RBD

This article is about the Mexican pop group. For other uses, see RBD (disambiguation).

RBD
The group posing during a photoshoot in 2007 for their album Empezar Desde Cero. The group posing during a photoshoot in 2007 for their album Empezar Desde Cero.
Background information
Origin	Mexico City, Mexico
Genres	Latin pop pop rock pop dance-pop R&B
Years active	2004–2009
Labels	EMI Capitol
Past members	Anahí Alfonso Herrera Dulce María Christopher von Uckermann Maite Perroni Christian Chávez

RBD was a Mexican Latin pop group that gained popularity from Televisa's telenovela Rebelde. The group achieved international success from 2004 until their separation in 2009 and sold over 15 million records worldwide, which makes them one of the best-selling Latin music artists. The group was composed of Anahí, Alfonso Herrera, Dulce María, Christopher von Uckermann, Maite Perroni and Christian Chávez.

In November 2004, the group released their debut studio album, Rebelde, to great success. In September 2005, the group released their second album, Nuestro Amor, receiving their first Latin Grammy Award nomination. In 2006, the group released their third album, Celestial. The album's lead single, "Ser o Parecer", topped the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart for two consecutive weeks. This is their first album to be released simultaneously in all countries where the group is famous. In the same year, the group released their fourth album, and first English-language album titled Rebels. In 2007, the group released their fifth album Empezar Desde Cero, which was nominated again at the Latin Grammy Awards. In 2009, the group released their sixth and final album, Para Olvidarte De Mí.

RBD officially formed on October 30, 2004, and announced on August 15, 2008, through a press release, that they would disband on March 10, 2009.

History

2004–2005: Rebelde and Nuestro Amor

RBD (abbreviation for "ReBelDe") formed on October 30, 2004, which followed the premiere of the Mexican telenovela Rebelde. The members were composed of Anahí, Alfonso Herrera, Dulce María, Christopher von Uckermann, Maite Perroni and Christian Chávez. The band released their debut single, "Rebelde", exactly one month before the group officially formed. Their debut album of the same name was released on November 11, 2004, by EMI. All four singles from the album were number-one hits in Mexico.

Rebelde sold well in the United States, reaching number 95 on the Billboard 200 and number two on the Latin Albums chart. In July 2005, a live CD/DVD, Tour Generación RBD En Vivo, was released. The CD/DVD documented their tour around Mexico that included 45 sold-out concerts across the country, including sixteen in Mexico City.

RBD with the former president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

With the success of Rebelde, the group used the hiatus between the first and second season to release their second album Nuestro Amor, on September 22, 2005. This album included twelve songs plus "Una Canción", a live recording, and "Liso, Sensual", a studio version of the song previously performed on their last tour. The album set new record sales in Mexico, selling 127,000 copies on its release day and 160,000 copies in its first week. In the U.S., the album topped the Latin Albums chart for three weeks and peaked at number 88 on the Billboard 200. The first four singles reached number one in Mexico. In the U.S., "Nuestro Amor", "Aún hay algo" and "Este corazón" charted on the Hot Latin Songs chart at numbers six, 24 and 10, respectively.

2005–2006 Rebelde (Edição Brasil) and Nosso Amor Rebelde

File:Rbd.jpg

RBD at the 2005 Premios Juventud.

In November 2005, a Portuguese version of their debut album was released, titled Rebelde (Edição Brasil). In early 2006, the group went on tour across the United States for the first time, which was recorded and released as a CD/DVD in April 2006, titled Live in Hollywood. It peaked at number six on the Latin Albums chart. Since that year, former singer Lynda Thomas, who had been uncredited with the group since their debut, officially became a recurring contributor for them. The first song that was credited to her was "No pares", performed by Dulce María. Later in 2006, the group earned a nomination for the 7th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in the category "Best Pop Album By a Group or Duo" for Nuestro Amor. They performed a new version of "Tras de mí" at the Grammy Awards.

In May 2006, the group released a Portuguese version of Nuestro Amor, titled Nosso Amor Rebelde, targeted for the Brazilian market. Nosso Amor Rebelde is their second album in Portuguese, released only in Brazil. The album contains Portuguese versions of 11 songs from Nuestro Amor. The album, however, did not have a full week of album sales because of its Friday release. Despite this, it became their first album to peak or chart in the top 20 of the Billboard 200.

