Sad news to pass along this evening. LFO lead singer and member of the VH1 family Rich Cronin passed away earlier this evening of leukemia.
Cronin first rose to fame as the lead singer of the 90s era boy band success story LFO, a group perhaps best known for their 1999 hit, “Summer Girls” (which would be on the short list for songs of that particular summer). After the band’s popularity waned in the early aughts, Cronin then joined up with Chris Kirkpatrick, Jeff Timmons, and Bryan Abrams on the inspirational reality show that aired right here on VH1, Mission: Man Band.
On Rich Cronin’s official Facebook page, his manager, Michelle Holland, left the following statement: “On behalf of the Cronin family and all at the Hope Foundation and [his record label] Orange Freeze, thank you so much for your kind words and thoughts. Continue to post them as a tribute to a great man, a better artist and the best friend I could ever have.”
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]
Hold your applause: Despite clever editing meant to heighten suspense and to lead you to believe that they were going to crash and burn, Sureshot‘s performance at Mansion was an unmitigated success. (Sidebar: Mansion is a Miami club that was the site of a mini Britney Spears meltdown in May — not that a Britney meltdown is that rare an animal.) The men, our putative band of brothers, came together for a rousing show, and they looked good. As Bryan said, they were taking their style cues from the Rat Pack. The audience dug it. Groovy.
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Fame is a cruel mistress, but the anticipation of fame can be a real deal-breaker. When Bryan‘s wife Kim came to visit the Man Band house, she found herself surrounded by the 14 beautiful female dancers the men were auditioning for their performance at Miami nightclub Mansion. Despite how fit, toned and tanned everyone appeared, it wasn’t pretty. Kim’s jealousy manifested in a massive load of guilt for Bryan. The fewer clothes on the back-up dancers, the more guilt for our beleaguered Man Bander.
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Last night’s Man Band was a cruel exercise in humiliation. When Miss Kate forced the guys to perform at the Orlando Magic half-time show against their will, that was one thing. Everyone was expecting to be booed. And booed they were. But when Miss Kate pointlessly, antagonistically made them listen to radio jocks tear their performance to shreds the following morning, that was something else. And when she made them watch a tape of the show, that was the camel that broke the straw’s back. [click to continue…]
Want to know what panic is? Panic is when you have 36 hours to prep for a performance during half-time at an Orlando Magic game and you don’t even have a song written yet, much less your dance moves down. Yes, that’s panic, but that’s also Mission: Manband, the show where it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Miss Kate, the band’s manager, is an expert in torture. Psychological torture. As Rich said, “I hope I can hear myself over all the boos.” [click to continue…]
Last night on Mission: Man Band, Bryan fell off the wagon. A couple of times. The former Color Me Badd-er started the episode promisingly enough: He hired a personal trainer to help him get his weight down, setting a goal to lose 25 pounds — an admirable amount. But early on there were also signs that things were headed south. Signs like Bryan calling Jack Daniel’s “Uncle Jack” and him telling Chris that the alcohol “demon is always around the corner.” It was. By the end of the episode, he’d slept through a personal training session and endangered the band’s chances of success. [click to continue…]
Are there second acts in American life? Check our celebreality world, and you’ll find the answer’s yes. Rejuvenation is the idea behind Mission: Man Band, where four former boy band singers connect to see if they can reclaim the spotlight. It debuted last night. And it made some of us misty-eyed. Really.
Mission: Man Band isn’t your usual Celebreality freakshow. Instead it’s the story of four guys who went from almost instantaneous mega-popularity to pop-culture footnotes, world-beaters to underdogs. The show finds them trying to restart their careers in spite of overwhelming odds. They’re not obnoxious. They’re not prone to nudity. They are struggling. You should get to know them.
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