San Antonio’s Mateo Lopez, age 7, is the “Mariachi Kid.” Credit: Instagram / elmateolopez

Seven-year-old Mateo Lopez’s singing career is truly one for the record books.

The Guinness Book of World Records recently named the San Antonio prodigy the youngest professional mariachi singer on record.

The Wanke Elementary School student traveled to Milan, Italy in February under the impression he’d be performing a gig not unlike any other in his three-year career, Alamo City news station KENS5 reports. Unbeknownst to Lopez, however, the trip was to receive the Guinness honor.

“To start out at 4 years old and to do what he has done already in three years, I still can’t wrap my mind around it,” his mother Janelle Lopez told KENS5.

So far, the young singer’s career has included appearances on Mexico’s Got Talent and NBC’s Little Big Shots. While his voice is the star attraction, Lopez also plays piano and guitar. He may even begin playing violin like his older sister, who performed with him in Italy, the news station reports.

When he puts on his traje, Lopez feels excited, brave and strong, he told KENS5.

“That’s what makes me proud. And I feel really happy that I’m like the only one person out of like … I don’t know … 5,000 million people in the whole world,” he said, of the Guinness World Record distinction.

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This article appears in Apr 6-19, 2022.

Nina Rangel uses nearly 20 years of experience in the foodservice industry to tell the stories of movers and shakers in the food scene in San Antonio. As the Food + Nightlife Editor for the San Antonio...