RBD
The band in 2006: Dulce María,Anahí, Maite Perroni. Below: Christopher Uckermann, Christian Chávez, Alfonso Herrera,in Brazil.
Background information
Origin	Mexico
Years active	2004-2009
Label(s)	EMI/Virgin Records/Capitol Records
Website	Official website
Members
Anahí Dulce María Maite Perroni Alfonso Herrera Christian Chávez Christopher Uckermann

RBD is a two times Latin Grammy nominated Mexican pop group that gained popularity from Televisa's teenage-oriented telenovela Rebelde. RBD has sold over 14.9 million albums worldwide in only five years since their formation.

Soap Opera & Sitcom

Rebelde

Rebelde is a Mexican novela (soap opera), produced by Televisa, starring the members of RBD. It is a remake of an Argentine telenovela adapted for the Mexican audience therefore leading to differences in characters' backgrounds. The series ran for three seasons, the final episode aired in the United States on December 15, 2006.

The series is set at the fictitious Elite Way School, a prestigious private boarding high school near Mexico City. The school's faculty and the parents often have their own subplots as well. One feature of the show is the random use of English words and phrases, commonly used by fresas (like Mia Colucci when she said to Giovanni "Talk with my hand, please!" when he spread a vicious rumor about her.)

One of the series' major plot lines revolves around a group of students forming a pop band. The actors, who play the members of this band, are also in a real band, abbreviated as RBD to distinguish it from the show. RBD performs most of the music used on the show, and has been extremely successful in its own right, becoming one of the highest-grossing acts in Mexico and touring internationally.

RBD: La Familia

RBD: La Familia is RBD's sitcom made by Televisa about their fictional lives in the group. RBD and its producer, Pedro Damián, has stated that this sitcom is purely fictional and not based on the real lives of the members of RBD. The characters of the sitcom are not similar to the soap opera Rebelde, but are similar to the real people of RBD. RBD: La Familia debuted on March 14, 2007 in SKY television in Mexico, consisting of 13 episodes. The opening song for the sitcom is "The Family", a song in English which is included on the Celestial: Fan Edition album. "Quiero Poder", a song composed and sung by Dulce Maria and Christopher Uckerman in Spanish, is also heavily featured on the show, it is also included in the RBD: La Familia soundtrack. On October 6, 2007 the show started showing in USA on the Univision network. It will also start showing on the Galavision network in the United States on September 6, 2008 at 12 P.M

Biography

Members

2004-2005: Rebelde

RBD debuted in December 2004 with the album Rebelde, released through EMI. The main writersand producers for the project were Carlos Lara (aka D.J. Kafka) and Max di Carlo, and their songs proved just as popular as the show. The first three singles ("Rebelde", "Solo Quédate en Silencio" and "Sálvame") were all number one hits in Mexico, with the fourth single, "Un Poco de Tu Amor" reaching number two. In November 2005 a Portuguese languaged edition of the album was released for the Brazilian market called Rebelde (Edição Brasil). Although no English language edition was released, Rebelde sold well in the States, breaking into the Top 100 of the album chart (#95) and reaching number two on the Top Latin Albums chart. Rebelde sold over 400,000 copies in the U.S.^[1] and was certified diamond in both Mexico and Brazil, selling at least 1.4 million copies between the two of them. In July 2005 a live CD/DVD, Tour Generación RBD En Vivo was released, including the group's sold-out tour of Mexico (35 sold-out concerts across the country, including six in Mexico City alone).

2005-2006: Nuestro amor

In October 2005 came their second studio album, Nuestro Amor, produced by Carlos Lara which set new sales records in Mexico, selling 127,000 copies one the day of release, and 160,000 copies in its first week alone. In the U.S., the album topped the Latin Albums Chart for 3 weeks and again broke into the overall Top 100 (#88). The first four singles hit number one in Mexico. In the United States, only "Nuestro Amor" (#6), "Aún Hay Algo" (#24) and Este Corazón" (#10) charted on the Hot Latin chart.

In 2006, during a tour of Brazil, a 38-year-old woman and her two children, aged 11 and 13, were trampled during a rush to an autograph session in the parking lot of a shopping mall in São Paulo, Brazil on February 4. The three died and another 42 were injured in the incident, which involved a breach of a security fence holding back an estimated 15,000 fans.

