Jenni Rivera was born on July 2nd, 1969. She was a singer, songwriter, reality TV star, businesswoman and activist. Rivera was best known for singing the styles banda, mariachi, and norteño.
Even though she was very successful, she went through many hardships in her life. At 15-years-old she got pregnant with her first daughter (Chiquis) by Trino Martin, and then had two more. During that time, she and her children went through physical, mental, and sexual abuse. This led to depression and two suicide attempts but after leaving her husband she started working at her dad’s record company and discovered her love for singing.
Rivera started performing in bars where she met Juan Lopez, her second husband. A little while after getting married, Juan was sentenced to 6 months in prison for smuggling immigrants. After getting out of prison they had two children together, but they later divorced because of his infidelity. As her music started to become more popular, she became known as “La Diva de la Banda”. She also found out her first husband molested her sister and daughter. He avoided capture for nine years before being arrested and sentenced to thirty years. Her second husband was sentenced to ten years for drug dealing.
Despite all her hardships, she was very successful, and became the spokeswoman for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and she founded the Jenni Rivera Love Foundation which helped women who were victims of violence, children with cancer, and immigrants. She also married former baseball player Esteban Loaiza and starred in multiple reality TV series. Unfortunately, Jenni and six others died in a plane crash on December 9, 2012.