2006–2007: Celestial and Rebels

In November 2006, the group released their third album, Celestial, produced and directed by Carlos Lara and Armando Ávila. The album debuted at number 15 on the Billboard 200 and over 137,000 copies were sold in the United States in its first week.

Celestial is their third album in Spanish and their first to be launched simultaneously in all the countries where the group is famous. The album spawned three hit singles, "Ser o Parecer", "Celestial" and "Bésame sin miedo"

From their tour in Brazil, the group released a DVD titled Live in Rio (2007). The group were also honored for selling over 2.5 million copies of their albums and DVD's in Brazil. In Spain, Rebelde spent five weeks on the top of the charts and was certified 3× Platinum for having sold over 240,000 copies. Nuestro Amor was certified 2× Platinum and Celestial was certified Platinum.

In December 2006, the group released their fourth album and first English-language album, Rebels, which debuted at number 40 on the Billboard 200; 94,000 copies sold in its first week. Rebels was certified Gold in Japan for having sold over 250,000 copies.

The group was nominated twice in the category "Latin Pop Album of the Year By a Duo or Group", with Celestial and Live in Hollywood, which were both released in 2006. They also received a nomination for "Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year" and "Latin Tour of the Year" for Tour Generación RBD. The show was held on April 26 in Miami, Florida. They won in all categories they were nominated in. Celestial was the one for which they won the "Latin Pop Album of the Year By a Duo or Group" award.

2007–2008: Empezar Desde Cero

On March 2, 2007, Christian Chávez revealed that he is gay after pictures were discovered of him marrying another man in Canada. In a letter on the group's website, he asked fans for understanding and acceptance. After this, the group worked two side-projects; Sálvame, an organization that helps homeless youth get an education and shelter, and RBD: La Familia, their new sitcom. The group was nominated four times in three categories for the 2007 Billboard Latin Music Awards.

In early 2007, the group began to rehearse for their upcoming concert tour called Tour Celestial, which started in Ecuador on April 20, 2007. On May 28, 2007, Donald Trump invited the group to perform three songs at the Miss Universe 2007 finals in Mexico City. They performed a medley of "Wanna Play", "Cariño Mio" and "Money Money" at the event. In June 2007, the group recorded the accompanying music video for their single "Bésame sin miedo" in Transylvania while on tour in Romania where Celestial was released. It was the same year they were chosen to headline a series of Pepsi commercials with The Black Eyed Peas to air in South America and Spanish-speaking countries. On July 19, 2007, the group performed "Bésame sin miedo" at the Premios Juventud 2007 ceremony and won seven awards that night, including "Voice of the Moment" and "Favorite Concert". The group won a total of 24 Premios Juventud awards. RBD broke the record for most albums in the top 20 in Brazil, having three different albums in the top 20 for the week ending January 20, 2007. Their single "Tu amor" was nominated for Best International Song in France. In an interview in Mexico, Christopher von Uckermann stated that it has always been an honor to be compared to Menudo and Timbiriche, but mentioned that RBD surpassed those groups by accomplishing much more in only five years, being the only Mexican group to gain worldwide fame.

The first worldwide "RBD Day" was held on October 4, 2007. The group celebrated the day with fans in Houston, Texas. During their press conference, they confirmed that their fifth album would be titled Empezar Desde Cero, produced by Carlos Lara and Armando Ávila. The first single from Empezar Desde Cero, "Inalcanzable", debuted in October 2007 and peaked at number two on Mexican charts. Empezar Desde Cero was released on November 20, debuting at number one on the Billboard Latin Albums chart and peaking within the top-ten in a variety of countries such as Brazil (their first album that did not top the charts in that country, which peaked at number three) and Mexico. As of November 2008, Empezar Desde Cero had sold over a million copies worldwide. It was voted by Billboard readers as the third best album released in 2007.

2008–2009: Best Of and Para Olvidarte De Mí

In April 2008, the group performed at a concert in Brazil's capital city. The free concert was held at the city's main park and had 500,000 fans in attendance. RBD was said to be the first music act in the history of Slovenia charts to have six different albums in the top ten in the same weekend.

