Lights Over Paris was an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

formed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Ranked #6 on ''Billboard'''s

Heatseekers Albums The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

in August 2010, the band's music video for the song "Turn Off the Lights" was featured on

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and received over 1 million views on

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.
/ref> The band also hired artists such as singer Dev (singer), Dev and

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to record on its songs. The band is now on an indefinite hiatus due to Robert Mawhinney's conviction and imprisonment for fraudulently obtaining four

bank loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the debt ( ...

s in October 2013.

History

Beginnings

On April 13, 2010, Lights Over Paris released its first EP, ''Turn Off the Lights'', on Digital Records/Type One Records. Three of the EPs' songs, "Melody", "Lime Light Girl" and "Rescue Me", were mixed by noted engineers

Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1962) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at Unique Recording in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground ...

and

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic range compression for molding mixes that ...

. The music video for "Turn Off the Lights" was shot at various locations in Los Angeles. The video was premiered on

and received over one million views on

. On May 10, 2011, Lights Over Paris released their second single, "I'm Not a Gangsta", on Digital Records/Type One Records featuring highly touted rapper, The Game, and was the first single off their unreleased album. On August 16, 2011, a remix to the single was released titled "I'm Not a Gangsta (I'm a Gangsta Remix)". The remix featured The Game, YG,

Ty Dolla Sign Tyrone William Griffin Jr. (born April 13, 1982), known professionally as Ty Dolla Sign (stylized as Ty Dolla $ign or Ty$), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Griffin gai ...

and

DJ Mustard A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music festivals), mobile DJ ...

Fraud conviction and sentence

In January 2013, Mawhinney was arrested in Miami and charged with fraudulently obtaining four bank loans and money laundering totaling over $11 million. Mawhinney pleaded guilty to the charges in October 2013 and was sentenced to seven years in prison. In a phone interview with '' 20/20'' Mawhinney gave from prison, he stated he was sorry for the deception and was attempting to learn guitar during his incarceration.

In media

Rob Mawhinney was profiled on the U.S. television show ''20/20'''s "The Big Lie". The show stated Mawhinney had portrayed the band as successful by spending money he had obtained through bank loans using forged or altered documentation, which he had no intention or ability to pay back. A photo-journalist who had covered the band stated that one club date he attended, being reported as a sellout, had almost more people on stage than in the crowd: Mawhinney had purchased all the tickets in advance. Another scheduled appearance for the band at the Roxy in Los Angeles had a DJ on stage in place of Mawhinney, who was at his high school reunion that night, and saw the DJ being served with legal papers intended for Mawhinney during the show.Man Scammed Banks Out of $11M to Fund Rock Star Fantasy
Alexa Valiente, Chris Connelly and Harry Phillips, 20/20, ABC television, January 3, 2014.

References

External links

Official website
'' ead-link' {{DEFAULTSORT:Lights Over Paris Alternative rock groups from California Musical groups from Los Angeles Avex Trax artists