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Menudo (group)

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Menudo
For the Mexican soup, see menudo (soup).

Menudo is a Latino boy band that was formed in the 70s by producer Edgardo Diaz, releasing their first album in 1977. The band achieved much success, especially during the 80s, becoming the most popular Puerto Rican teen musical group of the era.

During its course, the band had several radio hits. Their success led them to also release two feature films: Una Aventura Llamada Menudo and Menudo: La Película.

The band was a starting point for stars like Ricky Martin, Fernando Romantico, and Robi Draco Rosa, who were members during their youth.

In the late 90s, the band underwent several changes, and ultimately the rights of the band were sold, changing their name to MDO. The new version of the band continued to enjoy moderate success through Latin America.

Menudo was revived under new management with the announcement of 5 new members in November 2007 marking its 30th anniversary.

History

Early years

Menudo was founded by producer Edgardo Diaz in the late 70s. After the success he had with the management of the Spanish teen-group La Pandilla (from 1973-1976), Diaz returned to Puerto Rico to form a new group. As opposed to La Pandilla, his idea was to form an all-boys group where the members would rotate as they grew older, with the intention to keep the group young. A member would be replaced when he reached his 16th birthday, his voice changed or got too tall.

The first incarnation of the group included two sets of brothers: Diaz's cousins Ricky Melendez, Carlos Melendez and Oscar Melendez, and Fernando, Nefty Sallaberry. The name of the group came after an incident during their second rehearsal, where Díaz's sister entered the driveway of the house they were at, and puzzled by finding five young boys dancing and singing in the garage, she loudly exclaimed: "¡Qué mucho menudo hay aqui!" ("What a lot of young folk we have here!"); the phrase stuck, and the group was thus named Menudo.

In the next few years, Menudo toured Puerto Rico performing at shopping malls, fiestas patronales (a citywide yearly celebration), and other events. In 1977, they released their first album titled Los Fantasmas. The title track was a hit for the group, and they were able to get even a regular TV show on Telemundo Canal 2 every Saturday night. After that, they followed with a second album called Laura.

Success in the 1980s

During the late 70s, the group released several albums that were moderately successful, during which new members replaced the original ones. However, it was in 1982, that the album Quiero Ser launched the group into stardom. The line-up of the band at this time was Rene Farrait, Johnny Lozada, Xavier Serbia and Miguel Cancel, with only Ricky Meléndez remaining from the originals. The album included hit songs like "Subete A Mi Moto", "Ella A-A", "Claridad", "Mi Banda Toca Rock", and a Spanish version of ABBA's song "Voulez-Vous".

The group became very popular throughout Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina, including Brazil, a difficult place for Latin pop acts. During that time, Diaz was able to afford a Cessna jet airplane that had belonged to American President Richard Nixon and the Shah of Iran. The plane carried Menudo's name on both sides of the fuselage and made it the first boy band ever with its own private jet. The group also had a fan base in Spain and the rest of Europe.

During this boom of popularity, terms like "Menuditis" and "Menudomania" surfaced in the popular language, much like the Beatlemania years before. Their popularity was such that they even starred in their own feature film called Una Aventura Llamada Menudo. The film starred Gladys Rodríguez as "Señora Mía", and included songs like "Clara" and "Señora Mía".

In 1983, the Menudo signed a 6-year multi-million dollar contract with RCA International. Their American fan base grew, especially among the young, as they sang the theme song for ABC's Rubik, the Amazing Cube and performed regular music videos during Rubik's half-hour show. During this year, they also released their Spanish album A Todo Rock.

In 1984, Johnny Lozada was replaced by Robby Rosa (now known as Robi "Draco" Rosa). With Robby, Menudo released their first English album Reaching Out which featured the theme track "Like a Cannonball" for the Hollywood movie Cannonball Run 2 and their first Portuguese album Mania, both featuring versions of some of their Spanish hits. Tours took place in the U.S. and Brazil during the first half of 1984.

In July 1984, Ricky Melendez, who was the only original member remaining, left the group in a huge concert held in his birth town, Caguas, Puerto Rico. He became the only Menudo member to last eight years in the group. He was replaced with whom would become the group's most popular alumnus around the world, Ricky Martin. With Martin, Menudo continued to achieve success, and their popularity even reached parts of Asia including Japan and the Philippines. Menudo also made English commercials for Pepsi, Scope, McDonald's and Crest during that time. They also did a guest appearance on the popular American children's program, Sesame Street.

During that time, Menudo held a successful tour in Brazil, performing in front of hundreds of thousands of fans. However, there were allegations that the tour was poorly organized. In a concert in Rio de Janeiro, the capacity was 60,000 but 70,000 tickets were sold. Two women died. In São Paulo, a 100,000 capacity stadium was sold-out with 200,000 people. In a stadium in Campinas, a city of São Paulo, it rained, and the concert was resultantly delayed for 4 hours.

