35 Facts About Lydia Mendoza

Lydia Mendoza was a Mexican-American guitarist and singer of Tejano and traditional Mexican-American music.

Lydia Mendoza recorded on numerous labels over the course of her six-decade career of live performing.

Lydia Mendoza was born in Houston, Texas, into a Mexican musical family originally from San Luis Potosi.

Lydia Mendoza was only 12 years old, but Lydia provided vocals and played the mandolin for the recordings.

Lydia Mendoza was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Lydia Mendoza designed and sewed her own stage costumes, and at one point was an instructor at California State University, Fresno.

Lydia Mendoza was married twice and the mother of three daughters.

Lydia Mendoza was born on May 31,1916, in Houston, Texas, to parents Leonor Zamarripa and Francisco Lydia Mendoza.

The Mendoza family experienced racial stereotyping from the United States immigration authorities when Lydia was just a toddler re-entering Texas with her family.

Lydia Mendoza later recalled that the border agents were operating under the assumption that anyone crossing over from Mexico was bad, but that the children were the worst of all.

Lydia Mendoza was too young to attend school when she first began mimicking the singing of her mother and grandmother.

Lydia Mendoza always said that she first saw the words to the song on a gum wrapper, when her family briefly lived in Ennis, Texas.

Lydia Mendoza memorized the song and its melody, repeatedly rehearsing it at home.

Lydia Mendoza was surrounded by a family who loved music, and at four years old, knew she wanted to spend her life following the family tradition.

Lydia Mendoza was not to be deterred about making music, in spite of her mother's warnings.

Lydia Mendoza eventually became proficient in both the mandolin and the violin.

Lydia Mendoza turned hers one perfect fourth below a six-string guitar, in the style of a baritone guitar.

Lydia Mendoza's father was a railroad mechanic along the Texas Rio Grande Valley, while the family sang for the migrant workers in the fields.

The recordings, on which 12-year-old Lydia Mendoza played the mandolin and provided vocals, were made over two days.

Lydia Mendoza was paid $3.50 a week, and signed to record on Bluebird Records, a subsidiary of RCA Victor.

Lydia Mendoza had never learned to either speak or read English nor did she or the family have an attorney representing her, when she signed a contract giving up her royalty rights in exchange for a cash payment of $15 per recording.

Lydia Mendoza's music struck a successful chord within the Tejano population, and she became the star attraction of the musical Lydia Mendoza family as they performed at Spanish-speaking venues along the international border from Texas to California.

In 1971, Lydia Mendoza was on the stage at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in Montreal, Canada.

At the January 20,1977 Inauguration of Jimmy Carter, Lydia Mendoza was part of the line-up for the Inaugural Folk Dance and Concert.

Lydia Mendoza then retired from performing to stay at home and raise her daughters: Her husband's family either did not like her chosen profession, or perhaps thought a woman should not be in the workplace, and their opinions influenced her.

Lydia Mendoza remarried in the early 1960s to Fred Martinez, a cobbler, and continued her career.

Not one to be idle in between her career obligations, Lydia Mendoza had been designing and sewing her own stage costumes since she began performing in front of audiences, and did so until the end of her career.

Lydia Mendoza's popularity remained steady for the rest of her performing career, which continued until a 1998 stroke forced her to retire permanently at age 82.

Lydia Mendoza died on December 20,2007, at the age of 91, and was interred in the city's San Fernando Cemetery.

Lydia Mendoza has been called "La Cancionera de los Pobres", and "La Gloria de Texas".

Lydia Mendoza's group was sometimes considered in the genre of Texas-Mexican conjunto, an accordion-centered musical style she helped popularize.

Lydia Mendoza had the distinction of being the first Texan to receive it.

Lydia Mendoza was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame in 1985, for her contributions to the performing arts.

Lydia Mendoza became the first Tejana elected to the Conjunto Hall of Fame in 1991.

Lydia Mendoza recorded Spanish-language songs on numerous labels over the course of her six-decade career of live performing.