Mourning Vicente Fernández, ‘King of Ranchera’ Music
Mexican Music Legend of Love and Heartbreak Songs Dies At 81
By Maria Lopez-Bernstein
Mexicans and Latinos all over the world are mourning the death of Mexican music legend and cultural icon Vicente Fernández who passed away Sunday at the age of 81.
Vicente Fernández performing at Estadio Azteca in Un Azteca En El Azteca retirement show in 2016. Credit: RGR Mariachi
One of Mexico’s most recognizable and cultural icons, Fernández sold more than 65 million albums and starred in more than 35 films in a decades-long career that brought him international fame and a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
Considered the King of Ranchera music, his prolific career spanned more than five decades and is considered an essential part of Mexican popular music. His lyrics of love and heartbreak earned him many awards including 3 Grammys, 8 Latin Grammys, and 14 Lo Nuestro Awards. He has been inducted into Billboard’s Latin Music Hall of Fame (1998) and the International Music Hall of Fame (2002). He made history when a record-setting 5,000 people attended his star-presentation ceremony on the walk of fame in Hollywood. He has 51 albums listed on the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for gold, platinum, and multiplatinum-selling records.
With his signature thick mustache, long sideburns, and often elaborate mariachi costume, the singer with classic hits as “Mujeres Divinas,” “Por Tu Maldito Amor,” “Volver, Volver,” and “El Rey,” entertained packed houses on stages in Europe, the U.S., and Latin America. But stardom didn’t come easy to him.
The son of a rancher and housewife, Fernández enjoyed going to the movies with his mother. It was at the movies when he was six or seven years old and while watching actor/singer Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete that he told his mother he was going to grow up to be like them. At age 8, he was given a guitar, which he learned to play at the same time he was studying folk music. At 14 years old, he started singing at tables for tips. Finishing his basic education, the young teenager worked for construction companies as a painter, bricklayer, and cabinet maker. He also worked as a cashier in an uncle’s restaurant. All the while, he sang at weddings and joined several mariachi groups. He began to get recognition at age 21 when he appeared on the television show La calandria musical. It was his first paid gig. At 25, he moved to Mexico City to seek a musical career and got some airplay with a radio show. His first attempts with record companies were fruitless because at that time, singer Javier Solís was at the top of the charts. It wasn’t until Solís’ untimely death a year later, that Fernández started receiving recording offers.
As he was to go onstage in 1970, he learned of his father’s death. With pain in his heart, he chose to continue with the show. His emotional performance led to critical acclaim. His name was lauded among the best ranchera performers of his day. The rest is music history.
“Rest in peace, Mr. Vicente Fernández. We regret to inform you of his death on Sunday, December 12 at 6:15 a.m.,” a post on the singer’s Instagram page read. “It was an honor and a great pride to share with everyone a great musical career and to give everything for his audience. Thank you for continuing to applaud, thank you for continuing to sing.”
Also known as “El Charro de Huentitan” for the town where he was born in the western state of Jalisco, Fernández died in Guadalajara, on the same day that Mexico (and Mexicans living elsewhere) celebrates the feast of the Virgen de la Guadalupe. The feast day is significant to Mexicans as it observes the date in 1531 when the Virgin Mary purportedly appeared to Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican, in the last of several apparitions.
Fernández experienced a fall at his ranch in July that injured his cervical spine, requiring surgery. He was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare and autoimmune condition that made recovery more difficult. He was in the intensive care unit and hospitalized for four months.
News of his death quickly flooded social media networks after Telemundo interrupted its live broadcast of Mexico’s Virgen de la Guadalupe celebration and Mexican publications announced his passing. Large crowds of fans and onlookers were seen outside his ranch, laying flowers, praying, and hoping to get a final glance as his body was returned home from the hospital where he died.
To date, there is no further information about the cause of death or of funeral plans.
Fernández retired from the stage in 2016 with a final concert of nearly 50 songs at Mexico City’s Azteca stadium. Now it is the world’s turn to stage a final goodbye.
Main Image Attribution: Kevin Winter | Credit: Getty Images for LARAS; Copyright: 2019 Recording Academy
