Nydia Rojas
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Nydia Rojas (born 1980) is an American singer who performs in a wide range of musical styles such as
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
,
soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
, and R&B, but makes a particular specialty of Mexican
folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
.


Early life and education

Rojas was born in
Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census figure. Whittier ...
. Rojas spent several years of her early childhood in
Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...
,
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, where she was exposed to local musical styles which greatly influenced her later career. At age 9, her first public performance took place at an East Los Angeles marketplace named El Mercadito, which marked the albeit small beginning of her public performing career. That same year, she performed at a retirement home in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and the following year, at age 10, she embarked on regular gigs at several Mexican restaurants in the Los Angeles area. Initially she sang with a
mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two ...
group which already performed at the restaurant, but soon she was in demand in her own right. In this context, she accepted requests for songs from restaurant patrons, arranging to learn them for the following week if songs were requested with which she was unfamiliar. Her popularity steadily grew within the musical communities of Los Angeles. Rojas attended Los Altos High School in
Hacienda Heights, California Hacienda Heights () is an unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated bedroom community, suburban community in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the community had a total population of 54,191, up from 54 ...
as well as
Orange County High School of the Arts Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA, ), is a 7th–12th grade public charter school located in downtown Santa Ana, California. The school caters to middle and high school students with talents in the performing, visual, literary arts, cul ...
in
Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...
. She was also involved with the Mariachi Heritage Society Program based in East Los Angeles. Her first violin and guitar instructor was Laura Sobrino, a pioneer female mariachi musician. Another mentor of Rojas's was José Hernàndez, founder of Mariachi Sol de Mexico, who also produced her debut album. She briefly studied voice with Heriberto Molina (El Cura), one of the original members of the Mariachi Vargas De Tecalitlán.


Career

At age 13, Rojas became a vocalist/guitarist with the all-female Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, which provided a springboard for her to gain a solo contract with the Arista Latin recording label. Her debut solo album, self-titled, was recorded when she was 15 years of age then released after her 16th birthday. She began to set a pace for mariachi music for younger generations in the U.S. Rojas was invited to perform for President Clinton during his re-election inauguration, and later that year, she was declared a mariachi sensation by ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
''. In the next five years another three solo albums followed. During this time, her performances played to packed audiences of up to 18,000 fans. At the 9th Lo Nuestro Awards, Rojas was nominated for Female Regional Mexican Artist of the Year. Rojas's third album, ', was nominated for a
Latin Grammy Award The Latin Grammy Awards (stylized as Latin GRAMMYs) are awards presented by the Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from any ...
alongside such established artists as
Vicente Fernández Vicente Fernández Gómez (17 February 1940 – 12 December 2021) was a Mexican mariachi singer, actor and film producer. Nicknamed "Chente" (short for Vicente), "El Charro de Huentitán" (The Charro from Huentitán), "El Ídolo de México" (Th ...
and
Alejandro Fernández Alejandro Fernández Abarca (; born 24 April 1971) is a Mexican singer. Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, he is the son of the Mexican singer Vicente Fernández. Nicknamed as " El Potrillo" by the media and his fans, he has sold over 20 million rec ...
, and
Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language–speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top ...
and
Pepe Aguilar José Antonio Aguilar Jiménez (born 7 August 1968), better known as Pepe Aguilar, is a Mexican singer. - Accessed on June 17, 2011. From a young age, Aguilar accompanied his parents, singer-actors Antonio Aguilar and Flor Silvestre on tour ...
. It further established her as an outstanding performer in her field, and soon after this, she went on two national tours with
Juan Gabriel Alberto Aguilera Valadez (; 7 January 1950 – 28 August 2016), known professionally as Juan Gabriel (), was a Mexican singer-songwriter and actor. Colloquially Honorific nicknames in popular music, nicknamed Juanga () and El Divo de Juárez, ...
. The first tour gave her the opportunity to work closely with Gabriel who expressed much admiration for her talent, and led to her recording her fourth solo album, ''Nydia'', which for the first time took more of a mainstream Latin pop direction while still displaying all of Rojas's musical skills. Gabriel sang two duets with Rojas on this album and named her one of the best interpreters of his music from her generation. In November 2008, Rojas reunited with Gabriel for a performance at the . In May 2011, Rojas embarked on a tour with Vicente Fernández.


Personal life

Rojas's mother, Olivia, was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco. Rojas's father, Arturo, was a first generation Cuban-American. Rojas's most recent album was dedicated to him after his passing in the year 2000. In 2008, Rojas married Cuban drummer, Raul Pineda. They currently live in Los Angeles with their two children.


Discography


Albums

*''Nydia Rojas'' (1996) Arista Latin * (1997) Arista Latin *' (1999)
Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...
*''Nydia'' (2001)
Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...


Singles

Incomplete single discography. *"" *"" (2001) — #9 (US
Hot Latin Tracks The ''Billboard'' Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Since October 2012, chart rankings are based on digital sales, ...
), #15 (
Latin Pop Airplay Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of ...
), #23 (
Latin Tropical/Salsa Airplay The ''Billboard'' tropical charts began in 1985 when an album chart were introduced as Tropical Albums in the June 29 issue of the magazine. In October 1994, ''Billboard'' then established Tropical Airplay, which initially rank the most-played song ...
), #28 (Latin
Regional Mexican Airplay In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
).


References


External links


Discography on AmazonArtist page on VH1Samples of Rojas music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas, Nydia 1981 births Living people American musicians of Mexican descent American mariachi musicians Hispanic and Latino American musicians Musicians from Whittier, California Singers from California 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Hispanic and Latino American women singers Women in Latin music