In August 2008, the 2008 Latin Grammy nominations were announced; the group was nominated for "Best Pop Album By a Duo or Group with Vocals" for Empezar Desde Cero.

On August 15, 2008, the group announced through a press release that they would disband in 2009. The group's manager, Pedro Damián, explained that although there weren't any fights among the members, it was best that they should disband for the members who were already planning different solo activities.

Alfonso Herrera and Maite Perroni were occupied with their television projects (Perroni as the protagonist of Cuidado con el ángel and Herrera with the TV series Terminales). Christian Chávez was in the middle of a tour with the musical Avenue Q's Mexican stage production, and was planning to build his career as a solo artist, actor and producer. Anahí managed her own clothing store in Mexico City and began an organization to help those who have eating disorders. Dulce María was involved with shooting a film "Alguién a visto a Lupita" and a variety of projects, such as dubbing a cartoon character in a Mexican film. Later, Christopher von Uckermann starred in the TV show Kdabra, produced by Fox in Colombia.

On November 25, RBD released Best Of (in Brazil: Hits Em Português; in the United States: Greatest Hits), which was a CD/DVD that features their singles and a DVD with music videos as part of their goodbye. A Portuguese version of the album was also released.

Para Olvidarte De Mí (2009) was the sixth and final album to be released by the group. The album is preceded by the only single "Para Olvidarte De Mí". On December 2, 2009, the live concert DVD, Tournée do Adeus, recorded in São Paulo was released, containing the group's last show in Brazil.

Documentary about the group

In late 2012, Pedro Damián told Televisa that the group would return to the stage in 2013. According to Damián, the project was to do something amazing and interesting, "Let's talk to them. Let's convince them to do something amazing, something interesting." He stated he was determined to revive the group and would be chatting with members and try to convince them to reunite. Following Damián's statements, Dulce María said in an interview with Televisa that it was too early for a comeback; however, she did not rule out the possibility of ever doing a reunion with her former group members. "I do not know about the future," she stated in the interview, "but right now there's no way. Each of us is focused on his or her career. It's still very early. But never say never." Around the same time, in an interview for MTV Brasil, Christian Chávez said it was possible for a reunion in 2014, which was confirmed by Damián. On July 27, 2013, however, there was no official statement from Dulce María, Herrera, Uckermann, Anahí, or Perroni of this occurring or a set date.

With resistance from some members, Damián decided to develop a documentary about the group in celebration of the sextet's 10 year anniversary. In an interview with Televisa, Damián said he will have something more concrete on the project later in the year, "I have something like 800 hours of recordings ... We are already working."

Members

• Anahí – (2004–2009)
• Alfonso Herrera – (2004–2009)
• Dulce María – (2004–2009)
• Christopher von Uckermann – (2004–2009)
• Maite Perroni – (2004–2009)
• Christian Chávez – (2004–2009)

Timeline

Discography

Main article: RBD discography

Spanish discography

Studio albums

• Rebelde (2004)
• Nuestro Amor (2005)
• Celestial (2006)
• Empezar Desde Cero (2007)
• Para Olvidarte De Mí (2009)

Bilingual discography

Studio albums

• Rebelde (Edição Brasil) (2005)
• Nosso Amor Rebelde (2006)
• Celestial (Versão Brasil) (2006)
• Rebels (2006)

Tours

2005: Tour Generación RBD

Tour Generación RBD was the group's first national tour, which had 80 sold-out shows in Mexico. They visited Monterrey three times, which gathered over 150,000 fans. The tour was certified by OCESA as the fourth most rapidly sold-out tour in Mexico, behind The Cure's 2004 Sing to the Deadly Mouse Trap Tour in first, Britney Spears' 2002 Dream Within a Dream Tour in second, and Backstreet Boys 2001 Black & Blue Tour in third. The tour began on May 13, 2005, in Toluca, Mexico, and ended on December 18, 2005 in Lima, Peru. RBD's first international concerts took place in Colombia with huge success. They performed first at Medellin in front of a crowd of 30,000; later in Cali, over 50,000 were in attendance, being the group's most attended concert in Colombia, and later in Bogota. In March 2006, the second phase of the tour began in the United States, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with a crowd of over 68,000 fans – a record-breaking act for a Latin group and a sign of their widespread success. In 2006, 694,655 tickets were sold accounting for North American shows, worth a total of $23,600,000. 749,485 tickets were sold worldwide as they came in as the 14th top-selling act of 2006 worldwide.

