Lindsay Mendez proves age is just a number, not a rank on talent

 By Samantha Morgan

Think back to when you were fourteen years old, back to a time when waking up for school was the hardest part of your weekday and weekends were reserved for slumber parties, watching football games with your dad, and playing softball during the spring. Now imagine living that life while also building performing at festivals, live on television, and meeting music legends backstage. This is life of Marrero native Lindsay Mendez.
When she’s not a normal girl walking the halls of Stella Worley Middle School, Lindsay spends her evenings working with her band, which she acquired just one year ago.
“Lindsay opened a show for Vince Vance, and there was another band that followed her,” Willie Mendez, father of Lindsay and her manager, said. “The guitarist came up to us after the show and said he would love to work with us, and that’s how it started.”
Now singing classic hits spanning nearly 40 years of music history with a full band, Lindsay’s singing career began in the most humble way. As a child, Lindsay’s favorite family memories were spent in her grandfather’s garage, where he had a studio set up.
“Music is a big part of my family,” Lindsay said. “I love singing, and I like doing it for the thrill. It’s really exhilarating to have people clapping before you even start the show.
“The first time I went on stage, my heart was racing,” she added. “I couldn’t feel anything below my neck.”
That first show was nearly five years ago when Lindsay was just eight years old, which was when she joined Louisiana Kids, a non-profit organization that helps promote primary age musicians in Louisiana by helping to book shows so the young performers have the time on stage needed to gain a greater comfort in front of a crowd and improve the overall aesthetic of their performance.
“Louisiana Kids will call and ask if you would like to perform at a venue, and it can be anything from a show for teenagers to a retirement home,” Lindsay explained. “My first show with Louisiana Kids was at a playground for a ‘Night Out Against Crime,’ event.”
Now in her fifth year with the program, Lindsay is an old pro and enjoys helping the newer, less experienced performers get over their pre-show jitters.
“When you go to these shows and there are six and seven year old kids shaking ‘cause they don’t know what to do, I just tell them it’s going to be okay, and that it will work out fine,” she said. “There were these twins who looked up to me, and they were really sweet. They would draw pictures of us together, and that was really nice.”
Louisiana Kids promotes teens through their senior year in high school. Both Lindsay and her father expressed their gratitude to Louisiana Kids. Lindsay said she will continue with the program through the entirety of her musical career. However, since acquiring her own band, Lindsay has begun to branch out and books her own shows without the assistance of Louisiana Kids.
“We never ask to be a part of something, we just wait for a phone call and decide if it’s a show she can do or not,” Willie said about booking shows independently from Louisiana Kids. “We don’t hang around the stage and ask other bands to let her open for them. We wait to get invited.”
If the invitations were on actual paper, she would have an entire sack to sort through. Performing with local legends such as Vince Vance, live on television for WWL-TV’s morning show, the National Anthem for the Zephyrs and the Hornets, and at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN. are just a few of the great events she’s had the pleasure of performing. 
Of all her self-booked shows, Lindsay said performing with Irma Thomas at the Audubon Zoo for a Mother’s Day concert was by far the most thrilling experience. Where the average thirteen-year-old girl might not even know Irma Thomas, Lindsay said she’s a big fan of her music, and now that she’s had a chance to meet her, she also admires her off-stage personality.
“She’s a wonderful woman,” Lindsay said when discussing meeting Irma Thomas at the Audubon Zoo performance. “When you meet her, you would swear she wasn’t famous, because she’s so nice and easy to talk to. I have great respect for artists who carry themselves the same way onstage as they do offstage, and that’s exactly the way she is. She doesn’t change when she gets off the stage.”
As for her future, Lindsay hopes to eventually write her own songs. For now, her biggest dream stays close to home. She wants nothing more than to perform the National Anthem at the Superdome.
“Me and my dad watch the Saints every Sunday that they play a game,” Lindsay said. “Singing for the Saints is something very New Orleans that I want to do, and it’s the last frontier for me.”
For Willie, his hopes for his daughter’s future are not that of a manager, but rather, it’s more reflective of what any dad would say.
“I want her to be a lawyer and have this as something she can do on the weekends for fun,” Willie said. “I think it’s a healthy thing for her to be involved with, and I really try to balance the kid thing with the adult thing. We had opportunities to sign with Radio Disney, but I think she needs to take it slow.”
The day before Lindsay’s fourteenth birthday, she signed with Rabadash Records.  She will be performing at a special Rabadash Records concert in Mandeville on Friday, March 20 at the new Howlin’ Wolf Northshore, 1623 Montgomery St., 985-626-1616.  Tickets are $15.  You can learn more about Lindsay Mendez and her band by visiting her Web site at www.lindsayMendez.com.