LFO (Lyte Funky Ones) Biography

There are 2 bands under the name LFO:
1. An English band who were pioneers of bleep techno
2. An American three-man pop and rap group

1. English band LFO were one of the pioneers of the bleep techno of the early 1990s. Originally comprising Gez Varley (also known as Jez Varley) and Mark Bell, they met while studying at Leeds and gave their first track, the eponymous “LFO”, to Nightmares On Wax. The demo’s popularity in clubs lead to the track being released by Warp in 1990, where it made it into the Top Twenty. The name LFO comes from the term Low Frequency Oscillator, a component used to alter sounds in synthesizers, samplers etc.

Gez Varley left the duo in 1996, and continues to have a solo career. Mark Bell continued to record under his own name and that of LFO, as well as producing albums for Björk and Depeche Mode until his untimely passing in October 2014.

LFO’s album Frequencies (containing the previously mentioned “LFO” and its follow-up single, We Are Back) was a popular album for Warp Records and undoubtedly helped establish them as a successful global independent electronic label, along with label-mates Nightmares On Wax and Sweet Exorcist.
It was originally released with a warning sticker stating that the record company was not responsible for the potential damage to speakers due to the the extremely loud, low frequency bass signals contained within the music.

Frequencies was followed by the less commercially successful Advance and, in 2003, by Sheath which saw a return to the earlier minimal techno sound of LFO’s debut.

2. Lyte Funkie Ones (LFO) was an American three-man pop/rap group consisting of Rich Cronin (August 30, 1974 – September 8, 2010), Devin Lima (born Harold Lima, March 18, 1977 – November 21, 2018), 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.

Origins (1995–1998)
In 1995, in Fall River, Massachusetts, Rich Cronin met Brian "Brizz" Gillis. LFO had marginal success with the remake of the Yvonne Elliman's song, If I Can't Have You, which missed the Top 40, reaching No. 54 on the UK Singles Chart.
In 1997, they released a cover of New Kids on the Block's 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.

Success (1999–2002)
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 Funky 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, 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. It was produced by Dow Brain and Brad Young of Underground Productions. This song gave LFO their path to success.

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

Nearly four months later, on September 28, 2009, LFO announced (through their YouTube page) that they had broken up. However, the individual members of the band planned to continue making music with their various side projects.

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