vicente fernandez last tour

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MEXICO: Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez gives his final concert in his native city of Guadalajara

• Title: MEXICO: Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez gives his final concert in his native city of Guadalajara
• Date: 17th February 2013
• Summary: GENERAL VIEW OF CONCERT FERNANDEZ DURING CONCERT GENERAL VIEW OF CONCERT
• Embargoed: 4th March 2013 12:00
• Location: Mexico
• Country: Mexico
• Topics: Entertainment
• Reuters ID: LVABW83Z326QLPC87E6KA6641CPO
• Story Text: Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez played his last concert on Friday (February 15) in his native town of Guadalajara, almost a year after announcing his retirement from music. The concert took place at the Arena VFG, named in Fernandez's honour. Fernandez was born in Huentitlan, on the outskirts of the city. Fernandez, who turns 73 on February 17, announced his retirement in February 2012, but said that he would go on tour one final time to thank his fans for their support. "Well I am still not saying good-bye, that's what I'm telling you. God bless you for this love. It hasn't been 47 years. It's been 47 years with the company, but I've been singing serenades for seven years aside from that, and singing at tables for tips. I am an artist that comes from the very bottom. I didn't just appear out of puff of smoke," Fernandez said on Friday. Hailed as the "King of the Ranchera," Fernandez has won countless awards during a career spanning more than 45 years resulting in more than 100 albums and 25 motion pictures. Jose Manuel Flores, a concert-goer from the city of Tampico, Tamaulipas state, said that he hoped that the concert would not be the last time fans heard from Fernandez. "We came here for what appears to be his goodbye. But I don't think we have heard the last of Don Vicente. He will always keep singing. We hope he is always with us," he said. Fernandez is considered a folk hero in Mexico, and has attracted a huge following in other Latin American countries as well. "I like all his songs. All of his songs. But we were just listening to "My Defeat." I am a very happy woman, being here at his last performance," fan Zoila Mendez Aguirre said. In March and April, Fernandez will travel to the U.S. to play eight shows that were cancelled in 2012 due to a medical procedure to remove a lump from his liver. Fernandez is considered the quintessential Mexican crooner. Expansive sombreros, intricately embroidered mariachi suits, a stark black mustache and a rich tenor give him the perfect persona for singing traditional Mexican songs of love and loss.
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Mexico's beloved Vicente Fernandez bids farewell with concert

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Vicente Ferandez is the original troubadour, in his traditional Mexican attire complete with Sombrero. The crooner sings in Spanish and works his way around the stage singing to this adoring audience who respond to his every move that he does. He opens with “Estos Celos” the huge song accompanied by horns and a guitar quartet. He pleases everyone in this audience walking around singing to everyone, through the audience hugging and kissing members of the audience at random. He performs with a smile, and of course this audience join him smiling through his set. “Motivos (En Vivo)” is the song that his Mexican crooner invites a string ensemble to join in, complementing his melodramatic voice. Better yet, this string ensemble can all sing! The whole set is magical. Seeing Fernandez do what he is best at throughout the performance is truly captivating and inspirational to witness. I want to go and get a sombrero now!

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Vicente Fernández, a Mexican musical icon for generations, dies at 81

Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez performs at AmericanAirlines Arena on October 10, 2010 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Olivia Salazar/WireImage)

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Vicente Fernández’s romantic rancheras and timeless folk anthems defined the grit and romance of his turbulent homeland, songs of love, heartbreak and working-class heroes that made him a cultural giant for generations of fans throughout Latin America and beyond.

With his buttery baritone and ornate sombreros, embroidered jackets and slim trousers, he stood as a constant for decades, a source of comfort in good times and bad.

But time finally caught up with a performer who seemed eternal.

In poor health in recent months, Fernández died Sunday at 81, according to an announcement on his Instagram page. A cause of death was not specified.

At the singer’s palatial ranch near Guadalajara, mourners and mariachis gathered to belt out his songs and place flowers outside the stately brick entrance gate Sunday. In other parts of the country, fans blasted his music from their cars and wept openly in the streets.

“I cried,” said Rosa María Hernández, a 40-year-old homemaker in Mexico City. Every member of her family, from her children to her 89-year-old grandmother, are fans of Fernández, she said. “We’re all in pain. Vicente Fernández was one of the greatest artists God gave to Mexico.”

Column: Vicente Fernández’s journey was our parents’ journey. Long may they live

Mexican music icon Vicente Fernández was more than just a singer to his fans in the U.S. He was them

Dec. 12, 2021

Armando López Estrada, an architect in Mexico City, echoed the sentiment.

“His songs have accompanied me in all my joys and my sorrows,” he said. “Mexico and the world will miss him.”

On Twitter, President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador described Fernández as “a symbol of the ranchera song of our time, known and recognized in Mexico and abroad.”

Fernández, who performed his final live show at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium in 2016, had a variety of health ailments in recent years, including liver and prostate cancer. In 2013, he was forced to cut short his farewell tour after being hospitalized with a pulmonary embolism. On numerous occasions, fictional reports of his death surfaced on the internet, leading the singer at one point to release a video in which he humorously declared, “When I die, I’ll let you know.”

