Occupation(s) Singer, guitarist Music director Cerveza Bud Role Singer | Name Lydia Mendoza | |
 | ||
Born May 21, 1916Houston, Texas, United States ( 1916-05-21 ) Albums The Lark of the Border, La Gloria De Texas Movies Chulas Fronteras, Beats of the Heart: Tex-Mex: Music of the Borderlands Similar People Les Blank, Jeremy Marre, Roberta Flack, Franz Liszt, Charley Pride | ||
Lydia mendoza 2001 folk alliance international lifetime achievement award recipient
Lydia Mendoza (May 31, 1916 – December 20, 2007) was an American guitarist and singer of Tejano, conjunto, and traditional Mexican-American music. She is known as "La Alondra de la Frontera" (or "The Lark of the Border" in English).
Contents
- Lydia mendoza 2001 folk alliance international lifetime achievement award recipient
- Lydia Mendoza Intro and song Malhombre
- Early life
- Recording career
- Awards
- Death
- Discography
- References
Lydia Mendoza, Intro and song Malhombre
Early life
Mendoza was born on May 31, 1916, in Houston, Texas. She learned to sing and play stringed instruments from her mother and grandmother.
Recording career
In 1928, as part of the family group, Cuarteto Carta Blanca, she made her first recordings for the Okeh Records label in San Antonio, Texas.
In the early 1930s, Mendoza came to the attention of Manuel J. Cortez, a pioneer of Mexican-American radio broadcasting. Her live radio performances set the stage for her 1934 recordings on the Bluebird Records label, a subsidiary of RCA Victor. Her recording, "Mal Hombre", became an overnight success and led to an intensive schedule of touring and recording.
After World War II, Mendoza recorded for many of the major Mexican-American record labels mostly located in Texas including DLB Records and Norteno Records both based in San Antonio. She continued actively performing and recording until a stroke in 1988 slowed her schedule down. Many of her recordings are still available including those issued by DLB Records a Texas-based label specializing in South Texas Spanish language music and Arhoolie Records, a California-based label specializing in the release of regional forms of American music.
Awards
Over the years, Lydia Mendoza was the recipient of numerous awards and honors: In 1982, she became the first Texan to receive the National Heritage Fellowship lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1999, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts, in 2001, she received that year's Lifetime Achievement Award from Folk Alliance International, and in 2003, she was among the second group of recipients to be awarded the Texas Medal of Arts by the Texas Cultural Trust.
Death
Lydia Mendoza died on December 20, 2007, in San Antonio, Texas, at the age of 91. She is interred at San Fernando Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas.
A Texas Historical Commission Marker number 16BX04 was approved for Lydia Mendoza's grave in February 2016.
Discography
Lydia Mendoza discography, on Victor label: Source: Discography of American Historical Recordings, UC Santa Barbara