The group continued to release several albums in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. Menudo also went on to perform the new theme for Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea on Nickelodeon.

In 1985, the film, Mixed Blood, featured scenes in which Menudo was indirectly showcased, such as one with a Menudo poster on a wall and one where characters shopped at a "Menudomania" store [1].

Decline and image change

In 1987, the group started facing some internal conflicts. First, member Roby Rosa quit without warning, becoming only the second member to do so in the group. Apparently, he had written a song and presented the idea to management. They turned him down and supposedly mocked him, which prompted him to leave. Also, the group was dropped from RCA International due to low record sales. As a result, they signed a contract with Melody International Mexico.

At this point, the group underwent a complete image makeover, changing their look to a more rough, rugged, rock-like look. This was also applied to their music which had been described before as bubble-gum pop. They released the Spanish album Somos Los Hijos del Rock, followed by an English-Tagalog album for the Philippines titled In Action. Some time later, they released another English album titled Sons of Rock, on which Menudo scored an international Engish hit "You Got Potential". Concert tour promoter and record executive Darrin McGillis promoted Menudo on a widely successful, forty city U.S. tour with the release of the new English album on Sutra Records.

In July 1989, after 5 years with the group , Ricky Martin left and was replaced by Rawy Torres. Ricky Martin's last concert with Menudo was in the Luis A. Ferré Performing Arts Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The group continued with their career releasing the album Los Ultimos Heroes. This production reestablished Menudo's popularity in Latin America, especially in Venezuela, where a 5-part miniseries was shot to promote the album.

Despite their newfound success, the group kept on facing problems when member Angelo Garcia left the group unexpectedly breaking his contract with Menudo. Angelo's parents found a loop hole in Puerto Rico Law that made contracts with minors null and void if one does not get a work permit from the Department of Labor of Puerto Rico. With a clear release of the contract he signed with World Wide Entertainment Co. under the direction of international record executive Darrin McGillis, (receiving a $37,500.00 signing bonus). Some time after, Menudo hired their first non-Puerto Rican member Adrian Olivares of Mexico.

Another unfortunate incident for the group occurred in November, 1990, when members Ruben Gomez and Sergio Blass were detained at Miami International Airport with possession of marijuana. The management immediately fired them and replaced them.

In 1991, all the members (except Adrian) held a press conference announcing that they were quitting the group due to a defect in their contracts that made them invalid and were signing with Music Producer Papo Gely. Rawy and Robert would go on to form the quintet Euphoria, while other members dedicated themselves to other ventures. Menudo's management started looking for new members and ended up hiring Alexis, Ashley, Andy and Abel. With this brand new lineup, they released the album Detras de tu Mirada on the same year.

Menudo continued to work releasing an English single called "Dancin, Movin, Shakin," which would be the first of several English recordings under the direction of Darrin McGillis Music Company World Wide Entertainment Co. McGillis Records. They also continued to travel through Latin America.

After several albums released, in 1997 the group released their last Spanish album under the name of Menudo, entitled Tiempo De Amar. The album was very successful producing several hit singles. After that, the rights and the name Menudo was sold and the band changed the name to MDO. A self-titled Spanish album was released, increasing the group's popularity in Latin America and the U.S. MDO has continued to release albums despite some changes in management (see main article: MDO.)

The New Menudo

In 2007 it was announced that Menudo would return after signing a multi-album contract with SonyBMG label Epic Records. They would be managed by Johnny Wright and their music will be a fusion of urban, pop, and rock music, both in English and Spanish. The Menudo revolving-door policy was also updated: when a member of the group reaches the age of 20, that member will leave, giving way to a new member.

The recasting of the band was profiled in a MTV reality series entitled Making Menudo that had launched as a primetime series on October 25, 2007, but was later pushed to afternoons due to low ratings [1]. The series ended on November 20, 2007. These new members are José Bordonada Collazo, Chris Moy, Emmanuel Vélez Pagán, José Monti Montañez, and Carlos Olivero. A new album is slated for release in the fall of 2008. They have been featured on the Bandemonium Tour, which held from May 2, 2008-May 26, 2008. They are going along with NLT, V Factory, and Mark and James. They have just recently released their new singles, Lost & Perdido Sin Ti (same song except one version is in English and one is in Spanish), available on iTunes.

Current Members

Member Age Hometown Nationality
José Bordonada Collazo 15 Manati, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican
José "Monti" Montañez 19 Caguas, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican
Chris Moy 15 Bronx, New York Puerto Rican/Venezuelan/Chinese
Carlos Olivero CARLOS IS SO CUTE 18 Chicago, Illinois Mexican/Puerto Rican
Emmanuel Vélez Pagán 17 Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican

Discography

See also

References

  1. ^ Tubular: Three big helpings of Menudo, with a twist
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