Across Los Angeles, fans mourned Vicente Fernández

They blared his songs from speakers in homes and cars and at shops and restaurants. Mourners piled flowers and candles around his star at the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

During a career that began on the street corners of Guadalajara, the self-taught troubadour recorded more than 50 albums, all in Spanish, and sold tens of millions of copies, nearly half in the United States. He toured relentlessly, created the themes for wildly popular telenovelas and starred in more than two dozen movies throughout the ’70s and ’80s.

In 1998, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — his greatest prize, he once said, because he considered it a gift from his fans. But as late as 2016, the inveterate performer was still drawing accolades: Fernández took home the Grammy Award for regional Mexican album for the live recording of his final show, titled “Un Azteca en el Azteca” (“An Aztec at the Aztec”).

Blessed with an operatic voice and a stately sense of showmanship, Fernández was renowned for blending musical virtuosity with heartthrob theatrics, folkloric traditions with mass-market appeal. He was widely viewed as the last of a breed, the final entry in Mexico’s pantheon of crooning matinee idols. His nicknames were appropriately epic: El Número Uno, the People’s Son, the King of Mexican Song. But to his legions of fans, he was “Chente” — short for Vicente — a presence so ubiquitous and long-running, he could, like a member of the family, be invoked with a simple nickname.

In fact, Fernández, decked out in his embroidered ensembles, complete with engraved, gold-plated pistol, served as the embodiment of Mexico itself — at least an older, idealized Mexico. Backed by a full mariachi band, he sang of ranches and cantinas, honor and patriotism, saluting those who were penniless but happy, heartbroken yet proud.

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As Fernández approached his prime, however, the Mexico he represented began to unravel. The 1990s brought the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Zapatistas and a parade of horrors beginning with the narco wars. Globalization was reshaping the music industry; Mexican radio came to feature more American top 40 than ranchera, the rural ballads that were Fernández’s bread and butter.

Rather than embrace contemporary styles, Fernández dug in his heels.

“When you’re a ranchera singer, you represent your country,” he once told The Times. “It’s a God-given gift.”

Fernández’s most significant feat may be that he managed to stay relevant, preserving a vernacular genre without being reduced to a novelty act. He seemed to reintroduce himself to a new generation every decade while never straying from the fans who made him a titan.

“The way people look at Vicente, he’s part of their identity: As long as he’s OK, they’re OK,” his record promoter, Sony Discos Vice President Jose Rosario, said at the time.

Entretenimiento

Muere Vicente Fernández, la leyenda que desafió a la historia, a los 81 años

“Lamentamos comunicarles su deceso el día domingo 12 de diciembre a las 6:15 am. (Hora de México).

That role would get its greatest test in 1998, when kidnappers ambushed Fernández’s eldest son and namesake, 33-year-old Vicente Jr., as he left his father’s ranch on the outskirts of Guadalajara. For nearly four months, they held him hostage. Their demands spiraled into the millions. To pressure Fernández, they chopped off two of Vicente Jr.’s fingers.

Although he was distraught, Fernández kept the ordeal secret. He refused to file a police report or cancel any concerts. In part, it was a pragmatic move; the kidnappers had warned him to not make trouble. But Fernández had his own reasons for wanting the show to go on. He was the quintessential old-school performer, an entertainer who lived to sing and sang to live.

Only after Vicente Jr. was freed — unharmed but for his fingers — did Fernández publicly reveal what had happened. Despite the tragedy, he remained fiercely devoted to his native land. “I will not leave Mexico,” he told the Televisa network at the time. “From my country, they will only take me out feet first.”

The story propelled Fernández into U.S. headlines, marking his introduction to many in the English-speaking world. But for millions of Latin Americans — including those living in the United States — Fernández was already a legend on par with the likes of those other mononymous crooners Elvis and Sinatra.

Born Feb. 17, 1940, Vicente Fernández Gomez spent his earliest years in Huentitán El Alto, a rural settlement on the fringes of Guadalajara, where his parents raised cattle. A fifth-grade dropout, the young singer grew up milking cows and birthing calves; as a teenager in Tijuana, he washed dishes, shined shoes, tended bar and laid bricks.

Although he would later become a multimillionaire — with his own Learjet and a swimming pool in the shape of a guitar — Fernández clung to his salt-of-the-earth bona fides. “There are two kinds of people in the world,” he would tell audiences, “the poor rich ones and the rich poor ones.”

The song he considered his most autobiographical — “El Hijo Del Pueblo” (“The People’s Son”), written by legendary singer-songwriter José Alfredo Jiménez — echoed those themes:

It is my pride to have been born in the most humble of neighborhoods, Far from the bustle and false society.… I go through life very happy with my poverty Because I don’t have money, I have a lot of heart.

Appreciation: 10 essential songs of ranchera legend Vicente Fernández

What made Vicente Fernández so consistently spectacular across four decades? Start with these songs.

Fernández’s musical career began just as humbly, without the benefit of voice lessons or star-making machinery. At 21, he returned to Guadalajara and joined the throng of mariachis in the plaza at San Juan de Dios Church, where he spent two years singing for tips. Later, he graduated to the restaurant circuit, then a slot on a live Opry-like radio show. But when he auditioned for his first record contract, the big Mexico City labels treated him like a rube. “They told me that I should go sell peanuts,” Fernández recalled.

