Amalia Mendoza

La Tariacuri

Amalia Mendoza Garcia was born on July 10, 1923 in Huetamo, Michoacan, according to English and Spanish Wikipedia and a Siglo Veinte anniversary piece, though El Siglo de Torreon gives July 23. She began singing at school at six, and her brothers' Trio Tariacuri, formed in 1932 as one of the first all-male ranchera trios, supplied the nickname: Tariacuri was a Purepecha leader. She recorded four songs for Peerless in 1948 as Perlita y la Tariacuri, then sang as Dueto Tariacuri with her brother Juan in the mid-1950s for Lotería Nacional and Columbia.

Her solo career began in 1954 with the single "Punalada trapera" by Tomas Mendez, backed with José Alfredo Jimenez's "Maldicion ranchera", her first hit. She had a weekly XEW radio show, Asi Es Mi Tierra, and a long engagement at the El Capri nightclub in Mexico City, and "Amarga Navidad", also by Jimenez, widened her fame. Her first RCA Victor album, La Tariacuri, followed in 1958, with later volumes in 1959 and 1960, La viuda abandonada (1961), Boleros con Amalia Mendoza (1962) and Mexico en la voz de Amalia Mendoza (1965). She usually sang with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan. Her hits include "Echame a mi la culpa", "Fallaste corazon" and "Gritenme piedras del campo".

She dubbed the singing voice of Rosita Quintana in A los cuatro vientos (1955) and appeared in films including Una cita de amor (1958), which screened at the Berlin Film Festival that year. Her stage manner of crying while she sang is often noted, and she is grouped with Lola Beltran, Lucha Villa and Maria de Lourdes. In 1995 and 1996 she recorded Las Tres Senoras with Beltran and Villa. She died on June 11, 2001, aged 77, and her ashes were placed in Lake Patzcuaro. A monument stands in Huetamo.