Latin singer Jenni Rivera dies

In the early morning hours of December 9 the small plane carrying Mexican-American Latin Grammy nominated singer and reality star Jenni Rivera and six other disappeared only 10 minutes after taking off in Monterrey, Mexico. After hours of searching authorities believe they have found the plane with no sign of survivors.

According to Minister Gerardo Ruiz Esparza of Transportation and Communications, “there is nothing recognizable, neither material nor human.” Esparza said the wreckage is almost unrecognizable and scattered over an area of 250 to 300 meters (about 1,000 feet).

Found near the town of Iturbide – in the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon - in the Sierra Madre Oriental, no cause for the crash has been given to date.

Rivera, who has sold over 20 million albums – over one million of those in the US, had performed a concert n Monterrey on Saturday night and was heading to Toluca (near Mexico City) for another show when authorities lost contact with the plane.

Other passengers on the plane were Rivera’s publicist Arturo Rivera, stylist Jorge Sanchez, makeup artist Jacobo Llenares, her lawyer Mario Macias, and the plane’s two pilots.

The 43 year old Rivera was born on July 2, 1969 in Long Beach, Calfornia the daughter of Mexican parents. She was an award winning star of the Mexican Regional music form known as banda and norteno. She was often referred to as “La Diva de la Banda”. During her career, Rivera scored 10 songs on the Latin Singles chart and seven top 10 albums on the Latin Album chart.

Rivera served as one of the coaches on the Mexican edition of “The Voice”. The program’s semi finals was set to air on Sunday night but have been postponed. The star of her own reality show “I Love Jenni” had recently signed with ABC for her own comedy series to be titled “Jenni” with Rivera as a middle class Latina woman trying to raise a family and run a business.

Rivera recently divorced her third husband Major League Baseball player Esteban Loaiza. She is survived by her brothers – Pete, Juan, Lupillo, father Pedro, children – Chiquis, Jacqui, Michael, Jenicka, and Johnny, and two grandchildren.