Mexican music, up to that point, had been dominated by a succession of mustachioed cowboys, their roguish charms and silken voices marketed as symbols of national identity: Jiménez, Jorge Negrete, Pedro Infante, Javier Solis. Each died at the height of their careers, and before hitting middle age. It was the loss of Solis — during gallbladder surgery, in 1966 — that opened the door for Fernández; within a week, he got a call from CBS Records. Fernández signed with the label, which later became Sony, the company he remained with his entire career.

He soon gained fame for his dexterous baritone, as thick and pliable as putty. He could wail and whimper, chortle and coo, often dropping his microphone midsong and finishing the verse in a naked roar. Whether performing in a Mexican cockfighting pit or a pricey Vegas lounge, he always began with the same promise: to keep singing as long as his audience kept applauding. Frequently, that would mean a marathon of three or four hours, leaving him bathed in sweat, soaked by kisses and showered with booze.

It was the romantic “Volver, Volver” (“Return, Return”), which he first released in 1972, that launched him to international stardom — a searing ballad of a man who longs to returns to the arms of the woman he loves. The song is now a staple of Latin American song (and drunken late-night revelry), reimagined by myriad mariachi acts, European vocalists and the L.A. band Los Lobos, who included a rocked-out version of the tune on albums and concerts.

Unlike the other ranchera kings — none of whom lived past their 40s — Fernández spent a lifetime atop the throne. Over the course of his career, he won three Grammy Awards and eight Latin Grammys, along with innumerable Mexican and other Latin American honors. In 2002, he was honored as person of the year by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, organizer of the Latin Grammys.

For decades, he reigned as one of the most bankable acts in Los Angeles, selling out a string of shows every year at the Pico Rivera Sports Arena and the Universal Amphitheatre. When his Hollywood star was unveiled, a record 4,500 people turned out.

“He represents the maintenance of a culture, the heart and soul of the masses,” said Steve Loza, a professor of ethnomusicology at UCLA. “You want to feel proud of who you are? You want to tell your kids what it is to be Mexican and never lose it? All you have to do is listen to Vicente.”

Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, Mario Lopez mourn Vicente Fernández: ‘Voice of a culture’

Fans have taken to social media to honor Vicente ‘Chente’ Fernández, the 81-year-old Mexican singing legend whose death was announced Sunday.

His most important partner throughout his life was his wife, María del Refugio Abarca Villaseñor, known as Cuquita, the Guadalajaran neighbor whom he married in 1963, and with whom he had four children: Gerardo, Alejandra, Vicente Jr. and Alejandro. The latter two, like their father, became singers — with the handsome, baritone-voiced Alejandro, whose music straddles pop and Mexican traditional styles, achieving a large measure of international stardom. Alejandro, dubbed “El Potrillo,” or the Colt, would often join his father onstage for duets, with the mournful “Perdón,” whose lyrics begged the forgiveness of a beloved, becoming a staple.

To his fans, Fernández sometimes seemed ageless — his thin mustache and long sideburns remaining preternaturally black — but he was keenly aware of time. He retired from the movie business in 1991, mindful that his on-screen magnetism had begun to fade. But he remained a magnetic stage presence until the end, even when his movements were slowed by age, his voice hollowed by time. At his final concert at Azteca Stadium, as was his custom, he held aloft a glass of tequila while belting out “Volver, Volver,” blowing kisses to the ebullient crowd.

Fernández often spoke of wanting his life to end onstage, a sentiment that inspired one of his favorite songs, “Una Noche Como Esta” (“A Night Like This One”):

If singing like this I have earned your affection, I would be happy if, singing like this, One day, I die .

Times columnists Carolina A. Miranda and Gustavo Arellano in Los Angeles and staff writer Kate Linthicum and special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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Flowers and candles surround the Hollywood Walk of Fame star of the late Mexican musician Vicente Fernández, Monday, in Los Angeles. Chris Pizzelo/AP hide caption

Flowers and candles surround the Hollywood Walk of Fame star of the late Mexican musician Vicente Fernández, Monday, in Los Angeles.

The death of singer Vicente Fernández — nicknamed "El Chente" — hit hard for Mexicans around the world, particularly for the older generation. He was known to his many fans as El Rey — the King — of Ranchera, a musical style rooted in the values and traditions of rural Mexico.

He was born and died in Guadalajara, Mexico, the epicenter of ranchera music. For more than half a century, the mustachioed mariachi superstar belted out songs like Volver Volver , an anthem to lost love. With his elegant charro suit, a magnificent wide-brimmed sombrero and a pistol on his hip, he was a cultural icon. During his long career, he sold more than 50 million albums, starred in dozens of films, won three Grammys, eight Latin Grammys, and left a musical legacy.

In one of his most popular songs, El Rey , he sang " el día que yo me muera sé que tendrás que llorar. " Translation: "On the day I die I know you will have to cry." This week, those lyrics came to be, as his family, friends and many fans mourned, from the Los Tres Potrillos ranch where he was laid to rest in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco state, Mexico, to Hollywood, Calif., where he has a star on the Walk of Fame.

Fans of Mexican singer Vicente Fernández sing his songs as they hold his picture and the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, outside the Country 2000 hospital where he died, in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Dec. 12. Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Fans of Mexican singer Vicente Fernández sing his songs as they hold his picture and the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, outside the Country 2000 hospital where he died, in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Dec. 12.

