Midnight Red (formerly known as FLYTE) is an American

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Ma ...

formed in 2009. The group was signed to

RedOne Nadir Khayat ( ar, نادر الخياط; born 9 April 1972), better known by his stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan singer, songwriter, record producer and record executive. As a record producer and songwriter, he has worked with many high-profi ...

's 2101 Records and to

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerou ...

Career

2009–12: Formation and beginning

Midnight Red was originally formed by Eric Secharia, Anthony Ladao, and Thomas Augusto. Secharia and Augusto auditioned for the 2007 rebirth of popular boy band Menudo. The group recruited Joey Diggs Jr. from a referral by a fellow producer, while Colton Rudloff was found on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

. In 2009, after relocating to California, the group formed FLYTE. The group caught the eye of one of the music producers of

, who worked with

Akon Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of " Locked Up" (featuring Styles ...

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, and Jennifer Lopez, among other artists. Once signed to Interscope Records, the group renamed itself ''Midnight Red''. In the video for "Body Talk", Augusto says "Midnight is that time that everyone wants to sneak out and party, and red is a very dominant, 'in your face' color and it represents what Midnight Red wants to do with its music." Red is also part of their name, in honor of REDone. In the spring of 2011,

Interscope Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mu ...

released Midnight Red's self-titled EP on iTunes. The EP featured their first song "One Club at a Time", which was used for FOX's ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...

'' for ''National Dance Day'', as well as a cover of " Step by Step" by

New Kids on the Block New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block enjoy ...

. The group received rave reviews as the opening act on the NKOTBSB Tour in the summer of 2011. After the tour the group flew to Paris in December 2011 to continue recording material for their debut album. The group performed for many events including

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys, an Emmy and 10 Cable ACE Awards. Over his career, he hosted over 50,000 interviews. ...

's "Guard a Heart" Pre Grammy Performance, opening for

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

at Universal City Walk, and Young Hollywood-Uneeqability. Their first official single, "Hell Yeah", has received airplay on Minnesota's Mix 94.9 KMXK FM and was released for radio in the latter half of May 2012. The video for the single was shot in April 2012 in California and was directed by Declan Whitebloom, who has worked with artists like

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bo ...

and

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the gro ...

."Hell Yeah" was released to iTunes on June 19, 2012.

2013–present: ''Midnight Red''

Midnight Red released their single "Take Me Home" on July 16, 2013. The video was released on August 19, 2013. The single was produced by

and recorded in

Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. "Take Me Home" was also featured in a Coca-Cola commercial that ran in movie theaters nationwide. Midnight Red signed to Capitol Records in June 2013 through a joint venture with 2101 Records. They released their debut self-titled EP on December 10, 2013. To promote their single, Midnight Red performed in a number of holiday shows in the United States, following a successful radio tour. In 2014, the band was chosen as

Elvis Duran Elvis Duran (born Barry Brian Cope; August 5, 1964) is an American radio personality. He is the host of the daily morning radio program '' Elvis Duran and the Morning Show'' in New York on Z100 and in syndication on Premiere Networks. Before ...

's Artist of the Month and appeared on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

's ''

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'' show with

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and

Kathy Lee Gifford Kathryn Lee Gifford (née Epstein; born August 16, 1953) is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, actress and author. From 1985 to 2000, she and Regis Philbin hosted the talk show '' Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee''. Gifford is ...

performing "Take Me Home". As the band calls their fans "redheads", the hosts Hoda and Kathy Lee were shown wearing red wigs while the band performed an acoustic version of the song live. Also in 2014, Midnight Red toured with

Austin Mahone Austin Harris Mahone (; born April 4, 1996) is an American singer, songwriter and professional wrestler. Mahone gained popularity performing covers of pop songs on YouTube. He released three albums to date. Famous releases include " Say Somethi ...

on MTV's Artist to Watch Tour. This tour consisted of stops across the eastern United States in 10 cities and other acts included

Becky G Rebbeca Marie Gomez (born March 2, 1997), known professionally as Becky G, is an American singer and actress. She first gained recognition in 2011 when she began posting videos of herself covering popular songs online. One of her videos caught t ...

and W3 The Future. On March 27, 2015, Joey Diggs announced his departure from the group, citing that "happiness" and "trust" come first for him in order to "see growth" that he desires to see in his life.

Members

Current

*Colton Rudloff, born 17 January 1989 in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. Colton was discovered through YouTube by his fellow band members. Prior to his participation in Midnight Red, he auditioned for the fifth season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to A ...

'' at 16 but was turned down because of his young age. Rudloff is also a level 10 gymnast. *Thomas Augusto, born 3 May 1991 in

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

. Thomas relocated from his home state of Texas to California after being reached out to by Eric and Anthony to join the group. Thomas auditioned for MTV's '' Making Menudo'' back in 2007. *Eric Secharia, born 21 January 1992 in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, wh ...

. Eric founded the group with Anthony, whom he was friends with through a mutual voice coach. Eric auditioned for MTV's ''Making Menudo'', where he first met Thomas, in 2007. *Anthony Ladao, born 11 February 1993 in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. Anthony was one of the first members of the group along with Eric, whom he was friends with because of a mutual vocal coach. Anthony auditioned to be a backup dancer for

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

at the age 12, but was turned down after making it to the final round because he was too young to go on tour.

Former

*Joey Diggs Jr., born 26 August 1989 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

. Joey, who had been attending

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univer ...

, was tapped by Midnight Red's manager at the time. His father, Joey Diggs Sr., was a singer/songwriter that had recorded vocals with famous musicians such as

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chi ...

and

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Voice", she is Whitney Houston albums discography, one of the bestselling music artists ...

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Tours

Opening act *NKOTBSB Tour (Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block) (2011) *MTV's Artist to Watch Tour (2014)

References

External links

Midnight Red's Official Website

MTV Artists

YouTube Channel

YouTube Vevo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight Red American boy bands Capitol Records artists