La Pandilla

La Pandilla was a teen music group of the 1970s. "La Pandilla", founded in 1970 by "Pepa Aguirre". The group had members of both sexes, unlike most pop music bands.

Aguirre's son and daughter, and her niece, formed the band, and later, two other boys were added to the group. "La Pandilla" released their first album, "Villancicos", late in 1970.

"La Pandilla" had initially a big impact in Spain, their home country. After a personnel change (due to some of the original members growing up), they experienced some backlash in the country for recording their song "El Alacrán" ("The Scorpion"), an innocent pop tune that made a coincidental reference to a clandestine group that was one of Francisco Franco's staunchest opponents. Franco's censors objected to the group, and as a consequence, they started touring Latin America more frequently.

Their appeal to youth in some Latin American countries bordered in collective hysteria, a reaction that evoked that of Beatlemania in the mid 1960s. During the 1970s, it was common to see "La Pandilla" related items such as notebooks, posters, magazines, notebook covers, rulers, dolls and others at department stores all over the Spanish speaking countries.

"La Pandilla" was chiefly instrumental in the later success and development of one of history's most legendary boy bands: Menudo. In 1973, the future founder of Menudo, Edgardo Diaz, who was a medical student in Spain and lived next door to the Aguirreses, joined the band's entourage as a sound expert. Diaz turned out to be the bridge between "La Pandilla" and Puerto Rico, the country where La Pandilla's success was longest-lived. Thanks in part to him, Alfred D. Herger (who became known as "the biggest pandillero" in Puerto Rico) and Felix Santiesteban, the group became a teen favorite in the Caribbean island. Diaz became manager in 1974. In 1975, the band was received by a huge crowd of Puerto Rican fans at the Iberia Airlines terminal at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport at San Juan. Similar reactions would occur in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Panama, Venezuela and other countries.

The definitive lineup of La Pandilla, which was a close-knit group, literally grew up together, along with their fans. This eventually became a liability, as the youngest members' voices matured and, by doing so, made their original sound difficult to produce. Another liability, at least in Diaz's view, was that of having a female singer, Mari Blanca, for whom separate lodging, security and chaperone arrangements had always had to be made due to her gender. This prompted Díaz to leave the management of the group and set up yet another, this time in his native Puerto Rico, in which only young males before the age of fifteen would be used and replaced when they aged. After Diaz left formed Menudo, La Pandilla's popularity slowly declined.

Many of the members went on to become professionals in other areas.

Band members

*Santi Martinez, son of Pepa Aguirre, now married to famous singer Maria Caneda, executive for Disney music in Spain.
*Nieves Martinez, daughter of Pepa Aguirre, married to an Iberia Airlines executive.
*Mari Blanca Ruiz Martinez, niece of Pepa Aguirre, now a veterinarian.
*Juan Carlos Martinez, no relation to Santi and Nieves, lived in Puerto Rico many years, has since returned to Spain and works at a professional firm.
*Francisco Javier Martinez, brother of Juan Carlos
*Francisco Javier Lopez, twin brother of Ruben Lopez
*Ruben Lopez, (read above)
*Gabriel Jimenez Gonzalez, Gaby, now a jingles singer in his native country.