Fun Lovin' Criminals
Fun Lovin' Criminals are an alternative rock, alternative hip hop, or rap rock band from New York City. Their musical style is eclectic, covering styles such as hip hop, rock, blues, jazz, R&B, punk, and funk. They are best known for their hit "Scooby Snacks", which features samples from films by Quentin Tarantino, and the song "Love Unlimited", which recalls Barry White's backing vocal group. Their songs often focus on life in New York City, as well as urban life in general. Their lyrics can be gritty or existentialist in nature, touching on topics such as  organized crime and urban violence, but they are just as often humorous or satirical. The band gained a large following internationally, notably in north-west Europe, around the release of their first two albums in the late 1990s. History. Formation and first albums: 1993–1999. The band was formed in 1993 by Huey Morgan, Brian "Fast" Leiser and Steve Borgovini after Leiser, who was already friends with Borgovini, met Morgan at the club where they both worked. They started playing together and would provide the entertainment for the club when a booked act failed to show up. It was during one  of these stand-in gigs that they came to the attention of EMI and they were offered a record deal. "Come Find Yourself", the band's first album, was released in the summer of 1996 by Chrysalis Records and followed their single "The Grave And The Constant" (UK No. 72), which was released a month earlier, into the UK charts. The album also featured the UK Top 40 hits, "Scooby Snacks" (UK No. 22), "The Fun Lovin' Criminal" (UK No. 26) and "King Of New York" (UK No. 28). The subject of the latter touched on the imprisonment of Italian -American mafioso John Gotti, the wannabe gangsters emulating his style, and his fans and followers in his community that maintained his innocence. The biggest hit, "Scooby Snacks", features samples from films by Quentin Tarantino and a guitar sample from Tones On Tail song "Movement of Fear", interspersed with rap verses and a sung, anthemic, chorus. "Come Find Yourself" had a slow rise up the UK Albums Chart, finally peaking at No. 7 and spending well over a year in the chart, however it failed to make any impact in the US, despite the band appearing as musical guests on MTV 's The Jenny McCarthy Show. The success of the album prompted the re-release of "Scooby Snacks" as a single, alongside a cover of the 10cc classic "I'm Not In Love", which this time reached UK No. 12. "100% Colombian", released in August 1998 by Virgin Records, had a far grittier sound to it tempered by three upbeat songs, and several downtempo tracks, including "Love Unlimited", a tribute to Barry White. "Korean Bodega", one of the aforementioned upbeat songs, was the biggest hit from the album, reaching No. 15, their second-highest placing single so far after the re -release of "Scooby Snacks". In June 1999 the band played at Glastonbury Festival on the Pyramid Stage. Their December 1999 album "Mimosa", released by EMI was a compilation album consisting mostly of laid back lounge style covers and different versions of earlier released tracks. While making reasonable sales, the album was their weakest selling album yet and remained so for some years. It was around this time, in 1999, that Steve Borgovini left the band. He was replaced by Maxwell "Mackie" Jayson. A permanent replacement was found in 2003 in the form of Mark Reid (aka Frank Benbini) from Leicester , United Kingdom, who had previously worked with the band as Jayson's technician. Mainstream success: 2000–2008. The band's third studio album, "Loco", was released in early 2001. Back under EMI, the album had all new songs including the eponymous single, which became their biggest hit yet, reaching No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart. It was the only single release from the album to reach the UK Top 40, and its success helped "Loco" to reach No. 5 in the UK Albums Chart. Their final album under EMI was a "best of" compilation called "Bag of Hits" released in  2002. It was released in both one and two disc versions, with the second disc featuring remixes of Fun Lovin' Criminals songs by other artists. EMI released this album against the wishes of the band, who were not happy with the two disc version. However, despite their objections it reached No. 11 in the UK Albums Chart. After parting company with EMI the band was picked up by Sanctuary Records in the UK, under which they released their fourth studio album "Welcome to Poppy's" (2003). While it received strong, but not fantastic, music reviews it failed to live up  to the commercial success of any of the previous albums, peaking at No. 20 in the UK Albums Chart. The best-selling single from the album reached No. 61. EMI continued to release the band's back catalog, as well as unreleased songs on two more albums. The Fun Lovin' Criminals made no further releases until 2005 album "Livin' in the City", still under Sanctuary Records. This was considered a love letter to New York with many songs extolling the virtues of the city. In June 2008 they made their second appearance at the Glastonbury Festival, this time on the  Jazz World Stage. 2009–present. In April 2010 "Classic Fantastic" was released, kicking off a European tour which began in Manchester. Legal wranglings with their previous manager meant that this album was their first official output in five years, although they had played live during this period. Leiser and Benbini had produced much of the album in London, while Morgan recorded his parts in New York. "Classic Fantastic" was the first album on Kilohertz, the band's own label, and signaled a new business model for the Fun Lovin' Criminals based on touring their live shows rather than relying on  record sales alone. Singles from the album were the title track "Classic Fantastic" followed by "Mr Sun". The official video for "Mr Sun" was cancelled due to volcanic ash, and a montage of old home movies was used in its place. The third single was the double A-side "We The Three" and "Keep On Yellin" featuring South London's Roots Manuva, released August 16, 2010. In July 2010, the band recorded a special series of songs with Roots Manuva. The project, dubbed "Criminal Manuvas", was recorded at Maida Vale studios for BBC Radio 6 Music; songs included a reggae  version of "Scooby Snacks" and an alternative version of "Witness". In September 2010, the band were touring, and they announced a live album: "Fun, Live and Criminal" via Pledge Music. In March 2014, they released "The Bong Remains The Same", a live concert video. In February 2016, they released a deluxe, expanded edition of debut album "Come Find Yourself" to mark its 20th anniversary, and the band toured the album by performing it in full alongside some of their other tracks, throughout the UK and Europe, and at a number of festivals that Summer and into 2017. In January 2019 , The band released the follow-up to their "Mimosa" compilation, titled "Another Mimosa", which features covers of some of their favourite songs. On 12 November 2021, it was confirmed on their official Facebook page, that frontman Huey Morgan has left the band. And on 25 March 2022, in a live instagram video between Fast and Frank, Fast confirmed that relations between the band and Huey Morgan had become "strained", and with Morgan deciding that he didn't want to tour with the band, which led to his decision to quit the band. Fast also revealed that he is now the  group's lead singer, and that Naim Cortazzi would be the band's new guitarist. Fast then announced a tour for September 2022, as well as new material for a forthcoming album. Side projects. Huey Morgan is a radio personality on BBC. Morgan has appeared on Jack Osbourne's "Adrenaline Junkie", a boy racer show "Slips", sat in for Jonathan Ross and Dermot O'Leary on BBC Radio 2, appeared in "Soulboy" as a Dick Van Dyke accented London record shop owner, voiced a character in the "" video game, and most bizarrely appeared with Liza Tarbuck on "Liza & Huey's Pet  Nation" on prime-time SKY TV. Morgan now presents regular shows on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 6 Music. All three band members have released side projects. Benbini's band Uncle Frank has released an album, as has Leiser, albeit with some of his previous unreleased work. Both Leiser and Benbini have collaborated on myriad remixes as well as a full remix album in a reggae-dub style under the moniker Radio Riddler. Morgan has released an album, "Say It to My Face", and toured with several acquaintances, including Benbini, as Huey and the New Yorkers, raising money for  veterans in the process.