Biography

Amparo Montes (born Amparo Meza Cruz) was one of Mexico's most popular bolero singers. She born in Tapachula, Chiapas, to Tirso Esteban Meza Vela and Marina Cruz Grajales. Her father was a judge, and her mother liked to sing. In 1938, the family moved to Mexico City and Amparo found work as a secretary.

Her career began in 1941, when she sang "Altivez" on the XEQ radio program Quiero trabajar. In 1943, she changed her stage name and was hired as a regular performer on XEW, Mexico's top radio station. The following year she released her first recording and sang two songs in the film Nosotros (1945).

In the late 1940s Agustín Lara, Mexico's most famous songwriter, asked her if she could sing with him on his radio program. She accepted and sang two of his songs, "Nadie" and "Limosna". Pleased with Montes' voice and interpretation, Lara said, "No one sings 'Nadie' (no one in Spanish) like Amparo Montes". "Nadie" became one of Montes' greatest hits and signature songs.

Montes went on to record many 78 rpm singles and more than 20 studio albums. She appeared in several films and performed on dozens of radio and television programs. In 1970, she opened her own nightclub, La Cueva de Amparo Montes, where she sang for more than 30 years. She received many awards and was honored by the Government of the City of Mexico before her death in 2002.
- IMDb mini biography by: V.Q. Castro

[1997] I never acted [in film]. I worked in radio dramas and television series, where I just said a few sentences, and also dubbing. My forte were musical numbers in films. I never had the opportunity to act [in film]; maybe if they had given it to me, I would have liked it, but music absorbed me completely.

[on how she began her singing career] I went [to the XEQ station] looking for a job as a secretary and I ended up with a microphone in my hands. On that occasion I sang "Altivez", by Alfredo Parra. A year later, I went on a tour around the country because I was part of a cigar company's troupe; they paid me 20 pesos daily for a quarter of an hour.

[on Agustín Lara] I met him when he invited me to replace a singer. I loved working with Lara because he was the number-one songwriter, the most popular in Latin America, and despite the years, he will remain Agustín Lara, because he wrote [songs in] all the genres that existed, except rock.