Image credit: LFO: Bill Davila/Retna Limited, USA

Rich Cronin
AGE 30
FORMER EMPLOYER LFO
WHERE HE WAS THEN ''We were the Backstreet Boys' redheaded stepbrothers,'' says Cronin. The Lyte Funky Ones were part of Lou Pearlman's boy-band army (along with the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync), but they didn't have much success in the U.S. That is, until a basement demo of a super-sunny song Cronin wrote for friends leaked to a radio station. That song was ''Summer Girls,'' featuring the now-infamous chorus, ''I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch/...Chinese food makes me sick.'' Soon the ditty conquered TRL, boosted sales of cargo pants, and became the beach jam of 1999. The group followed up with another ubiquitous hit, ''Girl on TV,'' with a video featuring Cronin's gal pal at the time, Jennifer Love Hewitt.
WHERE HE IS NOW After the boy-band fad faded, LFO parted ways, splitting in 2002. And Cronin, a Bostonian, has accepted his dramatically decreased fame. ''No one wears jelly bracelets anymore, but in the '80s those were the s---,'' he says with a laugh. Cronin spent years writing material for a solo record, but things suddenly changed when a bout of fatigue led him to a doctor's office. In the spring of 2005, Cronin was diagnosed with leukemia. ''Definitely puts everything in perspective,'' he says. A year later, the cancer is in remission and Cronin is once more pursuing pop stardom, while also heading the Rich Cronin Hope Foundation ''to increase awareness of leukemia.'' Meanwhile, the long-delayed solo project is again in the works. (Intriguingly, Cronin cites the Replacements and Bell Biv Devoe as influences.) ''I am truly thankful for the success I had,'' he says. ''And if it happens again, that'd be really nice. I'm just that same guy writing pop songs to make people happy. And I still only like girls in Abercrombie & Fitch.''

— Timothy Gunatilaka