LOS ANGELES — For William Garza, it was the opportunity of a lifetime to be able to serenade Our Lady of Guadalupe at the annual celebration of Las Mañanitas as a la Virgen de Guadalupe at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Ángels in Downtown Los Angeles. 

“I was asking my manager, 'What do I have to do to sing las mañanitas?'” said Garza when he first found out about the celebration.

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The annual event celebrates the belief that St. Juan Diego encountered the Virgin Mary in a vision in Mexico City on December 9 and 12 in 1531.

To this day The Virgin of Guadalupe remains a cherished part of Mexican identity.

As Garza practiced before the performance, he spoke about why this performance was so important to him. 

“I remember my grandpa going to church and being so faithful to her and since then I feel the same way about her and every time I’m going through something hard I pray for everything to be OK,” he said.

For Garza, the celebration is a reminder of his childhood.

The Mexican regional singer grew up in Monterrey, Mexico and came to the United States as a 14-year-old.

“And it was hard, because we didn’t have any family here either, it was just my parents, me and my brothers, we had no friends, but it’s been worth it,” Garza said.

Garza kicked off his musical career along with Banda Ahuis in 2014 and is quickly becoming one of the most talked about singers in regional Mexican music.

He’s now the first singer to serenade Our Lady of Guadalupe using banda-style music inside the cathedral. Banda is a genre within regional Mexican music that's based on wind instruments.

His goal is not only to honor The Virgin of Guadalupe, but for people connect with him and his music.

He says he wants people to “feel the same love, the same passion and love that I’m singing with and the same faith to La Virgin de Guadalupe.”

It's a faith he says has helped him get to where he is today.