The Tragedy of the LFO (Lyte Funky Ones)

February 06, 2025

The Tragedy of the Lyte Funky Ones (LFO)

Our story begins with Rich Cronin. He was born on August 30, 1974 (Virgo club) in Roxbury, MA. After high school, he attended Bridgewater State College and held a part-time job at Blockbuster. During this time, he met Brad Fischetti & Brian Gillis. They formed a group and called themselves the Lyte Funky Ones and was signed to the German label BMG. They recorded a few songs one of them being Step by Step (cover from NKOTB) but never generate major European buzz. Frustrated with this member Brian Gillis left the group to go solo. After this, the remaining members went home.

The needed to hit the reset button. First, they got discovered by manager and later hated figure in music Lou Pearlman. He already created major boybands BSB & NSYNC and was wanting more. But the Funky Ones needed to find another member. That’s when Harold Devin Lima enter the frame as he was a good singer. They entered Lou’s bootcamp in practicing choreography and singing three-part harmony. But that wasn’t their style. Lyte Funky Ones had a very laid-back approach which leaned more to hip-hop than pop. Thanks to Lou, they where able to land an American contract with Arista Records, led by Clive Davis.

Once on Arista, they started to work on their debut project. Unlike most boyband, Lyte Funky Ones wrote most of their own music, it showed. One more thing needed to change. Devin felt like Lyte Funky Ones was too long for a group name and came to an agreement to shorten it to simply LFO. But internationally they would still be known as Lyte Funky Ones as there was already a group of the same name. But in August 1999, their self-titled debut album was released. The album was headlined by the song “Summer Girls”. The song was created as demo and a fluke, it showed. Instead of talking about summer girls, it made many 80s and 90s references and how they want their girls to where Abercrombie and Fitch. The song became a summer earworm peaking at #3 on the Hot 100. The next single was “Girl on TV” with Devin taking lead. Rich Cronin wrote this song as inspiration with his girlfriend at the time named Jennifer Love Hewitt. The song reached number #10 on the Hot 100 as their debut album went platinum.

Their next album was Life is Good. It had one single called Every Other Time and it reached #44 on the Hot 100. The album itself wasn’t successful as the boyband era was winding down. Once they realized this, LFO decided it was time to enter a hiatus. But the group was relieved that going into hiatus. According to Brad, he felt like the group’s cohesion was disintegrating as the only time they tolerated each other was when they were onstage.

After LFO, Rich started his own band but it was unsuccessful. He then got into reality TV on the show Mission Man Band with Chris from NSYNC, Jeff from 98 Degrees, & Bryan Abrams from Color Me Badd. But in 2005, Rich was diagnosed with Leukemia after complaining about constant headaches. He undergone chemotherapy and was in remission by the next year. In 2008, he released his first solo album Billion Dollar Sound. Meanwhile, Devin released a cover song called “If You Want Me to Stay” and thanks to this, he got to perform at the Grammys as a tribute to Sly and the Family Stone. Brad got religious, became a father of five kids and started his own label One Eleven Records.

In 2009, LFO announced their return to music and embarked on a tour on Brad’s dime. But he noticed that Rich was becoming more fatigued after each performance. After the reunion tour and Brad losing money than gaining, the group decided to breakup again. But in 2010, Rich leukemia had come back and suffered a stroke. He recently underwent a stem cell treatment and was given medication to ease the pain. But on September 8, 2010, Rich Cronin died from a stroke related to his leukemia. He was 36 years old.

Although not a group, Brad and Devin kept a close relationship as Devin has been living with Brad on and off. But in 2017, Brad and Devin announced they were reuniting to go on tour and released a song called Perfect 10. The tour was successful and Brad starting making plans for a second leg. But then Devin started to notice pain near his kidneys and was hospitalized. It was here where he found out that Devin was diagnosed with a rare form of adrenal cancer Stage 4. He had to get a kidney removed as a result. In November 21, 2018, Harold Devin Lima died from adrenal cancer. He was survived by his six kids. He was 41.

The death of Devin devastated Brad, obviously. He underwent counseling and mental health evaluation but he was able to reach a level of acceptance. In 2019, O-Town (which was formerly managed by Rich’s brother Mike Cronin) reached out to Brad to join them on tour. Brad accepted and he called it an “unfortunate honor”. It was an honor for O-Town to reach out and tour with, but unfortunate that his bandmates Devin nor Rich will be there physically. But he realized it would be an honor to preserve the legacies both members left behind. Fans asked if he could find two replacements for Rich and Devin but Brad turned it down. In 2023, one more death occurred. Former member Brian Gillis died on March 29, 2023. His cause of death was not made public. He was 47. Today, Brad being the sole survivor of LFO tours in the memory of the fallen members while still being faithful to his church. That concludes the tragic story of LFO.

RIP Brian Gillis (1975-2023)