Brad Fischetti is paying tribute to his late fellow LFO band member Devin Lima by fulfilling his final wish.
Fischetti, the last surviving member of the pop and hip hop band, has released previously unreleased music for the holidays – “Xiles Xmas” and “Hip Hop Reindeers,” two songs that he worked on with Lima prior to his November death.
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Speaking to TMZ about the new music, Fischetti revealed that Lima had expressed a desire to release the songs, part of a group of five previously unreleased songs, before he passed, and that they were planning on releasing the new music for the holiday season. Following Lima’s death, Fischetti chose to move forward with the release, which he saw as fulfilling his band member’s final wish.
“Actually, years ago when Devin was staying with me, we had a studio in my garage, and we decided to this little side project called the ‘Xiles.’ We recorded five songs and two of them were Christmas songs, and we never really released them for real,” he told TMZ. “done together, and we started talking about the ‘Xiles.’ We decided ‘you know what, let’s release those songs for real. Christmas time is coming up.’”
Fischetti also revealed that the songs, to be made available on both iTunes and Spotify, bear Lima’s mark, as he worked heavily on each.
“I’m always thinking about ‘how do I honor him the best?’ And the best way to honor him is to help continue to keep his legacy alive. So when you listen to these songs, Devin is all over them,” Fischetti said. “He co-wrote them with me, he had a huge part in producing them, a big part in mixing them. You’ll hear all sorts of little sound and extra harmonies and adlibs, and that’s all from his beautiful mind.”
Lima passed away during the early morning hours of Nov. 21 following a battle with stage four adrenal cancer. He was 41. His death, confirmed by a family member, was addressed by Fischetti soon after, who remembered Lima as “an extraordinary talent and a beautiful man.”
“For me, he was a brother. To his six kids, he was a father. To their mother, a wonderful partner,” he said in a YouTube video at the time, “will miss him and I will honor him and I know right now he stands in the presence of greatness in the midst of heaven talking to Jesus, saying, ‘Hey, watch out for my friends. That’s where I find peace.”
Lima’s death followed the 2010 death of LFO member Rich Cronin, who passed away at the age of 36 after having been diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia in 2005.