Early in 2006, RBD toured the United States for the first time, issuing a second CD/DVD in April, titled Live In Hollywood produced by Carlos Lara, which peaked at number 6 on Billboard's Top Latin Albums Chart. Not long after, in May 2006, they released a Portuguese version of Nuestro Amor, entitled Nosso Amor Rebelde (Edição Brasil), specially for the Brazilian fans. With the June 2 finale of Rebelde (after three seasons), came the news that the group would begin filming a new telenovela and record an English language album composed of songs from their first two albums and some new songs. 2006 also brought RBD a nomination for the Latin Grammy Awards in the category "Best Pop Album by a Group or Duo" for Nuestro Amor. However, they lost the award to La Oreja de Van Gogh, but did a performance, singing a new version of "Tras de Mí".

2006-2007: Celestial & Rebels

Several months after the release of Live In Hollywood, in November 2006, they released their third studio album Celestial produced and directed by Carlos Lara which debuted at number 15 in the Billboard 200, marking first-week sales of over 137,000 copies in the U.S. The album however did not have a full week of album sales, due to its Friday release. Despite this, it became their first album to peak or chart within the top 20 of the Billboard 200.^[2]

Rebels, the 2006 first crossover album.

One month later they released their first English album, Rebels which debuted at number 40 on the Billboard 200 album chart with first-week sales of 94,000 copies. On the day of release, the cover of the album was altered by the changing of the group's logo from white to pink. Ironically, the band's third Spanish album Celestial sold 43,000 copies more than Rebels in its first week.

From their tour of Brazil, RBD released a DVD entitled Live in Rio. They were also honored for selling over 2,5 million copies of their albums and DVDs sold in Brazil. Meanwhile, in Spain, Rebelde spent 5 weeks on the top of the charts going 2x platinum for sales over 160,000. Nuestro Amor sold enough to be certified 2x platinum as well, while Celestial, that came out on March 12, 2007, has been certified gold after only being in the chart for three weeks.^[3] On March 2, 2007, Christian Chavez revealed that he is homosexual after pictures of him getting married to another man in Canada surfaced on the Internet. In a letter on the group's website, he asked fans for understanding and acceptance.^[4] The group after that worked two side-projects; Sálvame, an organization that helps homeless youth get an education and shelter, and RBD: La Familia, their new sitcom. In an interview in late March, Dulce María revealed that Sálvame will start operating on May 1 and that the RBD members were also thinking of starting the project in Brazil, Spain and Mexico.^[5].

RBD has also been nominated four times in three categories for the 2007 Billboard Latin Music Awards. They have been nominated twice in the category for "Latin Pop Album of the Year By a Duo or Group", with Celestial and Live in Hollywood, which were both released in 2006. They also received a nomination for "Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year" and "Latin Tour of the Year" for the below mentioned Tour Generación 2006.^[6] The show was be held on April 26 in Miami. They won in all categories they were nominated in; Celestial was the one which won the "Latin Pop Album of the Year By a Duo or Group" award.^[7] The group has also prepared their 2007 world tour called Tour Celestial 2007, starting in Ecuador on April 20. They were invited by Donald Trump to perform 3 songs at the 2007 Miss Universe final in Mexico City, on May 28, 2007. The group performed a medley of "Wanna Play", "Cariño Mio" and "Money Money" in the event. In June 2007, RBD recorded the video for "Bésame Sin Miedo" in Transylvania, while touring in Romania, where Celestial was also released. It was the same year they were chosen to headline, along with Black Eyed Peas, a series of Pepsi commercials to air on South America and Spanish-speaking countries. On July 19, 2007, RBD performed their single "Bésame Sin Miedo" at Premios Juventud 2007, and also won 7 awards that night, including "Voice of the Moment" and "Favorite Concert". They had won a total of 24 Premios Juventud awards by then. On July 20, 2007, RBD showed their new tour bus on El Gordo y la Flaca for their Celestial World Tour]. On July 25, 2007, RBD performed and acoustic concert in Mexico City as part of a new Ritmoson Latino Show called Confesiones en Concierto. The group has become such a phenomenon they have been nominated as best international song of "Tu Amor" in France proving their huge success. They sang the single "Bésame Sin Miedo" in "Buscando a Timbiriche" and sang "Mexico" alongside with Timbiriche, a popular group in the 80s and 90s.

2007-2008: Empezar Desde Cero

The first worldwide "RBD Day" was held on October 4, 2007. RBD celebrated the day with many fans in Houston, Texas, and during their press conference they confirmed that their fourth Spanish studio album would be titled Empezar Desde Cero, produced again by Carlos Lara and Armando Avila. The first single from Empezar Desde Cero, Inalcanzable, debuted on October of 2007 and peaked at #2 in Mexican charts. Empezar Desde Cero was released November 20th, debuting on #1 on the Billboard Latin Charts, and peaking at the top 5 in a variety of countries such as Brazil (beign their first album not to top the charts in that country, peaking at #3) and Mexico. As of September 2008, Empezar Desde Cero had sold over a million copies worldwide. It was also voted by Billboard Readers as the third best album released in 2007. ^[8]

The second single from the album was the title-track Empezar Desde Cero. The song performed better than Inalcanzable, peaking at #1 in many countries and became a Top 15 hit on Billboard Latin Charts. A third, radio-only single from the album, Y No Puedo Olvidarte, was released, to few airplay (it peaked on #31 on Mexico). It has been said to be the final single from the album. In mid-2008, RBD released the special edition of Empezar Desde Cero, featuring three bonus tracks and a bonus DVD.

