December 9, 2012 will be a date that the music industry will remember as the day they lost one of their most influential singers and entrepreneurs, Jenni Rivera, La Diva de la Banda. She was returning from a concert in front of 17,000 people in Monterrey, Mexico, when the plane she was in, along with other members of her crew, crashed, taking the life of La Gran Señora. Family, friends and fans were devastated by the news, since they all praised Jenni for being an example, a success story, a dedicated mother and business woman. Now, almost a year since the Banda singer left this earth, Billboard magazine digs into her life and dedicates its cover story to this iconic performer, her heritage and her flourishing empire.
According to Billboard, last year Jenni made the promise that 2013 was going to be her year. “She was 43 and already a multimillionaire. As the biggest female artist in regional Mexican, she'd placed 26 songs on Billboard's Regional Mexican Airplay chart,” the article said. “This was the year she was going to star in her own sitcom, part of a plan to capture the mainstream success that would take her beyond her Spanish-language hits.” She also signed with Creative Artists Agency to expand her brand and landed a tequila endorsement appropriately named Tequila La Gran Señora by Jenni Rivera, which was released in August.
The publication narrates the stressing moments for both the family and Jenni’s manager, Pete Salgado, after they found out La Diva de la Banda’s plane had gone missing after her Monterrey concert. Salgado shared his thoughts and feelings after learning the devastating news, and what he had to go through after realizing the morbid irony of Jenni accomplishing the coverage she wanted by the English media, and the international success she always strived for, after her death. "Jenni was heading toward something big and people wanted more," says Victor Gonzalez, president of UMLE, Rivera’s distributor under the Fonovisa label.
"We realized that no [Latin] celebrity in recent times, not even a politician, has received that kind of coverage. The interest in Jenni illustrates that there was this momentum, a major force. People will continue looking for her in one form or another." The online excerpt of the Billboard article also highlights that while touring was a primary source of revenue for Rivera, she had other businesses on the side, including jeans, to a line of blow dryers and flat irons. She was also planning a jewelry and children’s clothing line, and a perfume called Forever, which her daughter Chiquis is completing for her, following her detailed notes about the business venture.
Her family will also open the Jenni Rivera Boutique in Los Angeles this year, featuring memorabilia of the late singer, as well as a line of quinceañera dresses created by Rivera’s personal designer, Adan Terriquez.
For the full story, don’t forget to buy Billboard magazine’s next issue, hitting newsstands on Oct. 12.
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