Brad wanted LFO to not have a boy band image, which is shown by their change of looks throughout 2001.

On March 28, 2005, Rich Cronin was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia and began undergoing chemotherapy. As of January 2006, he reports that his cancer is in remission. [1]

In early September 2005, Brian Gillis AKA Brizz resurfaced as an executive at Trans Continental Records in Orlando Florida, which was the first label of Lyte Funkie Ones. Label President Lou Pealrman hired Brian for his ear for talent. Brian's first signing was a band called US5 which has seen success in Europe.

Devin Lima along with his new band, The Cadbury Diesel is set to release their debut record, Mozart Popart sometime next year.

In early August 2006, rumors of a reunion began, as Rich said he wants to do a third album and is planning to talk to Derek and Devin about it. There were also reports on radio that the band was already reunited and recording, but Rich denied these rumors. All the reunion talks began after a fan-made LFO MySpace page began generating interest, surpassing a million plays. Rich was then given control of the page by a fan and then began updating people on LFO.

In October 2006, it was announced that Rich Cronin would participate in the new VH1 reality TV series, Man Band.

In a radio interview done in March 2007, Rich Cronin was asked if LFO was done. Cronin said, "Yeah."

Discography

LFO (1999) US #21, RIAA: Platinum
Life Is Good (2001) US #75

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