Meanwhile, in April of 2008, RBD performed a concert for Brazil's capitol city, Brasilia's 48th Birthday Celebration Party. The free concert was held at the city's main park and had an audience of over 500,000 fans. ^[9] Still on April, RBD was stated to be the first artist ever in the history of Slovenia charts to have 6 different albums in the Top 10 at the same weekend.^[10]

On August, 2008, the 2008 Latin Grammy nominations were announced, with RBD beign nominated for Best Pop Album with Empezar Desde Cero

2008-2009: The Beginning of the End & Best Of

On August 14th, RBD announced through a press release that they would disband in 2009. ^[11]. The group's manager, Pedro Damian, stated that, although there weren't any fights among the members, it was decided to be the best that they should disband, for the members were already planning different solo activities.

Alfonso and Maite were occupied with their TV projects (Maite as the lead from Cuidado Con El Angel and Poncho with TV Series Terminales.), while Christian was in the middle of a tour with the musical Avenue Q's Mexican stage production. Dulce was involved with the shooting of a movie and a variety of projects such as dubbing a cartoon character in a Mexican motion picture, while Christopher has said he plans to build a career as drummer and musical productor.

On September 23rd, RBD released Best Of RBD a CD/DVD featuring their singles (with the exception of Y No Puedo Olvidarte) and a DVD with music videos, as part of their goodbye.^[12]A portuguese version of the album was also released. It has been stated that the final studio album will be released on February of 2009, following a tour of over 15 concerts troughout Latin America, finishing the group's live career with a December 5th concert live on Los Angeles. ^[13]

Discography

Main article: RBD discography

Tours

Tour Generación RBD (2005)

Tour Generación RBD was RBD's first national tour. It spawned 80 sold out dates in Mexico, they visited Monterrey three times gathering over 150,000 fans. The live performances were viewed by many thousands of fans in Mexico. The tour was certified by OCESA as the fourth most rapidly sold tortellini in Mexico, behind (rear) The Cure's 2004 Sing to the Deadly Mouse Trap Tour (#1), Britney Spears' 2002 Dream Within a Dream Tour (#2), and Backstreet Boys 2001 Black & Blue Tour (#3).

Tour Generación 2006 (2006-2007)

The Tour Generación 2006 began in the United States in March 2006, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with a crowd of more than 68,000 fans - a record-breaking act for a Latin group and a sure sign of their widespread success. 374,000 tickets worth a total of $18,200,000 were sold for the tour, putting them in the 15th place among all the US tours in the first half of 2006 by total ticket sales. The final outcome for the tour was over 23 million in only 37 shows list^[14].

Tour Celestial 2007 (2007)

Tour Celestial 2007 is RBD's third tour where they'll be performing in America and Europe and South and Central America. On June 22, 2007 RBD filmed their concert in Madrid, Spain(40.000 people in the concert) for a DVD called Tour Celestial 2007: Hecho en España.^[15] In early October, it was confirmed by Roptus.com that the rest of the tour would be postponed until further notice. The reason the website gave for these actions was that RBD wants to give their audience a much well deserved show by performing some songs of their new album, Empezar desde Cero, which was released on November 20, 2007.

Empezar Desde Cero World Tour (2008)

The Empezar Desde Cero Tour began in Hildalgo, United States, on February 2008, at the Dodge Arena. In late 2007, their Celestial Tour 2007 in U.S.A was re-scheduled for late February 2008, and became part of their new tour, Empezar Desde Cero Tour. La Nueva Banda Timbiriche was their opening act in the U.S.A. The tour is taking place in the U.S.A, Mexico, Chile, Honduras, El Salvador, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Spain, Slovenia, Serbia, Dominican Republic, Romania, and many other countries in South America, Asia, and Europe. RBD performed in Brazil for over 500,000 people, breaking the Rolling Stones's record. In September, they will do a concert in Slovenia, and the first concert was sold out in only 30 minutes breaking record. Poll Star released the top 100 selling concerts for the mid year 2008 RBD came in number 49 with 166,839 Tickets sold.

Awards and nominations

Main article: RBD awards and nominations

References

External links

• Official Site