GARY MENDOZA BIOGRAPHY
You can't steal it...You just have to feel it.
Forming his first Blues Band in San Luis Obispo Ca. in 1995, Gary Mendoza has been singing in local and outside-area clubs with his authentic sounding Chicago/Delta-style blues and blues-inspired rock classics. Mendoza, a second generation Mexican-American, grew up on the mean streets of West Fresno’s low income housing projects. During this time Mendoza was surrounded by the music of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and B.B. King. Although he had no idea who these blues legends were, he was deeply moved by their music.
At the early age of 10 he began to explore the sounds of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. A year later he was singing in front of live audiences in school talent shows as well as on a local radio show. It wasn’t until a few years later he began to research the origin of the blues through the music of the "British Invasion" of John Mayall, Eric Clapton, and Peter Green.
Born in Fresno, California, and raised 15 miles south in a little town called Selma, Mendoza escaped the lifestyle brought about by poverty and crime by moving to the Central Coast in 1976. As a husband and father, in order to raise his family, Mendoza put his musical aspirations on the shelf until 1995. Fronting such bands as, Code Blues, The Blues Effects, Salt Water Blues Band and just recently, The Used Blues Band, Mendoza is still going strong today. Since relocating to the Sacramento area in 2006, Mendoza has shared the stage with many Sac-Town locals such as, Jimmy Pailer, Arron King, Johnny "Guitar" Knox, Larry Davis, and Two-Tone Steiny & The Cadillacs. Mendoza has a love and a passion for the kind of music that touches the heart and inspires the soul. Emotionally, Mendoza is tightly tied to his music. With a vocal style all his own, he sings every song with great conviction and is 100% committed. His intonation and delivery has the sort of authenticity that usually doesn’t come to a blues singer until he is much older.
"My motto is blues is like a snake-bite remedy," says Mendoza. "When you get bit by a snake, they cure you with a little bit of the venom. It’s the same with this music; it takes the blues to cure the blues."