About Menudo
Menudo is a Puerto Rican boy band formed by producer Edgardo Díaz. Referred to as the "Most Iconic Latino Pop Music Band", Menudo has been ranked as one of the biggest boy bands of all time by several publications, including Billboard, Us Weekly, Seventeen, and Teen Vogue, being the only Latin band on their lists.
The band had several radio hits during its career. They acted in a television film ) and two feature films, Una aventura llamada Menudo and Menudo: La Película, in a telenovela named "Quiero Ser" and a television mini-series named Panchito y Arturo.
Menudo's original lineup consisted of two sets of brothers: Fernando and Nefty Sallaberry ; and the Melendez brothers, Carlos Meléndez, , Óscar Meléndez, , and Ricky Meléndez, ; the latter three are Díaz's cousins. The band's golden-era lineup consisted of members Ricky Meléndez, Johnny Lozada, René Farrait, Miguel Cancel, Xavier Serbiá, Charlie Masso and Ray Reyes. It was also a starting point for popular international stars like Ricky Martin and Draco Rosa , who were members of the band in the mid-1980s.
As the group entered the 1990s, and their popularity started to wane, allegations of drug use and sexual abuse accusations against Díaz started to surface. In 1997, the rights and the name Menudo were sold. The remaining members continued to perform as MDO until their official disbandment in 2002. However, this iteration has continued to perform sporadically since. New management of Menudo formed a new line-up in 2007, releasing an EP but disbanding in 2009. Some of the members of the "golden era" of the band reunited in 1998 under the name El Reencuentro and in 2019 for the "Súbete a Mi Moto Tour".
Menudo is estimated to have sold 20 million albums worldwide and has generated over 300 million US dollars.
Menudo was formed in 1977 by music producer Edgardo Díaz. The original line up consisted of 5 members, the Sallaberry brothers, Fernando and Nefty, and Díaz's cousins, the Melendez brothers, Oscar, Carlos, and Ricky. They were signed to Padosa Records and released their first album Los Fantasmas in 1977. It featured "Enséñame a cantar", a song by Spanish singer Micky. In 1978 they released another album called Laura. Fifteen-year-old Nefty was the very first member to leave and was replaced by 12-year-old René Farrait. In 1979, they released an album called Chiquitita. At the end of 1979, Carlos left the band at age 15 and was replaced by 12-year-old Johnny Lozada, after which they made their first Christmas album, Felicidades.
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