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María Mendiola
María Eugenia Martínez Mendiola (April 4, 1952 – September 11, 2021), known as María Mendiola, was a Spanish singer, dancer, actress, creator and founder of the musical duo Baccara.
Mendiola's mother, Lola Mendiola, was a housewife; her father, Emilio Martínez, was a police officer at the Madrid airport. From a very young age Mendiola showed interest in the world of dance and trained in her native city, Madrid – taking dance, singing, recitation and interpretation classes. Mendiola studied at an Italian school in Madrid and trained to be a ballet dancer at the national school there, before joining the Spanish state broadcaster's dance troupe. Mendiola made her debut in the flamenco and Spanish dance companies of María Rosa and the legendary Antonio El Bailarín, with whom she toured the world; Mendiola even performed in Japan.
Alberto Portillo, choreographer of the Spanish Radio Television ballet, chose her as the first dancer, and with the other members of the corps de ballet Mendiola was taking part in the most popular Spanish television programs in the early 70s.
In 1976, assuming that the dancer's life was short professionally, Mendiola proposed to one of her ballet colleagues, Mayte Mateos, to form a musical duo. Inspired by the popular Kessler sisters and with Paco Bermúdez as their representative, the duo Venus was born, debuting under this stage name on Enrique Martí Maqueda's program Palmarès.
After a failed attempt to perform at the "Cancela" venue in Zaragoza, in January 1977 Mendiola asked her husband Jimmy Lim, who was at that time managing the hotel Tres Islas in Fuerteventura, to perform there. That performance was seen by Leon Deane and other executives from the German record label RCA, who happened to stay in the hotel. The duo was invited to Hamburg, and after the test recording in the studio they signed a record deal with RCA. The duo was renamed from Venus to Baccara after the type of dark-red roses.
As a member of Baccara duo, Mendiola recorded hits like Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, Cara Mía and Sorry I'm A Lady; represented Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1978, and entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the female musical duo with the highest number of sales with a single. Baccara was acclaimed worldwide and recognised for what the Baccara concept brings to the world of entertainment: two young girls, one in white and the other in black, who combine music with dance, always with a touch of sophistication and elegance.
After four years together and four albums released, the original line-up of the duo, created by María Mendiola broke up in 1981. From that moment on, each of the members of the original duo tried to launch their solo-careers – but without much success; and later each created their own line-ups of Baccara, with new stage companions.
As a solo-singer, Mendiola recorded the album Born Again with singles such as "Sugar Boom Boom", "I Wanna See the World", "Stupid Cupid" (cover of a Neil Sedaka song) and followed the tendencies of the early '80s with "Aerobic".
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María Mendiola
María Eugenia Martínez Mendiola (April 4, 1952 – September 11, 2021), known as María Mendiola, was a Spanish singer, dancer, actress, creator and founder of the musical duo Baccara.
Mendiola's mother, Lola Mendiola, was a housewife; her father, Emilio Martínez, was a police officer at the Madrid airport. From a very young age Mendiola showed interest in the world of dance and trained in her native city, Madrid – taking dance, singing, recitation and interpretation classes. Mendiola studied at an Italian school in Madrid and trained to be a ballet dancer at the national school there, before joining the Spanish state broadcaster's dance troupe. Mendiola made her debut in the flamenco and Spanish dance companies of María Rosa and the legendary Antonio El Bailarín, with whom she toured the world; Mendiola even performed in Japan.
Alberto Portillo, choreographer of the Spanish Radio Television ballet, chose her as the first dancer, and with the other members of the corps de ballet Mendiola was taking part in the most popular Spanish television programs in the early 70s.
In 1976, assuming that the dancer's life was short professionally, Mendiola proposed to one of her ballet colleagues, Mayte Mateos, to form a musical duo. Inspired by the popular Kessler sisters and with Paco Bermúdez as their representative, the duo Venus was born, debuting under this stage name on Enrique Martí Maqueda's program Palmarès.
After a failed attempt to perform at the "Cancela" venue in Zaragoza, in January 1977 Mendiola asked her husband Jimmy Lim, who was at that time managing the hotel Tres Islas in Fuerteventura, to perform there. That performance was seen by Leon Deane and other executives from the German record label RCA, who happened to stay in the hotel. The duo was invited to Hamburg, and after the test recording in the studio they signed a record deal with RCA. The duo was renamed from Venus to Baccara after the type of dark-red roses.
As a member of Baccara duo, Mendiola recorded hits like Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, Cara Mía and Sorry I'm A Lady; represented Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1978, and entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the female musical duo with the highest number of sales with a single. Baccara was acclaimed worldwide and recognised for what the Baccara concept brings to the world of entertainment: two young girls, one in white and the other in black, who combine music with dance, always with a touch of sophistication and elegance.
After four years together and four albums released, the original line-up of the duo, created by María Mendiola broke up in 1981. From that moment on, each of the members of the original duo tried to launch their solo-careers – but without much success; and later each created their own line-ups of Baccara, with new stage companions.
As a solo-singer, Mendiola recorded the album Born Again with singles such as "Sugar Boom Boom", "I Wanna See the World", "Stupid Cupid" (cover of a Neil Sedaka song) and followed the tendencies of the early '80s with "Aerobic".