Authorities have confirmed that Latina singer and TV star Jenni Rivera, as well as seven passengers—including her publicist, lawyer and makeup artist—were killed in a plane crash shortly after takeoff.
Wreckage of the Learjet was found in Nuevo Leon state, Mexico. According to an article in People, the plane was carrying the 43-year-old California-born performer. The plane lost touch with air traffic controllers following Rivera's concert in Monterrey, and never made it to its scheduled destination at Toluca, outside Mexico City.
Known as the Diva of Banda, Rivera sold over 20 million albums sold worldwide and was "recently named one of People En Español's 25 most powerful women."
Her first album, "Chacalosa," released in 1995, became a hit and was followed by two others, including a tribute to slain Mexican-American singer Selena. According to the CTV News report, she had acquired a devout following on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border.
She had been in negotiations with ABC for a new show, simply titled Jenni, depicting a "strong, middle-class, single Latina woman working to raise a family using unique parenting skills."
Rivera also starred on the Telemundo reality show I Love Jenni, based on her life as an entertainer and recently divorced mother of five. She was married to former Major League Baseball pitcher Esteban Loaiza for two years.
"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," she said to fans at her last concert. "I am a woman like any other and ugly things happen to me like any other woman. The number of times I have fallen down is the number of times I have gotten up."
Such sad news.
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