Paquitas (lost unreleased albums from Brazilian girl group; 1992-2001)
Paquitas were a Brazilian girl group which ran from 1984 to 2002 with a rotating membership system. Originally consisting of two girls, they served as stage hands to recording artist and actress Xuxa on her daily variety show, Xou da Xuxa. Overtime more girls were added to the line up through auditions held on the show and the groups responsibilities grew to include serving as backup dancers and singers for Xuxa. In 1989 the eight current members of the group released their first album which went gold. The group went on to release four albums through their eighteen year run and spawned several spin off groups, including an all male group named Paquitos and an American group named Pixies. Paquitas served as a launching pad for the careers of several successful Brazilian actresses and singers.
Following the release of the groups second album in 1991, a third album was planned for release in late 1992 or 1993. This album was supposed to have a more complex sound than the first two albums, and be more demanding vocally. While this album was still being recorded, the group denounced the conditions they were working under and alleged mental abuse at the hands of their management. In response, all members of the group were fired and the planned album was scraped. Several tracks purported to be from the album were released prior to this event, such as Alo DJ and Eu Não Largo o Osso which served for the theme song for TV Colosso. The rest of the album is considered lost.
The group was recast in 1994 with all new members and released two albums under this formation, one in 1995 and one in 1997. A third album was planned for release sometime after this but was scrapped after member Barbara Borges left, presumably because she had performed lead vocals on most of the songs. Not much is known about this album nor how far along it was in the development stage, and it's existence is unconfirmed.
In 2001, Paquitas was slated to release what was to be their fifth album overall, and the first under the current line-up. This album received heavy promotion on the show Xuxa Park, for which the girls served as co-hosts. On January 11, 2001 a flash-fire erupted on the set of Xuxa Park during filming. This fire destroyed the set and caused severe injuries to several people present at the filming. Following this incident, Xuxa Park was cancelled and the group disbanded several months later. An unofficial release of the album has surfaced in recent years, piecing together what the album might have consisted of from the singles released and live performances from Xuxa Park but the true final version of the album is considered lost.