RBD Tour Brasil 2006

RBD did a stadium tour through Brazil. They were the first Mexican pop group to perform in big venues, such as Maracanã and Morumbi, which are usually used by global pop stars, such as Madonna, U2, The Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson.

2007–08: Tour Celestial

Tour Celestial is RBD's second tour where they performed in Latin America, the U.S., and Europe. On June 22, 2007, RBD filmed their concert in Madrid, Spain with over 40.000 in attendance for a DVD called Tour Celestial 2007: Hecho en España.

In early October, it was confirmed by Roptus.com that the rest of the tour would be postponed until further notice. The reason the website gave for these actions was that RBD wants to give their audience a much well-deserved show by performing some songs off their new album, Empezar desde Cero, which was released on November 20, 2007. RBD grossed $5,400,000 on North American shows and a combined total of 293,742 tickets worldWide.

2008: Empezar Desde Cero Tour

In February 2008, the Empezar Desde Cero Tour began in Hildalgo, Texas, at the Dodge Arena. In late 2007, their Celestial Tour 2007 in the United States was rescheduled to February 2008 and became part of their new tour, Empezar Desde Cero Tour. La Nueva Banda Timbiriche was their opening act in the United States. The tour took place in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Spain, Slovenia, Serbia, Dominican Republic, Romania, the U.S. and many more countries in South America and Europe. RBD performed in Brazil for over 500,000 people, breaking the record by the Rolling Stones. In September, they did a series of concerts in Slovenia. The first concert was sold-out in 30 minutes, which broke records. Poll Star released the top-100 selling concerts for mid-2008

RBD came in number 49 with 166,839 tickets sold from January 1 to June 30, 2008. Third quarter sales from Pollstar ranked RBD at number 48 out of 100 with 301,015 tickets sold from January 1 to September 30, 2008. Pollstar year-end sales from January 1 to December 31, 2008 showed that RBD sold 367,346 tickets. RBD pulled in $4.4 million worth of ticket sales in from North American shows.

2008: Gira Del Adiós World Tour

The Gira Del Adiós World Tour was a world tour by Mexican group RBD. The tour was set to visit South America, North America, and Europe, which began on November 1, 2008 and ended on December 21, 2008.

On August 14, 2008, the group RBD announced their last tour, named Gira Del Adiós or Tour Del Adiós. The tour itinerary included about 20 cities in countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay, Chile and Brazil. In November 2008, the group began the tour in the following cities: La Paz, Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Rosario. In December, RBD concerts were held in Los Angeles, Guayaquil, Quito, Lima, Santiago, Ljubljana, Bucharest, Belgrade and Madrid. The last presentation of "Gira Del Adiós" was on December 21 in Madrid and the final farewell of the phenomenon, RBD.

In Brazil, the tour was called "Turnê Do Adeus". The first five presentations in the country were held soon after their presentations in Argentina. As in Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro with 30,000 people and more than 25,000 in São Paulo (Where was the last recorded live DVD of the group, entitled "Tournée do Adeus.") and Brasília. .

Legacy

RBD was one of the most important phenomenon of Latin pop culture in the 2000s despite their short transition in music scene. The cultural phenomenon led by the soap opera Rebelde and the pop music group RBD, accompanied by advertising strategies and artistic from 2004 to 2009 first in Mexico, then in Latin America, resulted in recognition from a young audience who followed the adventures of the group, leaving a legacy of six studio albums, two TV Series and multiple recognitions. On March 2, 2007, the world knew about the sexual orientation of Christian Chávez who through a statement spoke about this after photos of his marriage with the Canadian BJ Murphy came out. He became the first openly gay Mexican international singer. October 4 was selected as the RBD World Day because in 2004, the Soap Opera Rebelde was released in Mexico.

