MDO

Latin band MDO, which was initially called Menudo is an embodiment of eternal youth, a forever young boy band. The band changed lineups many times. Some of the most famous members were Ricky Martin, Draco Rosa, and Mark Anthony. This legendary Latin boy band was the largest and the most famous in Spanish music history. A producer Edgardo Diaz created Menudo in 1997. Initially, the lineup consisted of just five members: Nefty and Fernando Sallaberry and Carlos, Oscar and Ricky Melendez. The latter brothers were Edgardo’s cousins. In order to become a band member, a candidate had to qualify by following a few requirements. The boys could not have been older than 16 and must have been Puerto Rican. There were also certain height limitations. As soon as the boy’s voice started to break, he had to leave the band. Hence the name of the band. Menudo means “tiny” in Spanish. Even though the popularity of the band was breaking records, the lineup still changed according to the strict rules. For the first 10 years of Menudo’s existence, 27 people replaced each other as members. In 1997, Menudo had to change the name due to some disagreements about the rights. The new name was MDO. In 2007, Menudo was resurrected. The new-old band worked just for 2 years. During that time, it had only six members. The band was substantially different from Menudo of the old days. None of the members were Puerto Rican and all of them were older than 16. Menudo released 35 albums and sold 60 million records. At the peak of its popularity, booking Menudo for an event or buying a ticket to a concert was a tough task.

In 1980’s, the strict rules of the band were relaxed and it started accepting boys of all origins. During the golden era of the band, its members were Rene Farrait, Xavier Serbia, Johnny Lozada, and Miguel Cancel. The boys traveled all over the world on a private jet and were extremely popular among teenage girls. Many compared Menudo’s fame to Beatles and even came up with a term Menudomania. At that time, the band played themselves in a movie Una Aventura Llamada Menudo (Adventure Called Menudo, 1982). By the end of the 1980’s the young band changed the image to a tougher one. The music changed accordingly. Slowly it was becoming closer to hard rock. In the 1990’s, the band changed the rules again. It allowed men older than 16 years old to become members. Between 1997 and 2007, the band, under a new name MDO, released eight popular albums. Initially, Menudo was planning to earn international fame and recorded several songs in different languages. The boys toured the world and even visited Japan. The band attracted fan crowds. More often than not, the number of people, who wanted to attend the concert, exceeded the number of available tickets. At one of such concerts in Rio de Janeiro, two fans died in the crowd. Between 2007 and 2009, the reestablished band Menudo successfully performed all over the world. In 2009, the members announced disbandment. However, in 2015, seventeen ex-members got together for Menudomania Forever Tour. Even though the band doesn’t exist right now, all the ex-members are successfully performing on stage. The fans are hoping for a reunion while the producers are coming up with commercially successful projects.