Manuel Arjona, a founding member of the iconic Spanish pop group Locom\u00eda, passed away peacefully in his sleep this Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at his home in Viladecans, near Barcelona. His death was confirmed by his former bandmate Xavier Font to Efe news agency. <\/p>\n
Arjona was part of the original Locom\u00eda lineup formed in the 1980s in Ibiza, alongside Xavier Font, Luis Font, and Gard Passchier. This group caught the attention of Jos\u00e9 Luis Gil, then president of Hispavox, who helped transform them into a sensation in late 1980s Spain with their signature fan dances, oversized shoulder pads, and pointed shoes. <\/p>\n
The band\u2019s first album, *Taiyo* (1989), featured hits like \u201cLoco M\u00eda\u201d and \u201cRumba, Samba, Mambo (S.R.M.),\u201d propelling Locom\u00eda into the UK top 10 and gaining significant popularity across Latin America. Arjona remained with the group until 1992, experiencing both the highs of their success and the internal conflicts that led to frequent lineup changes. <\/p>\n
In 2013, Arjona was a driving force behind one of Locom\u00eda\u2019s reunion attempts, expressing to Efe how excited he was about reviving the band\u2019s legacy. <\/p>\n
Arjona\u2019s passing marks the end of an era for fans who remember Locom\u00eda not only for their flamboyant style but also for their role in shaping a unique chapter of Spanish pop culture. His contributions remain a testament to the creative spirit that defined the group\u2019s groundbreaking approach to music and performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Manuel Arjona, a founding member of the iconic Spanish pop group Locom\u00eda, passed away peacefully in his sleep this Wednesday, July 1, 2026, at his home in Viladecans, near Barcelona. His death was confirmed by his former bandmate Xavier Font to Efe news agency. Arjona was part of the original Locom\u00eda lineup formed in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internacional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2474,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2473\/revisions\/2474"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topnews.mx\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}