Fundación Sálvame

In February 2006, thousands of RBD fans in Brazil ran to a van and thought they were inside. In that incident, 43 people were injured and three were killed. Later during the Celestial tour, they spoke about the incident and said "It is something that struck us all. They didn't tell us what happened until we were on are way back to Mexico and to know that your fans were killed at your concert is a horrible feeling".

The Mexican group RBD launched "Fundación Sálvame" (the "Save Me Foundation", named after one of their songs) to help street children, which began on May 1, 2006. The foundation serves Mexico, Brazil, and Spain.

Awards and nominations

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by RBD

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref
2006	Latin Grammy Awards	Best Pop Album by a Duo Or Group With Vocal	Nuestro Amor	Nominated
2008			Empezar Desde Cero	Nominated

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref
2005	Oye Awards	New Artist of the Year	RBD	Won
		Pop Album of the Year – Duo or Group	Rebelde	Won
		Best Selling Pop Album of the Year		Won
	Premios Juventud	I Hear Them Everywhere	RBD	Won
		My Idol Is		Won
		CD To Die For	Rebelde	Won
		Best Ballad	"Solo Quédate En Silencio"	Won
2006	Billboard Latin Music Awards	Latin Pop Album of the Year – New Artist	Rebelde	Won
		Latin Pop Album of the Year – Duo or Group		Won
		Latin Pop Airplay Song of the Year – Duo or Group	"Solo Quédate En Silencio"	Won
	Lo Nuestro Awards	Latin Pop New Artist of the Year	RBD	Won
	Meus Prêmios Nick	International Artist of the Year		Won
	Premios Juventud	I Hear Them Everywhere		Won
		Favorite Pop Star		Won
		My Idol is		Won
		Paparazzi's Favorite Target		Won
		Most Searched		Won
		My Favorite Concert	Tour Generación 2006	Won
		CD to Die For	Nuestro Amor	Won
		Catchiest Tune	"Aún Hay Algo"	Won
		Best Ballad	"Este Corazón"	Won
	TVyNovelas Awards	Best Musical Theme	"Rebelde"	Won
		Artistic Recognition	RBD	Won
2007	Billboard Latin Music Awards	Latin Pop Album of the Year – Duo or Group	Celestial	Won
		Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year		Won
		Latin Tour of the Year	Tour Generación 2006	Won
	Lo Nuestro Awards	Duo or Group of the Year	RBD	Won
	Premios Juventud	I Hear Them Everywhere		Won
		CD to Die For	Celestial	Won
		My Favorite Concert	Celestial World Tour	Won
		Best Ballad	"Algún Día"	Won
		Favorite Pop Star	RBD	Won
	Orgullosamente Latino Award	Latin Group of the Year		Won
		Latin Album of the Year	Celestial	Won
		Latin Song of the Year	"No Pares"	Won
	De La Gente Awards	Group of the Year	RBD	Won
	Mi TRL Awards	The Favorite of the Viewers	"Tu Amor"	Won
	Amigo Awards	Song of the Year		Won
2008	Billboard Latin Music Awards	Tu Mundo Awards	RBD	Won
	Premios Juventud	The Perfect Combo	RBD y Jowell & Randy ("Inalcanzable")	Won
	Orgullosamente Latino Award	Latin Group of the Year	RBD	Won
		Latin Music Video of the Year	"Inalcanzable"	Won
	HTV Award	HTV ORO	RBD	Won
2009	Billboard Latin Music Awards	Tour of the Year	Gira Del Adios World Tour	Won
	Prêmios Juventud	Most Searched	RBD	Won

See also

• List of music artists and bands from Mexico
• List of number-one Billboard Hot Latin Pop Airplay of 2005
• List of number-one Billboard Hot Latin Pop Airplay of 2006
• List of number-one Billboard Hot Latin Songs of 2006
• List of number-one Billboard Latin Pop Albums from the 2000s
• List of number-one Billboard Top Latin Albums of 2005
• List of number-one Billboard Top Latin Albums of 2006
• List of number-one Billboard Top Latin Albums of 2007
• List of Latin songs on the Billboard Hot 100
• List of best-selling albums in Brazil
• List of best-selling albums in Mexico
• Top Latin Albums Year-End Chart
• Top 100 Mexico