Brad Fischetti originally started LFO with Rich Cronin and Brian 'Brizz' Gillis
NEED TO KNOW
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When Gillis left the group, he was replaced by Harold 'Devin' Lima, who became one of Fischetti's best friends
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Fischetti opens up about the death of all three of his bandmates before they reached the age of 50
Brad Fischetti has experienced tremendous loss in his time in a boy band.
In ID'sBoy Band Confidential,Fischetti speaks candidly about being the last surviving member of LFO. The trio "started as a rap group," and evolved as the original lineup — Fischetti, Rich Cronin and Brian "Brizz" Gillis — got their start.
In 1998, Gillis left the group and was replaced by Harold 'Devin' Lima. The new trio "wrote a lot of our songs ourselves," which was uncommon for the landscape at the time.
"'Summer Girls,' it's an anthem. It's this classic... the video could be shot today, you know? We did the ocean, the beach scene. At the end, Devin and I had our arms around each other and walked into the ocean. It's really timeless."
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Not only was "Summer Girls" a hit, but their second single, "Girl on TV," also charted, inspired by the fact that Cronin "was infatuated with Jennifer Love Hewitt," who they got to appear in the music video.
When it came to their third single, however, the band started seeing their momentum slow down. "It got added to a bunch of radio stations, but it didn't really hit. When the sales didn't hit, I think the label was like, 'Well, that's that. Time to move on.' "
The group disbanded and in 2005, Fischetti got a call from Cronin's brother with heartbreaking news.
"He's like, 'Hey Brad, I got some bad news. Rich has leukemia.' I had heard that Rich was having trouble with his legs. So I texted him like, 'Hey man, I heard you were having some trouble walking. I figure there's two ways to get you out of bed — one is a beautiful blonde, or a tour.' I said, 'What do you think? You want to tour again?'"
Fischetti never got a response. "A few weeks later, I found out from a fan, actually, that he had died."
The loss was hard for Fischetti, but he still had a close relationship with Lima, who was living with him at the time.
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"We just started making music together. So we did a tour, it's amazing," Fischetti recalls. "We were going to do two more legs, but I remember one day, I was at my office and Alan, who played acoustic guitar for us, he came in and goes, 'Can you talk? Devin's in the hospital.' "
He continued, "Devin was never sick. I run to the hospital and he's not in his bed. He's sitting on a chair, meditating. But then, on the desk, they hav a list of doctors and one of the doctors listed was an oncologist. And I was like, 'Oh my God.' "
Fischetti tearfully explained that Lima had a "very rare cancer, called primary adrenal cancer," adding, "Your adrenal gland's like a little acorn-sized organ on top of your kidney, and it just engulfed his entire kidney."
The cancer spread throughout Lima's body and, "For the next year, nothing worked."
"I used to yell at God, like, 'Please don't take him. Please.' He passed away and he was not only my bandmate, but my best friend."
Fischetti took himself to a doctor, looking into his own health. When he got good news for himself, he thought it was the end of a painful saga, but that didn't prove to be the case. In 2023, Fischetti received a call from his manager with more difficult news.
"He goes, 'I don't think you're ready for this.' Then he goes, 'Brian's dead.' "
The news was devastating for Fischetti, who recalls, "I cried like the way I died when Devin died... How could this happen? How is this possible, that these three guys under 50 are all dead?"
"If you look from the outside, people say, 'Oh, LFO is cursed.' I don't really believe in that kind of stuff. But who knows? Maybe by the time this airs, I'm gone," he said.
Today, Fischetti keeps the band's legacy going, performing LFO's biggest hits with members of O-Town.
Boy Band Confidential: A Hollywood Demons Eventpremieres Monday, April 13 and Tuesday, April 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ID, with both titles available to stream on HBO Max. The second season ofHollywood Demonspremieres Monday, April 20, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ID.
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