The musical collaboration of Lyric and Robby Benson, LYRIC’S LOVE LIGHT REVOLUTION brings the poetry of cosmic consciousness to Earth with the power of modern rock — flaming guitar, eco-psychedelic hip-pop, atmospheric electronica, and a fat bottom. Play it loud, bring your air guitar, and plan on singing along. Dance if you want to.

LYRIC’S LOVE LIGHT REVOLUTION is ten songs performed by Lyric, composed, arranged, and produced by Robby based on her poetry. In an era when the work of so many artists is hacked into mp3 song-bites, Lyric and Robby take us on a journey exquisitely orchestrated to tell the story of her celestial awakening. From track to track, Lyric’s vocal performances evolve from gentle poems (‘In the Valley of My Soul’) to raps and rants (‘How My Body Trembles’), and resolve in harmony (‘Life is a Revolution’). The music moves with her as Robby articulates the power of her words in guitar solos and electronica, timpani and doumbek, rock ‘n roll, samples, and psychedelia.

This album is Lyric’s cosmic journey inward. The layers of sound will draw you into Lyric’s vortex and spin you across the dance floor. A girl of the hip-hop generation, Lyric raps soliloquies between verses of pop melodies, alternating hypnotic repetition in ‘Lord Shiva’s Tree’ with lightness of being in ‘Mother Lady’, and good old fashioned fist thumping in ‘Let’s Live Life in Peace’. From her self knowing bravado in ‘I Am That’ to going off the deep end in ‘I’m Never Gonna Let You Go’, Robby’s guitar follows her trailing into sonic insanity. But it’s not all that deep. ‘My Heart is the Sun’ is a simple pop song that soars to intergalactic heights.

Lyric Benson’s vocal dynamics and the span of the music across all five genomes — pop/rock, hip-hop/electronica, jazz, world music, and classical — can be traced back to her gene pool. Her mom, legendary singer, Karla DeVito had two solo albums, headlined MTV’s first New Year’s Eve concert, toured the world with Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf as the female lead in the original Bat Out of Hell, and met film star Robby Benson in Joe Papp’s Broadway production of Pirates of Penzance. The voice of Beast in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has an extensive musical background. Robby Benson joined the NY Musicians Union 802 at the age of 14 as a studio player, he has scored films, and is the recipient of several RIAA Gold Records for songwriting, most notably ‘We Are Not Alone’ for John Hughes’ seminal film, The Breakfast Club. Though it may be in her DNA to be a performer, Lyric Benson delivers her own authentic talent, energy, and insight to this breakthrough sonic extravaganza.

For Robby, this project was a chance to collaborate with one of his favorite people and strut his formidable musicianship helping create the album she dreamed of making. LYRIC’S LOVE LIGHT REVOLUTION was performed and produced entirely in his home studio.

Robby Benson has almost finished his memoir, I’M NOT DEAD… YET!

I’M NOT DEAD… YET! is a funny and poignant look at surviving four open heart surgeries for a congenital valve defect, while forging ahead with a dynamic creative career in and out of Hollywood.

Robby has mentored fellow patients since his first surgery in 1984. His goal in writing I’M NOT DEAD… YET! is to broaden his outreach to open heart patients and their loved ones, helping them get through surgery and recovery with knowledge and humor.

(This photo was taken by Karla just two weeks after his successful reverse Ross procedure by the only man in the world who performs them — the brilliant Dr. Gosta Petterson — at the famed Cleveland Clinic.  Here’s  Robby, after running two miles to the beach, about to swim in the Atlantic!)

Robby’s first book, WHO STOLE THE FUNNY? A NOVEL OF HOLLYWOOD published by HarperCollins (2007) made the best seller list of the L.A. Times.

Photos by Karla DeVito (the one with her and Robby taken by Disney’s fabulous Melinda Johnson)

Robby and Paige

‘(500) Days’ Co-Writer Scott Neustadter’s Five Favorite Movie Montages

By LA Weekly in On the Screen

Scott Neustadter chose Robby and Karla’s song “We Are Not Alone” from “The Breakfast Club” as #4. 

Karla DeVito says:

“Our son Zephyr Benson is 17 and going to NYU/Tisch for filmmaking next fall, and has seen your 500 DAYS a zillion times already — it was the first film our son ever said we NEEDED to see. So thanks for putting us on your list — it gives us a moment of relevance at home!”

About We Are Not Alone from The Breakfast Club:

John Hughes and Keith Forsey invited me and the love of my life and writing partner Robby Benson into the editing room to watch an early Breakfast Club cut, focusing on the dance montage in the library.

We conceived and wrote WE ARE NOT ALONE to Keith’s drum track, which the cast had danced to the beat of during shooting. Robby had just had open heart surgery for a congenital valve defect, yet he could not sleep until he had written almost every word and the entire melody.

Mr. Hughes loved it, my producers Steve Goldstein and David Anderle recorded it, I had a blast blasting it out vocally, and Robby and I will always be grateful to Keith Forsey for bringing us into the amazing iconic John Hughes film music universe.