View of candles and flowers to honor Mexican singer Vicente Fernández outside the Rancho los Tres Potrillos in Tlajomulco, Mexico, on Dec. 12, on the day of his death. Fernández, the most important representative of ranchera music in Mexico, died Sunday in Guadalajara at 81, after remaining in the hospital for almost five months due to a domestic accident, his family informed. Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

View of candles and flowers to honor Mexican singer Vicente Fernández outside the Rancho los Tres Potrillos in Tlajomulco, Mexico, on Dec. 12, on the day of his death. Fernández, the most important representative of ranchera music in Mexico, died Sunday in Guadalajara at 81, after remaining in the hospital for almost five months due to a domestic accident, his family informed.

Musicians pay tribute to Mexican singer Vicente Fernández outside the Rancho los Tres Potrillos in Tlajomulco, Mexico, on Dec. 12, on the day of his death. Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Musicians pay tribute to Mexican singer Vicente Fernández outside the Rancho los Tres Potrillos in Tlajomulco, Mexico, on Dec. 12, on the day of his death.

A fan of Mexican singer Vicente Fernández arrives in a car with his portrait outside the Country 2000 hospital where he died, in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Dec. 12. Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A fan of Mexican singer Vicente Fernández arrives in a car with his portrait outside the Country 2000 hospital where he died, in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Dec. 12.

The body of Mexican singer Vicente Fernández is carried in a carriage on the Chapala highway toward Los Tres Potrillos Ranch in Tlajomulco, Mexico, on Dec. 10. Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The body of Mexican singer Vicente Fernández is carried in a carriage on the Chapala highway toward Los Tres Potrillos Ranch in Tlajomulco, Mexico, on Dec. 10.

The sons of Mexican singer Vicente Fernández, Gerardo (L-Front), Alejandro (R-back), Vicente Jr (R) and his widow Maria del Refugio Abarca (R-Front), mourn next to his coffin during his funeral at "Los Tres Potrillos" ranch in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco state, Mexico, on Dec. 13. Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The sons of Mexican singer Vicente Fernández, Gerardo (L-Front), Alejandro (R-back), Vicente Jr (R) and his widow Maria del Refugio Abarca (R-Front), mourn next to his coffin during his funeral at "Los Tres Potrillos" ranch in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco state, Mexico, on Dec. 13.

The coffin of Mexican singer Vicente Fernández is displayed during his funeral at "Los Tres Potrillos" ranch in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco state, Mexico, on Dec. 13. Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The coffin of Mexican singer Vicente Fernández is displayed during his funeral at "Los Tres Potrillos" ranch in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco state, Mexico, on Dec. 13.

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Vicente Fernández, revered Mexican singer, dies at 81

FILE - Vicente Fernandez performs at the 20th Latin Grammy Awards on Nov. 14, 2019, in Las Vegas. The Mexican singer died early Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021, relatives reported. He was 81 years old. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

FILE- In this file photo of Saturday, April 16, 2016, the Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez performs at a free concert at Azteca Stadium. Fernández, the regional Mexican music star whose powerful voice immortalized songs like “El rey”, “Volver, Volver” and “Pity that you are alien” while inspiring new generations of performers like his son Alejandro Fernández Jr., He died early Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021, relatives reported. He was 81 years old. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

FILE - Vicente Fernandez, center, performs with his son Alejandro Fernandez, right, and grandson, Alex Fernandez, at the 20th Latin Grammy Awards, on Nov. 14, 2019, in Las Vegas. The Mexican singer died early Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021, relatives reported. He was 81 years old. (Foto AP/Chris Pizzello, archivo)

FILE - Vicente Fernandez performs at a free concert during Valentine’s Day in Mexico City’s on Feb. 14, 2009, file photo, singer. On Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2016. The Mexican singer died Sunday at 81 years of age in Guadalajara, Mexico, his family announced in a statement. (AP Photo/Claudio Cruz, File)

FILE - Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez drinks “Aguardiente,” a Colombian liqueur derived from sugar cane, during a concert in Cali, Colombia, Feb. 21, 2009. Fernandez, a beloved Mexican singer who was awarded three Grammys and nine Latin Grammys and inspired a new generation of performers, including his son Alejandro Fernández Jr. has died. (AP Photo/Christian Escobar Mora, File)

Miguel del Toro Chavez a fan of the Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez holds a book with an image of him outside of a hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico, Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021. The Mexican singer died, relatives reported. He was 81 years old. (AP Photo/Refugio Ruiz)

A Mariachi band waits for clients at Pepe Guizar square or “Plaza de los Mariachis” in Guadalajara, Mexico, Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021. Vicente Fernandez, the beloved Mexican singer who was awarded three Grammys and nine Latin Grammys and inspired a new generation of performers, including his son Alejandro Fernández Jr. has died. (AP Photo/Refugio Ruiz)

Fans of the Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez take a selfie with a statue of Fernandez, at Pepe Guizar square or “Plaza de los Mariachis” in Guadalajara, Mexico, Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021. Fernandez, a beloved Mexican singer who was awarded three Grammys and nine Latin Grammys and inspired a new generation of performers, including his son Alejandro Fernández Jr. has died. (AP Photo/Refugio Ruiz)

