It seems as though music stars are at a much higher risk than the rest of us, after boarding an airplane. As far back as the big band era’s Glenn Miller, who went down on a flight from England to France in December 1944, entertainers have had their lives cut tragically short in aviation accidents.
Singer Don McLean honored the memory of singer Buddy Holly and others who died when the small plane carrying them to their next performance crashed in Iowa in 1959.
The rock era lost Stevie Ray Vaughn, most of the band Lynard Skynard, and Jim Croce in airplane accidents.
Jenni Rivera is the latest.
I was surprised to see a mention on the 10pm local newscasts, assuming the Latina singer would not be recognized by the general US populace. She no doubt would have been in the coming year, having signed a deal with ABC to star in a situation comedy.
She told an interviewer a couple of years ago that she wanted to be the Latina Oprah. She had a reality show and a satellite radio show. She toured extensively and was among the biggest selling of the Spanish language artists.
Rivera was born in California and favored Banda and other border-music styles that she delivered in a powerful voice that made her a superstar with over twelve CDs to her credit. She struggled with marriage difficulties and life crises, and her acknowledgement through her songs endeared her to fans on both sides of the border.
She was the first to sell out back-to-back concerts in Los Angeles’ Nokia Theater, singing to packed houses in 2010.
They called her the Diva of Banda, and from that sprang Divina cosmetics, Divina Realty, and Divina Music, to go along with Jenni Jeans, Jenni Rivera fragrance and the Jenni Rivera Love Foundation that aided unwed mothers.
Saturday night, after finishing a concert in Monterrey, Mexico, Jenni Rivera finished a press conference and boarded a charter Learjet to travel to her next concert near Mexico City. Ten minutes into the flight, traffic controllers lost contact. The wreckage was found Sunday scattered over an area the length of several football fields.
She was 43 years old, but could have been much older for all the life she experienced in that time.
Another tragic loss for the music world.