Midnight Red (formerly known as FLYTE) is an American

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

formed in 2009. The group was signed to

RedOne Nadir Khayat (, Latn, ar, Nādir Ḵayyāṭ; born 9 April 1972), also known as RedOne, is a Moroccan-Swedish record producer, record executive, singer and songwriter. He has worked in production for high-profile recording artists including La ...

's 2101 Records and to Capitol.

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 an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. 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 Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-United States, American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, businessman, and philanthropist. An influ ...

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, Pitbull, and

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and businesswoman. Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking ...

, 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 based in Santa Monica, California, 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 ...

released Midnight Red's self-titled EP on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

. The EP featured their first song "One Club at a Time", which was used for FOX's '' So You Think You Can Dance'' 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 had ...

. 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 TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...

'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. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

and

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, were an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group consisted of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik (until his departure in 2015), Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. The group sold o ...

."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, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city ...

. "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 h ...

's Artist of the Month and appeared on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

'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 (;) is an American singer. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, he gained initial recognition performing covers of pop songs on YouTube. He was discovered by record producers Rocco Did It Again! and Mike Blumstein in 20 ...

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. Born and raised in Inglewood, California, she first gained recognition in 2011 for her cover version, cover versions of popular song ...

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 a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. 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 Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It 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 Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal c ...

. 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 had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

. 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 the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

. 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 choreogr ...

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, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Joey, who had been attending

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a Public university, public university system in California, and the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest public university system in the United States ...

, 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 R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he ...

and

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Tours

Opening act *NKOTBSB Tour (Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block) (2011) *Word of Mouth Tour (

The Wanted The Wanted are a British-Irish boy band formed in 2009, and originally consisted of members Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker, and Nathan Sykes. The group signed a worldwide contract to Universal Music, Island Reco ...

) (2014) (select U.S. & Canada dates) *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