US
A.k.a. Nacha Mendez
Born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, raised in a tiny border town of New Mexico, spent years in New York City and later settled in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. Sang Mexican rancheras when a teen and later played in alternative rock bands, formed a garage rock band with cousins Gary and Darrell Black, sons of Jimmy Carl Black (drummer in Mothers of Invention), made dance records for the club crowd and sang in composer Robert Ashley's avant-garde operas. Studied Flamenco guitar with Manuel Granados of Barcelona, Spain, EU and toured with Robert Ashley as a principal singer in three of his operas performing contralto in all of Japan, France's Avignon Music Festival, New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music, as well as in Strasbourg, France, Graz, Austria and Berlin, Germany. In 2013 she won the New Mexico Music Award for Latin, Best Musical Production. Margarita Cordero is also a painter.