Jenni Rivera

Dolores Janney "Jenni" Rivera Saavedra (July 2, 1969 – December 9, 2012) was an American singer known for her work within the regional Mexican music genre, specifically in the styles of banda, mariachi and norteño.

In life and death, several media outlets including CNN, Billboard, Fox News, and The New York Times have labeled her the most important female figure and top-selling female artist in regional Mexican music.

Her father was a bartender and businessman who created the record label Cintas Acuario in 1987, which launched the career of Mexican singer and songwriter Chalino Sánchez.

Rivera released her first major label studio album, Si Quieres Verme Llorar, in the late 1990s, failing to attain commercial success; however, she rose to prominence in the United States and Mexico with her 2005 album, Parrandera, Rebelde y Atrevida.

In the mid to late 1990s, she was often criticized and was refused bookings at venues across California for performing Banda music—a male-dominated music genre.

However, her popularity grew after she released her song "Las Malandrinas", which received airtime on the radio.

Rivera began recording music in 1992.

Her recordings often had themes of social issues, infidelity, and relationships.

Rivera was introduced to music in 1992 when she recorded as a Father's Day present to her father; she made more recordings and signed to Capitol/EMI's Latin division.

Her first album, "Somos Rivera" ("We Are Rivera"), was released in 1992.

At the onset of her musical career, she was told many times she would not make it.

At that time and still today, the genre known as regional Mexican music was and is dominated by men.

Speaking in 2003 of her experiences as a teenage mother, Rivera explained:

Usually, when a young girl is pregnant, she drops out of school and concentrates on being a mother.

I thought that's what I had to do, but my counselors told me there was no way they would let me drop out.

I had too much promise.

She attended Long Beach City College, and obtained a degree in business administration and worked in real estate before going to work for her father's record label.

She gained more popularity when she won the Lo Nuestro Award for Regional Mexican Female Artist of the Year in 2007, which she won nine consecutive times.

Her tenth studio album, Jenni (2008), became her first No.1 record on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart in the United States.

In 2010, she appeared in and produced the reality TV show Jenni Rivera Presents: Chiquis & Raq-C.

She also appeared in and produced I Love Jenni starting in 2011 through 2013 and Chiquis 'n Control in 2012.

In a 2011 interview with Billboard magazine, she stated, "It was hard knocking on those doors to get my music played. One radio programmer in L.A., the meanest son of a bitch in the world, threw my CD in the trash right in my face."

Those were the kind of issues Rivera faced as a female trying to crack the regional Mexican genre.

Rivera, along with six others, died in a plane crash near Monterrey, on December 9, 2012.

An investigation was unable to determine the causes of the accident.

Lawsuits involving the owners of the plane, Rivera's estate, and family members of those on board with Rivera were filed.

Rivera was born and raised in Long Beach, California, to Rosa Saavedra and Pedro Rivera, both from Mexico.

Her parents raised Rivera and her sister and four brothers in a tight-knit, musical household; her brother Lupillo is also a regional Mexican musician.

Rivera spoke both English and Spanish fluently.

Her family introduced her to traditional Mexican music, including the genres of banda, norteña, and ranchera.

Rivera earned straight A's in school until her sophomore year, when at 15 she became pregnant with the first of her five children, Janney "Chiquis" Marín-Rivera.

She supported the two of them by selling CDs at flea markets, while working toward her GED at a continuation school and graduating as class valedictorian.

Billboard magazine named her the "top Latin artist of 2013", and the "best selling Latin artist of 2013".

Her acting debut was in the film Filly Brown, which was released in 2013.

Over the course of her career, Rivera was awarded two Oye! Awards (Mexico's equivalent to the United States' Grammy Awards), two Billboard Music Awards, twenty-two Billboard Latin Music Awards, eleven Billboard Mexican Music Awards and eighteen Lo Nuestro Awards.

She received four Latin Grammy nominations.

She has a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars, and she is one of the best-selling regional Mexican artists of all time, having sold more than 15 million records worldwide, also making her the highest-earning banda singer of all time.

Aside from music, she was active in her community and donated her time to civic causes.

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence appointed her its spokesperson in the United States.

A proclamation was given officially naming August 6 “Jenni Rivera Day” by the Los Angeles City Council for all her charity work and community involvement.