Madrid, Spain.
The song “Yes, sir, I can go crazy“, Which popularized the Baccara duo in the late 1970s, has been left without the voice of Maria Mendiola, One of the founders and original members of this Spanish duet, Who died this weekend in Madrid at the age of 69 from cancer.
“How difficult it is for me to publish this: my dear Maria, a wonderful artist, but for me above all my friend, she has left us. I can’t get the words out. I can only thank you for so much love as I have received for his part and tell him what I have so many times had the opportunity to say to him in life: ‘I love you’ “, he posted on social media Cristina Sevilla, The other half of the current Baccarat.
Born in Madrid in 1952, Mendiola began her professional adventures as a dancer and then as a dancer ballet choreographer of Spanish Television, A stage in which he met Mayte Mateos with whom he formed in 1977 the original version of Baccara, Although later each of them continued with the training separately.
The couple Mendiola and Mateos only lasted four years, but that time was enough to reap great successes, most importantly, above all, what they achieved thanks to their first single “Yes, sir, I can go crazy“, Which became number one in the United Kingdom, a feat that makes Spanish musicians only managed to repeat years later Julio Iglesias.
But they also got the highest in Germany, Sweden, France, Russia, Where they also reaped great fame, and even in Japan, and came to enter the Guinness Book with 25 million copies sold, Ranking among the ten best-selling songs in history and translated into ten languages (Spanish, German, French, Arabic, Croatian, Russian, Hungarian, Italian, Serbian and Turkish).
Its great success has lasted to the present day, becoming the unofficial anthem of the Scottish football team, Sung by their fans in the stadiums in the moments before the matches, and even the members of the team themselves sang it in the locker room when, after beating Serbia, they managed to qualify for the Euro this year.
But now, one of those voices that gave birth to this bestseller has gone out forever, that of Maria Mendiola, the considered “lady in white“For the dress of this color that he always wore on stage, as opposed to the black that his partner wore, with whom he came to participate in the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest representing Luxembourg.
contest
They did it with the theme “You speak French? “, With which they were in the seventh position of a contest that Israel won with the mythical” A-Ba-Ni-Bi “, and that adds also to other successes and great classic in the discotheques of the time how”Dear“,”The devil sent you to Laredo“O”Oh, you’re a sailor“.
In 1982 the original lineup was broken and both Mayte Mateos as Maria Mendiola followed their paths separately.
Mendiola tried her luck alone as an actress on RTVE’s “La comèdia musical española” program and shortly afterwards refounded again Nova Baccara alongside Marisa Pérez, the work together continues until 2008, when she is forced to leave the stage for health reasons and is replaced by Laura Mendiola, Niece of Mary, and later by Cristina Sevilla, The last member of this popular musical duo.
Its latest release, “It belongs to your heart“, It took place in 2017, the same year that Mendiola was awarded a gold record by the General Society of Authors and Publishers in Spain for its long history.