Fans of the Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez meet around a statue of him at Pepe Guizar square or “Plaza de los Mariachis” in Guadalajara, Mexico, Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021. Fernandez, a beloved Mexican singer who was awarded three Grammys and nine Latin Grammys and inspired a new generation of performers, including his son Alejandro Fernández Jr. has died. (AP Photo/Refugio Ruiz)

FILE - Mexico’s “King of Ranchero” Vicente Fernandez, left, is embraced by his son Alejandro during a tribute gala honoring him as the 2002 Latin Recording Academy person of the year in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2002. Vicente Fernandez, the beloved Mexican singer who was awarded three Grammys and nine Latin Grammys and inspired a new generation of performers, including his son Alejandro Fernández Jr. has died. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Vicente Fernández, an iconic and beloved singer of regional Mexican music who was awarded three Grammys and nine Latin Grammys and inspired a new generation of performers, including his son Alejandro Fernández, died on Sunday. He was 81.

Fernández was known for hits such as “El Rey,” and “Lástima que seas ajena,” his command of the ranchera genre and his dark and elegant mariachi suits with their matching wide-brimmed sombreros.

His music attracted fans far beyond Mexico’s borders. Songs like “Volver, Volver” and “Como Mexico no hay dos” were extremely popular among Mexican immigrant communities in the U.S. because of how they expressed the longing for the homeland.

“It was an honor and a great pride to share with everyone a great musical career and give everything for the audience,” Fernández’s family said on his official Instagram account. “Thank you for continuing to applaud, thank you for continuing to sing.”

Fernández, known also by his nickname ″Chente,″ died at 6:15 a.m. in a hospital in Jalisco state, his family said. In August, he had suffered a serious fall and had been hospitalized since then for that and other ailments.

Beginning early on Sunday, people began posting messages, many of them recalling the lyrics to one of the favorite mariachi requests at parties and restaurants that goes “I am still the king.”

Music greats such as Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin, Pitbull and Maluma took to social media to post heartfelt condolences, some citing how his music influenced them. Famous country singer George Strait said he was “one of my heroes.”

“I am broken hearted. Don Chente has been an angel to me all my life,” Ricky Martin said. “The only thing that gives me comfort at this moment, is that every time we saw each other I told him how important he was to me.”

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also expressed his condolences, calling him “a symbol of the ranchera music.”

On Sunday night, his widow, María del Refugio Abarca Villaseñor, along with his children, grandchildren and hundreds of relatives and friends said goodbye to Fernández at his favorite place, his ranch.

The earth of Los Tres Potrillos ranch on the outskirts of Guadalajara vibrated when his fans in the stands and mariachis on a stage covered with flowers bid goodbye the giant of Mexican music. The song “Mexico Lindo” opened the public funeral at Los Tres Potrillos. His iconic charro hat was perched on the coffin. His private burial was to take place on Monday.

The timing of his death was also highlighted by fans as Fernández often sang on Dec. 12 to mark the Catholic pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, an event that attracts vast crowds. The commemoration was being held on Sunday after it was canceled last year because of the pandemic.

Vicente Fernández Gómez was born on February 17, 1940 in the town of Huentitán El Alto in the western state of Jalisco. He spent most of his childhood on the ranch of his father, Ramón Fernández, on the outskirts

The artist sold more than 50 million records and appeared in more than 30 films. In 1998, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In April 2016, he said goodbye to the stage before about 85,000 people in Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. Spectators had traveled from northern Mexico as well as the United States, Colombia and other Latin American countries for the occasion.

Associated Press writer Adriana Gomez Licon contributed to this report from Miami.

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Vicente Fernández: Exclusive BTS Clip Of ‘Un Azteca En El Azteca’ Concert in Mexico City

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Billing it as his last concert ever, Mexican icon  Vicente Fernández gave an emotional and historical performance back in April in Mexico City's Estadio Azteca where he sang all his classics including "El Rey," "Acá entre nos," "Volver, volver," "Hermoso cariño" and "Por tu maldito amor" in front of more than 80,000 fans. 

The memorable concert will be included as a DVD on the chart-topping artist's upcoming album  Un  Azteca  en El  Azteca  — which is also said to be his last — that will drop Friday (Sept. 9) and includes two CD's with live performances from the show. 

Before you can get your hands on Un Azteca En El Azteca , Billboard can exclusively premiere behind the scenes footage of  Fernández's epic concert "Un  Azteca  en el Azteca." 

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Vicente Fernández, ‘El Rey’ of Mexican Ranchera Music, Is Dead at 81

A beloved Mexican singer, Mr. Fernández was known for his powerful operatic range and marathon performances, delivered in a signature charro outfit and intricately embroidered sombrero.

By Christine Chung

Vicente Fernández, the powerful tenor whose songs of love, loss and patriotism inspired by life in rural Mexico endeared him to generations of fans as “El Rey,” the king of traditional ranchera music, died on Sunday morning. He was 81.

His death was announced in a post on his official Instagram account , which did not give a cause or say where he died. He had been hospitalized for months after a spinal injury he sustained in August, according to previous posts from the account.

Accompanied by his mariachi band, Mr. Fernández brought ranchera music, which emerged from the ranches of Mexico in the 19th century, to the rest of Latin America and beyond. In his signature charro outfit and intricately embroidered sombrero, a celebration of the genre’s countryside origins, he performed at some of the largest venues in the world.

