Tomás Méndez was a Mexican

Mexican people

Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and singer of Mexican music and ranchera

Ranchera

Ranchera is a genre of the traditional music of Mexico originally sung by only one performer with a guitar. It dates to the years of the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century. It later became closely associated with the mariachi groups which evolved in Jalisco. Ranchera today is also played...

 music. He was born in Fresnillo

Fresnillo

Fresnillo /fres'nijo/ , founded in 1554 by Francisco de Ibarra, is the second largest city in Zacatecas state, north central Mexico...

, Zacatecas

Zacatecas

Zacatecas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Zacatecas is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas....

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

. He obtained his first success in 1954 with the Mexican music song "Gorrioncillo pecho amarillo" and continued in the same year with the huapango

Huapango

Huapango is a corruption of the Nahuatl word huapanco that textually means on top of the wood platform according to the dictionary of the Real Academia Española . Today huapango refers to a musical style that originated in and is played throughout the La Huasteca region in Mexico...

s like "Cucurrucucú paloma

Cucurrucucu paloma

"Cucurrucucú paloma" is a Mexican Huapango song written by Tomás Méndez and introduced by Lola Beltrán in the film Cucurrucucú Paloma. The song also appeared in other movies, such as Escuela de Vagabundos, The Last Sunset, Happy Together, Talk to Her, and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done...

" and "Desafío". He died in Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

 on July 19, 1995. The song "Cucurrucucú paloma" was played in many movie pictures like The Last Sunset

The Last Sunset (film)

The Last Sunset is a 1961 western movie starring Rock Hudson, Kirk Douglas, Dorothy Malone and directed by Robert Aldrich.The film was released by Universal studios, shot in Eastman color...

, Happy Together and Talk to Her

Talk to Her

Talk to Her is a 2002 Spanish comedy-drama film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling, Geraldine Chaplin, and Rosario Flores...

or interpreted by famous singers like Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte

Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...

, Perry Como

Perry Como

Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...

, Lola Beltrán

Lola Beltrán

Lola Beltrán was a Mexican film actress and one of the most acclaimed Mexican ranchera singers, nicknamed Lola la Grande .-Biography:...

 and Caetano Veloso

Caetano Veloso

Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso , better known as Caetano Veloso, is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicalismo which encompassed theatre, poetry and music in the 1960s,...

.

Notable Songs

• "Gorrioncillo pecho amarillo"
• "Cucurrucucú paloma
  Cucurrucucu paloma
  "Cucurrucucú paloma" is a Mexican Huapango song written by Tomás Méndez and introduced by Lola Beltrán in the film Cucurrucucú Paloma. The song also appeared in other movies, such as Escuela de Vagabundos, The Last Sunset, Happy Together, Talk to Her, and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done...
  
  "
• "Golondrina presumida"
• "Huapango torero"
• "Las rejas no matan"
• "Que me toquen las golondrinas"
• "Paloma negra"
• "Puñalada trapera"
• "Tres días"

External links

• Biografía de Tomás Méndez en la SACM (Spanish)