Lydia Mendoza

This story is about a women who despite life's obstacles, pursued her dream as a Tejano singer and won over the hearts of many with her soulful voice and touching lyrics.

Hola! My name is Lydia and I was born in Houston, Texas on the 21st of May, 1916. I grew up with seven brothers and sisters, my mom and dad. My dad worked a lot and because he was often looking for jobs in different cities, we moved a lot. Sometimes we even had to move to Mexico for his work, but we always found our way back to Texas. I did not get to go to school like other children but my mom taught me how to read at home. She also taught me how to sing and play music. By the time I was eleven, I learned how to play all kinds of instruments, but my favorite was the 12-string guitar!

My family loved music so much we formed our own band! We went by "La Familia Mendoza" (The Mendoza Family). Sometimes my mom and dad would go inside restaurants and barbershops and ask if we could sing to their clients. If the owners said yes, we would perform some songs and people would tip us. Sometimes, restaurant owners were not so nice and would tell us to go away because we looked different.

One day, my dad found an ad in a newspaper from a recording studio that was looking for artists to record their music. So we packed up our instruments and drove to San Antonio, Texas. After my family recorded ten songs, the recording studio paid us one-hundred and forty dollars! What was more amazing is that little did I know that the same magazine that gave us our first recording deal would later go on to write so many great praises and reviews on my musical career.

La Prensa newspaper, San Antonio, Texas, 1933

After recording our first songs, my family moved to Detroit, Michigan to become professional musicians. We only stayed for a year because we did not have enough money. Because of this, we moved back to Texas, this time to San Antonio. Even though our music was popular and many people wanted to hear us perform, most of the time we barely had enough money to eat. Still, not even this stopped my family from doing what we loved- performing music.

The Mendoza Family

One time, when I was performing with my family, a radio announcer heard me sing and wanted me to perform on his radio show, "La Voz Latina" that held singing contests which I ended up winning! So many people loved my radio performance that the radio host paid me $3.50 every week to become a regular on the show.

Later, I was discovered by another recording label, but this time they wanted me to sing solo. The first song that I recorded, "Mal Hombre" (Bad Man) was so successful that the recording label kept recording my songs for the next ten years. When I was not busy recording, I continued touring with my family.

I loved performing, no matter where- street corners, restaurants, parties, it did not matter as long as I was singing. Something that I enjoyed just as much as I did singing, was seeing how the people loved it, too! I was given many nicknames- La Alondra de la Frontera (The Lark of the Border), La Cancionera de los Pobres (The Singer of the Poor), La Reina de Tejano (The Queen of Tejano Music) and even La Gloria de Tejas (The Glory of Texas). What stood out to me about all this was that I somehow came to represent a growing culture here in Texas, and it all started with Tejano music.

When World War II happened, my family and I had to stop touring because gasoline was being rationed, so we could not travel. Even though we were limited to where we could perform, it did not stop us from playing music.

After the war ended, I was very excited to continue touring but then, something terrible happened to my family. My mother, the woman who instilled the love of music in me, passed away.

I started touring and performing as a soloist.

It was just me and my beloved 12-string guitar.

I dedicated my music to my mom and everyone in my life who supported my singing. Rather than allowing the sad things in life stop me from pursuing what I loved, I let it inspire my music, through the lyrics I sang.

Lydia Mendoza with her husband

I had become the first Tejano recording artist and one of the most popular Spanish-language singers in the Texas-Mexican border, I even went on to perform all across the United States, Mexico, Colombia and even Cuba!