Little stars and The Mickey Mouse Club

The Mickey Mouse Club is a long-running American variety television show that began in 1955, produced by Walt Disney Productions and televised by the American Broadcasting Company, featuring a regular but ever-changing cast of teenage performers. The Mickey Mouse Club was created by Walt Disney. The series has been revived, reformatted and reimagined several times since its initial 1955-1959 run on ABC.

1990s revival (MMC)

In 1989, the Disney Channel revived the show with a different format, which was very similar to other popular shows of the time like You Can't Do That on Television or Saturday Night Live.

The series aired Monday - Friday, 5:30/4:30 CST during Seasons 1-5. It aired Monday - Thursday, 5:30/4:30 CST Season 6. In its final season it aired Thursdays only at 7:30/6:30 CST. The show premiered Monday, April 24, 1989, ended production in 1994, and ran reruns until Thursday, May 31, 1996. Seasons 3, 5 and 7 had the most episodes. Seasons 4 and 6 were shorter, having about 35 episodes each.

The long version of the new show's title was The All New Mickey Mouse Club, but it was more commonly called MMC. Recorded before a studio audience at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, it featured teens from all races. The show was a mix of live skits, recorded comedy and songs. The Mouseketeers did their own versions of popular songs live and in music videos. Emerald Cove was a recurring soap opera type segment starring Mouseketeers and several actors who exclusively appeared on these segments, that aired once a week for 10 minutes.

Five members of the show (Damon Pampolina, Tiffini Hale, Chase Hampton, Albert Fields and Deedee Magno) broke off and formed the musical group The Party, and released four full length albums: The Party; In The Meantime, In Between Time; Free; and The Party's Over...Thanks For Coming. They had a radio hit with the Dokken cover of "In My Dreams".

The sixth and seventh seasons of the show would be the starting point for several American pop superstars and actors:

Britney Spears





Justin Timberlake



Britney & Justin



Christina Aguilera




JC Chasez, Keri Russell, and Academy Award nominated actor Ryan Gosling were all on the show and had future stardom. Jessica Simpson and Countess Vaughn were finalists but did not make it onto the show.

Raul Midón, the world of the blinded eyes

Raul Midón (born March 14, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from New Mexico, based in New York City. He combines his distinct voice, strumming, beats, and a cappella sounds to create a one-man performance. His unique style shows influence of virtually every musical genre which came before him, including jazz, blues, R&B, and folk.



Midón was born prematurely in a rural hospital in Embudo, New Mexico to parents of Argentine and African American descent. His father was a dancer from Argentina. Midón and his twin brother Marco (now a NASA engineer) were blinded as infants after spending time in an incubator without adequate eye protection. The sounds of music became integral to Midón's life around age 4, when his father introduced him to the drum. Midón became an avid music lover and learned how to play the guitar while performing in rigorous educational programs, first at a school for the blind and then an elite Santa Fe academy while completing his last two years of high school. Midón then attended the University of Miami, which he selected for its prestigious jazz curriculum.

Midón began his career as a backup singer for several well known Top 40 acts, including Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, Julio Iglesias and Jose Feliciano. Having toured with Shakira, and recorded with Alejandro Sanz in 2002, he set aside this career to pursue a solo career and moved to New York City. While focusing the majority of his time on his solo career, he has also worked with jazz legends Paquito D’Rivera, Dave Valentin, Dave Samuels, Herbie Hancock, and Claudio Roditi.

Soon after the release of his independent album, Midón was signed by Grammy Award-winning producer Arif Mardin (Norah Jones, Aretha Franklin) to Manhattan Records, a subsidiary of Capitol Records owned by EMI. In Mardin's long career, Midón was his first signing of an artist. Mardin, along with his son, Joe, produced the critically acclaimed debut album of Midón entitled State of Mind.

Midón also did the theme song for Spike Lee's 2004 LGBT film, She Hate Me, titled "Adam n' Eve n' Eve".

Midón's album State of Mind was released on May 10th, 2005. The album features a guest performance with Stevie Wonder, one of his idols, and a song written in tribute to Donny Hathaway entitled "Sittin' In The Middle." Midon is an avid amateur radio enthusiast, and in this song he also incorporates his call sign (KB5ZOT) by using Morse code.

Midón's national television debut was on Late Show with David Letterman on June 28, 2005. He later went on to appear on other late night television shows in the U.S. and abroad.