Jenni Rivera, Mexican-American Singer and Star of I Love Jenni, Dead at 43

Mexican officials believe they found the wreckage of the plane which carried the star, and report that there were no survivors

By Bruna Nessif Dec 10, 2012 12:32 AMTags
Jenni RiveraFrederick M. Brown/Getty Images

The world has lost one very beautiful voice.

Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera, born Dolores Janney Rivera, has died. On Sunday, Mexican officials located the wreckage of a small plane that carried superstar and six others—there were no survivors.

She was 43.

Transportation and communication minister Gerardo Ruiz Esparza tells Mexican television that the plane was found in Nuevo Leon state without survivors. Esparza reportedly said that "everything points toward it being the plane" that carried the Mexican-American singer and six others.

The star was reported missing after her plane reportedly lost contact with air traffic controllers in Mexico after taking off in Monterrey early Sunday morning. Jorge Domene, spokesman for Nuevo Leon's government, said the plane left Monterrey about 3:30 a.m. after a concert, and aviation authorities lost contact with the craft about 10 minutes later. It had been scheduled to arrive in Toluca, outside Mexico City, about an hour later.

After her concert Saturday night, Rivera gave a press conference and spoke about her recent decision to divorce former Major League Baseball pitcher Esteban Loaiza.

"I can't get caught up in the negative because that destroys you. Perhaps trying to move away from my problems and focus on the positive is the best I can do. I am a woman like any other and ugly things happen to me like any other woman," she said. "The number of times I have fallen down is the number of times I have gotten up."

For the past 20 years, the Long Beach native has been a strong force in the Latino music community, and has sold over 20 million albums worldwide, along with multiple nominations at the Latin Grammys. But her accomplishments didn't stop there. Rivera was the first female Banda artist to sell-out a concert at the world famous Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City, Calif., and became the first artist to sell-out two back-to-back nights at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

Rivera also dipped into business, starting many companies, including Divina Realty, Divina Cosmetics, Jenni Rivera Fragrance, Jenni Jeans, Divine Music and The Jenni Rivera Love Foundation.

On Aug. 6, 2010, Rivera was named spokeswoman for the National Coalition against battered women and domestic violence in Los Angeles. A proclamation was given "officially naming" Aug. 6 "Jenni Rivera Day" by the L.A. City Council for all her charity work and involvement in the community.

As if that wasn't enough to keep Jenni busy, she also became the producer for her daughter Janney Marin's reality TV show on Telemundo's Mun2, Chiquis & Raq-C, and starred in her own show on the same network called I Love Jenni, which premiered last year. The singer-songwriter was slated to star in a new family comedy, Jenni, on ABC.

Rivera is survived by her five children and two grandchildren.