2013 Lydia Mendoza Single "Forever" Postage Stamp - MNH, OG - Sc# 4786

Lydia Mendoza (May 31, 1916 - December 20, 2007) was an American guitarist and Spanish-language singer of Tejano, conjunto, and traditional Mexican-American music. Historian Michael Joseph Corcoran has stated that she was "The Mother of Tejano Music", an art form that is the uniquely Texas cultural amalgamation of traditional Mexican, Spanish, German and Czech musical roots. She recorded on numerous labels over the course of her six-decade career of live performing. The aggregate total of her records number an estimated 200 different Spanish-language songs on at least 50 LP record albums. In 1977, she performed at the Inauguration of President Jimmy Carter, as part of the line-up for the Inaugural Folk Dance and Concert. Her most well-known tune was "Mal Hombre" (Bad Man), a song she had heard as a child.