The boy band is now middle aged and coming to Inglewood

Before the Backstreet Boys or New Kids on the Block (but after the Monkees and the Jackson 5) sent teenage girls screaming for a glimpse of their favorite band, Menudo took the world by storm. The ever-changing lineup of five boys, serving from around ages 13 to 15, didn’t necessarily know how to sing but had to make fans swoon. More than fifty singers filled the roles over the years, including Ricky Martin and Draco Rosa.

This fall, Menudo embarks on its first-ever reunion tour, celebrating a half-century since the powerhouse band was launched in San Juan, Puerto Rico. By the early 1980s, the boy band was not only filling stadiums around the world but starring in their own TV show, hosting a yearly beauty pageant, and recording music for movies like Cannonball Run 2. They also produced a line of highly lucrative merchandise, from dolls to clothing to a board game called “Menudo Karshow.”

Much ado has been made about the band’s process of replacing singers as they hit puberty and their voices changed, but it was never about the quality of the singing. “I never look for a great voice,” Menudo founder Edgardo Diaz told the Los Angeles Times in 1983. “Menudo is simply a selection of teenagers. They sing real well but only a little bit better than other kids who don’t sing. I want the fans to sing along with them. You can’t do that with superstar voices.”

Menudo at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park in the early 1980sCredit: Photo courtesy Orange County Archives

Menudo, which Billboard, Us Weekly, Seventeen, and Teen Vogue ranked as one of the biggest boy bands of all time, kicks off their first official reunion with the Menudo 50th Anniversary Tour in Los Angeles on October 10 at Inglewood’s YouTube Theatre.

Former members René Farrait (1979–1982), Roy Rossello (1983–1986), Raymond Acevedo (1985–1988), Sergio Blass (1986–1990), Ralphy Rodríguez (1987), Rubén Gómez (1987–1990), and Robert Avellanet (1988–1991) are coming together once again to inspire a new wave of “Menudomania” around the world.

Menudo 50th Anniversary
October 10
YouTube Theater, Inglewood