Menudo is a Puerto Rican boy band that was formed in Puerto Rico 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 course. They acted in a television film (1979's Leyenda de Amor) 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 line-up consisted of (5 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. 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".
Menudo is estimated to have sold 20 million albums worldwide and have generated over 300 million US dollars.
Last Updated: November 20, 2022
