Bronco (Mexican band)

Bronco is a Mexican grupero band from Apodaca, Nuevo León.[1] Their modern take on regional mexican music in the 1980s and 1990s helped earn them a number of international hits. Band members José Guadalupe Esparza, Ramiro Delgado, Javier Villareal and José Luis "Choche" Villareal crafted a sound that paid tribute to the norteño tradition while incorporating modern instruments like keyboards, as well as a more melodic, pop style with elaborate jumpsuits.

By 1990, Bronco proved that they were gaining large scale fame, in part due to the band's participation as protagonists of the film Bronco La Película (Bronco: The Movie), in which all four members of the band played a role.

Bronco experienced international fame with help from their international hit Que No Quede Huella (May No Traces Be Left) from their 1989 album A Todo Galope, for which they toured the United States, Puerto Rico, Spain, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru and many other countries. They gained additional fame in 1993, when they acted in the Televisa soap opera, Dos Mujeres, un Camino (Two Women, one Road), alongside Erik Estrada, Laura León, Lorena Herrera, Selena and Bibi Gaytán, among others. In addition to acting, they performed the opening song, which was titled like the show. The CD Pura Sangre, which included the song Dos Mujeres, un Camino, earned gold and platinum records in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. All of Bronco's albums have achieved solid sales in the United States.

After Esparza announced he was going to pursue a solo career in 1997, the group broke up. After six years, in 2003, the band members finally announced a return, and later that year, they reunited. They intended to use the name Bronco in Mexico again, but rather than draw out a dispute over the copyrighted band name with their ex-manager, they chose to go by the name El Gigante de America, this being the nickname their fans gave them during their quarter century as Bronco. Despite not being able to perform as Bronco in Mexico for many years, the band still used the name for their international concerts, where Mexican copyright laws did not count. Since 2017, they are legally allowed to perform as "Bronco" in Mexico again.

Grupo Bronco has sold over 10 million albums to date.

In February 2012, former keyboardist and accordionist Erick Garza was kidnapped and murdered in Monterrey, Nuevo León.[2]

José Luis Villarreal ("Choche") died on September 30, 2012, at age 55, in Apodaca, Nuevo León, Mexico. He had suffered for his last few years with cirrhosis of the liver.[3][4]

In April 2019, Ramiro Delgado left the band and filed a lawsuit against Lupe Esparza, accusing the latter of fraud and monetary mismanagement. Esparza was interviewed and claimed that all debt owed to Ramiro Delgado was being taken care of. Delgado's son, Ramiro Delgado Jr., has since replaced his father as Bronco's keyboardist and accordionist.