Ricky Martin brings his 'One World Tour' to US

Ricky Martin begins the U.S. leg of his "One World Tour" on Tuesday, while evoking his days with Menudo as a judge and executive producer of Univision's new reality show "La Banda." "We started with Univision with the idea of eventually moving to other English-speaking networks to look for another 'banda,'" he said in reply to a question about franchising, noting that many "European countries have already bought the project." The singing competition, with a judging panel that includes Italian singer Laura Pausini and Spanish singer-songwriter Alejandro Sanz, was created by Simon Cowell. The goal is to create a Latin boy band that can sing in both English and Spanish. "Being able to go back to the beginning of my career has been the best part," said Martin, 43, who started in the '80s in the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo. "La Banda" debuted Sunday, two days before Martin's concert at the Axis at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, to be followed by more than 20 shows in cities including Houston, New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Miami, as well as Toronto and Montreal in Canada. The tour started in April in New Zealand and included stops in Australia and Mexico.

Martin said about 150 people, including musicians, dancers, technicians and engineers, work on the tour.