Nydia Rojas, daughter of Arturo and Olivia Rojas, is an American singer of Mexican and Cuban heritage. She performs in a wide range of musical styles such as jazz, soul, and R&B, but makes a particular specialty of Mexican folk music. Nydia spent several years of her early childhood in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she was exposed to local musical styles which greatly influenced her later career. At age 9, her first public performance took place at an East Los Angeles marketplace named "El Mercadito", which marked the albeit small beginning of her public performing career. That same year, she performed at a retirement home in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and the following year, at age 10, she embarked on regular gigs at several Mexican restaurants in the Los Angeles area. Initially she sang with a mariachi group which already performed at the restaurant, but soon she was in demand in her own right. In this context she accepted requests for songs from restaurant patrons, arranging to learn them for the following week if songs were requested with which she was unfamiliar. Her popularity steadily grew within the musical communities of Los Angeles. 

1981 in Whittier