Menudo (group)

Menudo
Menudo, c. 1981. (top) Miguel, Johnny, Xavier; (bottom) René and Ricky
Background information
Origin	Puerto Rico
Genres	Latin freestyle dance R&B[1] pop rock
Years active	1977–2009 2015–present
Labels	Padosa Sonográfica RCA McGillis Blue Dog Sony Universal
Spinoffs	MDO
Members	Alejandro Querales Ezra Gilmore Gabriel Rossell Andrés Emilio Pirela Nicolas Calero
Past members	Nefty Sallaberry Carlos Meléndez Ricky Meléndez Fernando Sallaberry Óscar Meléndez Johnny Lozada René Farrait Miguel Cancel Xavier Serbiá Charlie Massó Ray Reyes Roy Rossello Robby Rosa Ricky Martin Raymond Acevedo Sergio Blass Ruben Gomez Rawy Torres Robert Avellanet Angelo Garcia Ralphy Rodriguez César Abreu Adrián Olivares Jonathan Montenegro Edward Aguilera Ashley Ruiz Alexis Grullón Andy Blázquez Abel Talamántez Ricky López Anthony Galindo (deceased) Didier Hernandez Caleb Avilés Daniel René Weider Pablo Portillo Troy Tuminelli (Curtis) José Bordonada Collazo Jose Montañez (Monti) now (Che Antonio) Emmanuel Vélez Pagán Chris Moy Carlito Olivero

Menudo is a Puerto Rican boy band formed by producer Edgardo Díaz.^[2] Referred to as the "Most Iconic Latino Pop Music Band",^[3] 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.^[4][5][6][7]

The band had several radio hits during its career. They acted in a television film (1979's Leyenda de Amor^[8]) 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.^[9]

Menudo's original lineup consisted of (five boys) two sets of brothers: Fernando and Nefty Sallaberry (ages 12 and 13); and the Melendez brothers, Carlos Meléndez, (age 12), Óscar Meléndez, (age 11), and Ricky Meléndez, (age 9); the latter three are Díaz's cousins.^[10] 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 (1984–89) and Draco Rosa (1984–87), 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".^[11]

Menudo is estimated to have sold 20 million albums worldwide and has generated over 300 million US dollars.^[12][13]