He recorded dozens of albums and hundreds of songs over a career that spanned six decades. His enduring popularity was reflected in a series of industry accolades, including a place in the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, three Grammy Awards and eight Latin Grammy Awards. He sold tens of millions of copies of his albums and starred in dozens of movies.

He was known for giving epic, hourslong concerts, communing directly with his fans and taking swigs from bottles of alcohol that were offered to him. Known fondly as “Chente,” he would tell his audiences that “as long as you keep applauding, your ‘Chente’ won’t stop singing.”

Reviewing a 1995 performance at Radio City Music Hall for The New York Times, Jon Pareles wrote that Mr. Fernández “sang with operatic power and melodrama,” flexing his “ardent tenor” to “prodigious crescendos and a vibrato that could register on the Richter scale.”

He continued to give marathon performances well into his 70s. At a 2008 concert at Madison Square Garden, Mr. Fernández held court for three hours. A lingering note, delivered in his “lively, if slightly weathered tenor,” could render the audience silent, Jon Caramanica wrote in his review in The Times.

Vicente Fernández was born on Feb. 17, 1940, in Huentitán El Alto, in the state of Jalisco in western central Mexico. His father, Ramón Fernández, was a rancher and his mother, Paula Gómez de Fernández, stayed at home to raise their son.

He grew up watching matinee movies featuring the Mexican ranchera singer Pedro Infante, an early influence. When he was 8, he received his first guitar and began studying folk music. He left school in the fifth grade and later moved with his family to Tijuana after their cattle business collapsed. He told The Los Angeles Times in 1999 that he took whatever work he could, laying bricks and shining shoes, and even washing dishes.

“I’ve always said I got to where I am not by being a great singer, but by being stubborn, by being tenacious, by being pigheaded,” Mr. Fernández said.

He gravitated to a public square in Guadalajara called Mariachi Plaza, where he performed for tips, he told The Los Angeles Times. His career took off after he won a competition called La Calandria Musical when he was 19, he said in a 2010 interview with KENS 5 of San Antonio. He moved to Mexico City where he sang at a restaurant and at weddings, and unsuccessfully pitched himself to local record labels.

The labels came calling soon after the death in 1966 of Javier Solís, one of the most popular Mexican singers who specialized in bolero and ranchera music. Mr. Fernández then recorded his first albums, including hits like “Volver, Volver,” which elevated him to a level of fame that he had never envisioned, he told KENS 5. Other hits, including “El Rey” and “Lástima que seas ajena,” would follow.

“When I started my career, I always had the confidence that I would one day make it, but I never imagined that I would reach the heights at which the public has placed me,” Mr. Fernández said.

His public statements occasionally got him into trouble in his later years, such as when he said in a 2019 interview that he had refused a liver transplant because he feared that the donated organ might have come from a gay person or a drug addict. Earlier this year, he apologized after he was seen in a video touching a female fan’s breast without her consent while they posed for a photo.

Mr. Fernández married María del Refugio Abarca Villaseñor in 1963. She survives him, as do the couple’s children, Vicente, Gerardo, Alejandra and Alejandro, a Grammy-nominated ranchera performer .

Asked if a routine or exercise was a key to his longevity as a performer, Mr. Fernández told KENS that he walked every day for an hour and rode horses when he was home on his ranch. But when he was on tour, he said, “I don’t leave the hotels.”

“Still, that keeps me healthy,” he said. “My voice is well rested. When I hear the public’s applause, I don’t know where the voice comes from, but it does for three hours. You’ll have to ask God to find out how he blesses me every time.”

Christine Chung is a general assignment reporter covering breaking news. More about Christine Chung

Vicente Fernández’s final farewell: Live updates, memorial service, and more...

The remains of the singer will rest at his ranch ‘los tres potrillos’.

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Monday (12/13/2021) In progress...

At 3pm (local time Mexico) the mass started. The Eucharistic ceremony was enlivened by the mariachi Azteca, while his thousands of fans, as well as his relatives, were attentive and chanted the songs of the Mexican icon. At the end of the ceremony, the mortal remains of the singer are expected to be buried at the ranch.

The remains of Don Vicente will be buried in the central garden of the ranch where, according journalist Mara Patricia Castañeda (Vicente Jr.’s ex-wife), two graves have already been made and two tombstones have been placed: one for the late singer and the other for Doña Cuquita , when her time comes. Castañeda added that with this, the activities open to the public would end. In addition, she commented that the Fernández family is very exhausted by the events that have occurred in the last 24 hours.

Sunday (12/12/2021) Memorial Service

After several hours of waiting, the Vicente Fernández tribute has finally begun in the VFG Arena, at the ‘Los Tres Potrillos’ ranch in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, near Guadalajara, Jalisco. Thousands of his fans gathered at the venue to say goodbye to the greatest idol of Mexico.

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The coffin with the remains of the singer was placed on stage, along with a Christ and a Virgin of Guadalupe. The death of ‘El Charro de Huentitán’ coincided with the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico, so this farewell will go down in history in the collective memory of Mexicans.

