Abel Talamantez

Infobox actor
name = Abel Talamantez


imagesize =
caption = Abel Talamantez
birthdate = birth date and age|1978|10|16
location = Pecos, Texas
height = 5'7"
birthname = Abel Talamantez Mendoza
othername =
homepage = pecos
occupation = Singer
notable role =
Associated_acts = Menudo, MDO, Kumbia Kings, Los Super Reyes

Abel Talamantez Mendoza (born October 16, 1978 in Pecos, Texas), is a Mexican American singer in the well known cumbia music group, Los Kumbia Kings (now known as Los Super Reyes).

Biography

Abel Talamantez, who grew up playing basketball with his brother (who would join La Sombra) with Cruz Martínez owner and founder of international groups Kumbia Kings and Los Super Reyes and three sisters (who would form Esmi Talamantez Y Viento Loco) in Pecos, became a member of the famous Puerto Rican music group, Menudo, in 1992, after several group members had left the group in the middle of a sexual scandal that had threatened to break up the band. Edgardo Diaz held auditions and Talamantez, together with Alexis Grullon, among others, were chosen as the new members of Menudo. At Menudo, Talamantez got to share the stage with the only member of the group who stayed through the scandal, Adrian Olivares, who also was the first non-Puerto Rican member of Menudo. For a short period, Talamantez moved to Puerto Rico with the rest of the band.

Although the often called "golden era" of Menudo (basically from 1980 to 1985) had already passed by, the group still had fame across Latin America and among Hispanic communities in the United States, and Talamantez became a teen idol among Hispanic girls during his first few years with menudo.

In 1996, and now with Didier Hernandez also among Menudo's members, the group changed its name to MDO. Talamantez kept being a member of the group, which, by then, approached a more mature audience, allowing it's members to keep being part of the group after the age of sixteen and to get married, among other things. Along with the rest of MDO, Talamantez moved to Miami, Florida.

During the 2000s, MDO kept on touring across Latin Americas, and, particularly, in the Southwestern states of the United States. Talamantez got married, but he kept his duties as a member of the group.

Late during 2002, recently after Caleb Aviles had joined the group, Talamantez and Diaz engaged in some managerial disputes (which in no way were related to Aviles' joining MDO), and, towards the end of his tenure as a Menudo-MDO, Talamantez was no longer touring with the group, staying with his wife in Miami instead. By 2003, Talamantez officially ended his relationship with the organization when MDO periodiacally stopped performing and Díaz started a teen-based group in 2005 named Tick Tock.

Soon after, he was contacted by A.B. Quintanilla, brother of slain tejano music star Selena and founding leader of Los Kumbia Kings. Talamantez quickly accepted Quintanilla's offer to become a member of the famed band. Perhaps ironically, one of the major hits the band has had since Talamantez became a member was a remake of a 1984 Menudo hit, "Sabes a Chocolate" ("You Taste Like Chocolate").

Talamantez continues, as of 2005, touring with Los Kumbia Kings. Now he's in a group called Los Super Reyes. The entire album "Regreso De Los Reyes" was produced, arranged and mixed by Cruz Martinez, which due to the huge success have received platinum and gold records for its sales bewteen U.S. and Mexico. Rumor has it that Los Super Reyes find themselves working in Martinez's studio on another very anticipated album schedule for a early 2009 release.