Lyte Funky Ones

Infobox musical artist 2
Name = LFO
Img_capt = LFO Publicity Still, c. 2001.
Background = group_or_band
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born =
Origin = United States
Instrument = Vocals
Genre = Pop/Rap
Occupation(s) =
Years_active = 1997-2003
Label = Sony BMG Music Entertainment Arista Records (1998-2003)
URL =
Current_members = Rich Cronin
Devin Lima
Brad Fischetti

Past_members =

Lyte Funky Ones (LFO) was an American three-man pop/Rap group consisting of Rich Cronin, Devin Lima (born Harold Lima March 18, 1977), and Brad Fischetti (Born September 11, 1975). 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".

History

Origins

In 1995, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Rich Cronin met Brian Gillis, Fact|date=March 2008 who was also known as Brizz. Brian 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. Fact|date=March 2008

Their biggest single, "Summer Girls", was produced by Dow Brain and Brad Young of Underground Productions. Previously, LFO had marginal success with the remake of the Bee Gee's song, "If I Can't Have You", which missed the top 10, reaching #11 on the UK charts. In 1999, Brian 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.

Their success

After Brian 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, an employee of a hardware store at the time, was chosen in place of Brian. Lima decided that the group should discontinue being called Lyte Funky Ones and use the name LFO exclusively instead.Fact|date=March 2008 In the UK, however, they were unable to use the abbrieviated 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, MA. 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.

The song was leaked to a friend at a radio station in Washington, DC WIHT, HOT 99.5 Fact|date=March 2008 and was so catchy, that it spread to other influential radio stations around the country. LFO made it to the number 3 position on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart Billboard Hot 100 and to number 1 position on the Billboard single sales chart. "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 Brian. The label loved the original versions of the records so much that they left all of the vocals from Brian, 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 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.

They appeared on The Amanda Show as guest stars, singing a song while Amanda swayed her body in the background with the show's famous '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.

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. Fact|date=March 2008 The project failed, as it had never produced an album, and ended after a few months. Now Rich is in volved in a group called Loose Cannons with Toothpick (Doug Ray). He was also part of the TV show Mission Man Band the was on VH1.

As of July 19, 2003, they are on an indefinite hiatus so that the members can work on other projects. Fact|date=March 2008 Part of the hiatus was due to the fact that Devin and Brad wanted LFO to not have a boy band image, Fact|date=March 2008 which is shown by their change of looks throughout 2001.

Devin Lima, along with his new band The Cadbury Diesel, has released their debut record "Mozart Popart" in July 2008. Fact|date=March 2008

Discography

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

Singles

References

External links

*amg|id=11:ryavqj7iojsa|label=LFO
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=38046454 Lyte Funky Ones] at MySpace