The first visitors to the coffin were made by his children: Vicente Jr ., Alejandro , Gerardo and Alejandra . Then it was Doña Cuquita’s turn. Her children and loved ones left her alone with her husband’s body.

Alejandro Fernández performed one of the most emotional songs, ‘Amor de los dos,’ singing to his mother and father.

While the Mariachi Azteca —who accompanied Vicente Fernández for more than 40 years— sang his greatest hits such as ‘Acá entre nos’, ‘Hermoso Cariño’, ‘El Rey’, among others, his brothers, nephews, grandchildren and other people close to the family, approached the coffin of ‘The Charro de Huentitán’.

One of the most emotional moments of the night was when the song ‘Volver, Volver’ was sung, which Vicente Fernández assured years ago that he would like to be played at his funeral. Just when the Mariachi Azteca was singing ‘Volver, Volver’, the Aguilar family stood next to the coffin. Pepe Aguilar , his wife, his daughter Angela and his son Leonardo were at the foot of the coffin of the idol of Mexican song.

Before the Memorial and the Fans Bid Farewell

Hours after the death of Vicente Fernández , certain details of his funeral and the tributes that will be carried out in his honor have been released. At first, there was speculation about the possibility of a memorial being made at the Palacio de Bellas Artes , in Mexico City. However, his family clarified that all funeral services, as well as his tributes, will take place at the family ranch ‘Los Tres Potrillos’, in Tlajomulco de Zuñiga, near Guadalajara, Jalisco. Vicente Fernández Jr. told the media and the followers that the doors will be opened to the public so that they can say goodbye to the singer. The event is planned for the VFG Arena.

Vicente Fernández: Who is who in the Fernández dynasty?

“There are no Bellas Artes, everything will be in Guadalajara,” confirmed Vicente Jr. upon arrival at the ranch from the hospital where his father was admitted for over four months. The singer’s eldest son left minutes later to meet the press and his father’s fans to announce that the entrance to the tribute would take place through the VFG Arena access. “Pay attention to what I am going to ask both the media, the people and the public! We ask you politely, you are going to enter through the other door, through the arena’s door. We are going to thank you very much.”

Gerardo, Vicente Jr. and Alejandro’s youngest brother, indicated that his father’s body will not be cremated. Don Fernandez will be buried and his remains will rest in the central garden of the ranch ‘Los Tres Potrillos.’ This was decided by his four children.

In 2016, during the presentation of his album ‘Un Azteca en el Azteca’, Fernández spoke about how he wanted to be remembered among the people and his wishes for a humble funeral. “I prefer a quiet wake like any person who ceases to exist. I don’t want to be treated as if we’re selling ‘charamusca’ all over the country. I know that the affection that my people have for me will accompany me to the end and I don’t want to avoid it. I want them to remember me as a human being that the only success I had is that they remember me with affection,” he said.

The song that Vicente Fernández asked for his farewell: ‘Volver, Volver’

During a concert held years ago, ‘El Charro de Huentitán’ revealed to his audience that the song he would like them to sing at his funeral was ‘Volver, Volver.’ “This song for me is very special. I think that the day they are burying me they will sing it at the top of their lungs on television or wherever they are. I hope many years will go by,” said the singer at that time.

‘Volver, Volver’, was written by Fernando Z. Maldonado and was released in 1976. This song led Vicente Fernández’s career to world fame, taking Mexican regional music to the top. It is still unknown if musical numbers will be performed at the funerals in honor of the singer, however, several of his relatives have begun to arrive at the ranch to say goodbye.

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Vicente fernandez, towering icon of mexican music, dies at 81.

The ranchera music star was also an actor who appeared in more than 30 films.

By Leila Cobo, Billboard

Leila Cobo, Billboard

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Vicente Fernández, the towering icon of Mexican ranchera music whose powerful voice defined the lives of generations of fans throughout Latin America, died Sunday morning in a hospital in Guadalajara, his family confirms.

The cause was complications following surgery for a cervical spine injury after a bad fall last August. Fernández had remained hospitalized since then, in stable but serious condition. Over the last 24 hours, his condition deteriorated, according to official posts from his medical team on his official  Instagram  account. He was 81 years old.

Immediately recognizable for his elegant charro outfits and hat, his bold mustache and his dazzling smile, Fernández was only 5 feet 7 inches tall but had the stature and bearing of a giant. His concerts were the stuff of legend, extending for hours on end depending on the audiences’ whim. Always accompanied by his mariachi, Fernández was the ultimate musical companion, making grown men cry with his tales of broken hearts, and driving women to throw themselves (or their underwear) at him onstage, even as a septuagenarian.

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Fernández’s death is not just a death. It’s also the end of an era of extraordinary Mexican music and legendary performers and composers — Javier Solís, Pedro Infante, Antonio Aguilar, José Alfredo Jiménez, Jorge Negrete — of which Fernández was the youngest.

On the charts, no other voice of traditional Mexican has been as successful or as recognizable. A relentless touring and recording artist, Fernández has an output of over 50 albums and sits at No. 5 on  Billboard ’s Greatest Latin Artists of All Time chart and placed 15 albums, including six No. 1s, on the top 10 of  Billboard ’s top Latin Albums chart, more than any other regional Mexican act. He placed 61 songs on  Billboard ’s Hot Latin Songs chart, including 20 top 10s.

