Jenni Rivera

**Dolores Janney "Jenni" Rivera Saavedra** (July 2, 1969 – December 9, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, actress, television producer, spokesperson, philanthropist and entrepreneur 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. *Billboard* magazine named her the "top Latin artist of 2013", and the "best selling Latin artist of 2013".

Rivera began recording music in 1992. Her recordings often had themes of social issues, infidelity, and relationships. 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 early 2000s, 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 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. 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 20 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.

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.

## Life and career

### 1969 - 1991: Childhood

Rivera was born on July 2, 1969 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. Speaking in 2003 of her experiences as a teenage mother, Rivera explained:

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

### 1992 - 2004: Beginnings in music

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. 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. She then released the albums *La Maestra,* Poco a Poco, Por Un Amor, La Chacalosa*,* and Adios A Selena independently, the latter a tribute album to Tejano music singer Selena, who was murdered in 1995.

She signed to Balboa Records in 1993, Sony Music in the late 1990s, and then with Fonovisa Records in 1999; in the next year, Rivera released her first commercial album with Fonovisa, titled Que Me Entierren Con La Banda, featuring local underground hit "Las Malandrinas". Rivera stated that she wrote "Las Malandrinas" to pay homage to her female fans. She also said, "The song blew up. People became interested. That's when Jenni Rivera the artist was actually born."

In 2001, she released the records Dejate Amar and Se Las Voy A Dar A Otro, which garnered her her first Latin Grammy nomination for Best Banda Album. She became the first American-born artist to be nominated for the award in 2003. Her 2003 release Homenaje A Las Grandes (in English "Homage to the Great Ones") was a tribute album to female Mexican singers.

In 2004, she released her first compilation disc, titled Simplemente.. La Mejor!, which became her first record to detonate a chart in the United States.

### 2005-2010: Parrandera, Rebelde Y Atrevida, Mi Vida Loca, Jenni and La Gran Se*ñora*

She began to attain more substantial success with the record Parrandera, Rebelde y Atrevida, released in 2005, which peaked at No. 10 on the *Billboard* Top Latin Albums chart. Since its release it has been certified double-platinum in the Latin field by the Recording Industry Association of America. The second single released from the album, "De Contrabando", became her first and only number-one song to hit the Latin Regional Mexican Airplay in the United States. It is also said to be one of her most known songs.

In 2007, she released Mi Vida Loca, which debuted at number 1 on the Regional Mexican Albums chart and number 2 on the Top Latin Albums chart in the United States. The album garnered an award for Regional Mexican Album of the Year at the 2008 Latin *Billboard* Music Awards. In a 2011 interview with *Billboard* magazine she stated, "That was more of Jenni telling her story through music. My life has been so put out there by the media that I figured I might as well put it out there myself, in my own words and through my music. I wanted to clear up speculations about my private life." The album also garnered Rivera her first Lo Nuestro Award for Regional Mexican Female Artist of the Year, an award she would dominate for the rest of her life. The same year she released *La Diva en Vivo*, a live album that consisted of songs recorded with a mariachi band, which garnered her her second Latin Grammy nomination for Best Ranchero Album. That year she was the only female singer nominated in that category. The album was recorded at The Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City, California. Rivera sold out the concert, the first female banda singer to do so. Her tenth studio album, Jenni, released in 2008, became her first No. 1 record on the *Billboard* Top Latin Albums chart in the United States. The album won Rivera her second Lo Nuestro Award for Banda Artist of the Year, the first (and, to date, only) female act to win the accolade.

In 2009, she changed course and recorded her first full mariachi studio album titled La Gran Señora, which garnered a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Ranchero Album. It peaked at No. 2 on the *Billboard* Top Latin Albums chart in the United States. In an interview Rivera said that releasing the album was very daring and marked her career in a positive way. She said she wanted to grow as an artist and the people that listen to banda will listen to mariachi if they find a good album that they feel is worth buying. She went on to say there are certain nationalities that will listen to mariachi and not banda. Those were the people that she was going after. She also stated, "Commercializing a ranchera album is much harder. There had not been a successful female mariachi artist in a long time. It was a big risk, but it was a risk that I was willing to take. *La Gran Señora* ended up being the biggest-selling [regional Mexican] album of 2010."

### 2010-2012: Reality Show, La Gran Se*ñora En Vivo, Las Vegas Star, Joyas Prestadas, and La Voz: Mėxico*

In 2010, she announced she would be going on tour to promote her latest album, *La Gran Señora*. At the end of the tour, she released *La Gran Señora en Vivo*, a live album that consisted of hits in banda and mariachi. It debuted at No. 8 on the Top Latin Albums chart in the United States. She recorded the album and became the first artist to sell out two back-to-back nights at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, on August 6–7, 2010.

She also became the first Latin artist to sell out the Nokia Theatre on July 9, 2009. The tour proved to be a success. *La Gran Señora* and *La Gran Señora en Vivo* both garnered Latin Grammy nominations in the Regional Mexican category and went platinum in Mexico and the United States.

On August 23, 2011, she renewed her contract with Universal Music Latin Entertainment/Fonovisa Records.

To celebrate this event, she performed at and sold out the Staples Center in Los Angeles, becoming the first female Regional Mexican singer to do so.

At the concert, she announced she would be recording *Joyas Prestadas*, which consists of eleven cover versions, with the first album being recorded in Latin pop, while the second was recorded in banda. Both albums were produced by Enrique Martinez. According to Rivera, the songs she chose to cover were those she was enamored with while working as a cashier in a record store. It was her first production to include ballad recordings. She has also sold out Mexico's National Auditorium, a feat few female singers in her genre ever achieve.

Rivera was a producer on the Mun2 reality TV show *Chiquis & Raq-C*, featuring her oldest daughter Chiquis. She then appeared in the spin-off show *I Love Jenni*. Rivera worked as coach in the second season of the Mexican talent show *La Voz... México*, based upon *The Voice* franchise. In October 2012, *People en Español* named her one of the Top 25 most powerful women.

In December 2012, Rivera was only the third singer to place three albums on the entire top three on the *Billboard* Top Latin Albums chart with her albums No.1 *La Misma Gran Señora*, No. 2 *Joyas Prestadas: Pop*, and No. 3 *Joyas Prestadas: Banda*. She joins two other leading singers, who also achieved the feat only in death: Celia Cruz and Selena Quintanilla. In life and death, several media outlets including CNN, *Billboard*, Fox News, and *The New York Times* have labeled Rivera the most important female figure and top-selling female artist in the regional Mexican music genre.