In the touring arena, Fernández was relentless. As recently as 2014, he landed at No. 2 on  Billboard ’s weekly touring tally with $7.3 million in sales from 12 sold-out concerts at Mexico City’s Auditorio Nacional. His 2014 run of shows, which included U.S. arenas, was supposed to be his farewell tour. Fernandez would play his last tour show in 2016 at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico.

Fernandez was also an actor who starred in over 30 films, emulating the careers of his hero Pedro Infante.

Beyond the chart success, however, Fernández was Mexican music.

“Mi’ja, I’ve always said it,” he told Billboard in an interview at his fabled ranch in Guadalajara in 2012. “A singer can sing anything. But me, my life is Mexican music. For me, putting on my charro outfit is a matter of pride, and it’s a very big responsibility. The charro outfit goes hand in hand with the personality Vicente Fernández has given it. Without the charro outfit, I don’t feel I’m me.”

Fernández legacy is cemented in the public consciousness of all Latin America, where he was indelibly identified with his hit “El Rey,” written and originally recorded by José Alfredo Jiménez, but forever preserved in Fernández’s voice after he recorded it in 1991.

Beyond the recordings, there is the family. Fernández is the father of Alejandro Fernández, another towering figure of Mexican music who came to be known as the first Mexican music star to also carve out an equally successful career in pop. Alejandro Fernández’s son, in turn, recently launched his own singing career. In one of Fernández’s last public presentations, he sang with his son and grandson at the 2019 Latin Grammy Awards in one of the most spectacular and moving performances in the history of the awards, with all three men wearing their traditional charro outfits and hats and performing classics like “Volver Volver.”

Even though Fernández voice was a prodigious instrument, and even though he could have easily sung pop as well, he never veered from Mexico’s traditional music. That was the case, even when he recorded with other artists, which he did often.

“Everybody who comes sing with me has to sing ranchero,” he told Billboard . “Roberto Carlos had to sing ranchero, Vicki Carr had to record ranchero. Celia Cruz came in with a mariachi. I accept recording with everybody, as long as it’s with a mariachi.”

Vicente “Chente” Fernández was born February 17, 1940 at a ranch in the town of Huentitán El Alto, Jalisco, México. His father, Ramón Fernández, was a rancher and dreamed that his son would follow his footsteps. But Fernández fell in love with music, and after getting his first guitar at 8 years old, never looked back. He went to every Pedro Infante movie when he was a child and, from the moment he was 6 or 7 years old, declared to his mother that he wanted to be like that when he grew up.

Ironically, Fernández would eventually become the rancher his father wanted him to be, buying a plot of land in Guadalajara in 1980 and gradually expanding it to 20,000 hectares, where he lived until his hospitalization. Named Los Tres Potrillos (The Three Colts) after Fernández’s three sons (Vicente, Alejandro and Gerardo), the ranch has cattle, stables and many farm animals, including his favorite, miniature horses, which he bred and raised with such ferocious protectiveness that he built a glass-paned room so he could see when the foals are born, regardless of the time of day or night.

Despite those luxuries, however, Los Tres Potrillos was a working ranch with a rustic feel that jibed with Fernández background as a rancher’s son who rose literally from the ground. Fernández’s family was not wealthy, and he had no industry connections. But his work ethic, which remained intact until he fell, was well-known.

A relentless performer, Fernández honed his skills at bars and cantinas, until in 1966, following the death of Javier Solís, when Discos CBS — the Mexican subsidiary of CBS Records — signed him to his first recording deal. Fernández, who was famously loyal, remained with the label through its transition to become Sony Music. He recorded with them until the day he died. He also remained married to his wife, María del Refugio “Cuca” Abarca Villasenor (whom he called Cuquita), from 1963 until his death.

Despite his stellar career, Fernández, of course, had setbacks and tragedy. Most notably, his son Vicente Fernandez Jr., was kidnapped for ransom in 1998 and two of his fingers were cut during his captivity and mailed to the family.

Fernández is survived by his wife and his four children: Vicente Jr., Alejandro, Gerardo and daughter Alejandra Fernandez.

This story first appeared on  Billboard.com . 

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Vicente Fernández Performed With His Son and Grandson at the Latin Grammys, and Wow!

This year's biggest standing ovation at the 20th annual Latin Grammys was for Vicente Fernández. Chente was awarded with the Premio de la Presidencia from the Latin Recording Academy, and he took the opportunity to deliver a historic performance, bringing together his son Alejandro and grandson Alex on stage for the first time.

Dressed as charros, the Fernández dynasty let Alex — Alejandro's son — take the lead and watched him deliver a soulful performance of "Te Amaré," with a voice as deep as his father's and grandfather's. Then Alejandro came on, singing "Caballero," to later welcome Vicente, who belted out "La Derrota."

For the grand finale, the trio delighted us with the classic "Volver Volver." After they were done, a standing ovation ensued, lasting for what felt like forever, but not enough for our beloved Chente. People could be heard yelling "otra, otra!" over the claps and screams, to which Chente jokingly said he owed us because the academy keeps them tight on time during these events.

Once the audience settled down a bit, Chente proceeded to thank his fans, who he said are part of his family and who will "stay forever in his heart." Keep scrolling to watch how the Fernández dynasty made Latin Grammy history.

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