Jenni Rivera - Telegraph While almost totally unknown in Britain, Rivera sold an estimated 15 million albums in America and Mexico, starred on reality television shows, and oversaw a business empire that produced everything from beauty products to "Jenni Jeans." But she was also a controversial figure, having initially gained fame singing the narrative ballads that celebrate the violent triumphs and trafficking feats of drug gangs. Jenny Dolores Rivera Saavedra was born on July 2 1969 in Long Beach, California. Her father, Pedro Rivera, worked in factories while singing corridos in Mexican nightclubs around Los Angeles. Discovering that he had a gift for writing newsworthy corridos - on the Gulf War and the Los Angeles riots, for instance - he set up his own record label, Cincas Acuario, initially selling cassettes at car washes. Pedro Rivera encouraged his five children to get involved in every aspect of the business and, as the label grew more successful, he propelled his son Lupillo and daughter Jenni into the spotlight. Both had grown up speaking English in school and listening to pop music, but their father insisted that they record in the traditional Mexican music styles of banda (brass bands) and ranchera (romantic ballads). This, he understood, was what Los Angeles" huge Mexican immigrant community wanted to hear. Initially Jenni Rivera sang ranchera ballads, but by the mid-1990s she had joined Lupillo in singing narco-corridos. Both were aware that the Mexican-American public was hungry for narco-corridos and that the more established Latin record labels were ignoring this underground music form. Indeed, Cincas Acuario had made its initial fortune with the recordings of Chalino, a narco-corrido singer whose brief, brutal life would make him an icon to young Mexican-Americans. Mirroring the success of gangsta rap, narco-corridos celebrated the exploits of drug dealers whose lives were shot through with violence and excess. Immediately successful, Lupillo and Jenni were soon the most in-demand young Mexican singers in Los Angeles. Their popularity spread to other American cities with sizeable Mexican communities and, soon, back into Mexico itself. EMI noticed how strongly their albums were selling and signed them to EMI Latin. Her 2008 album, Jenni, topped the US Latin sales charts. When the American writer Elijah Ward interviewed Jenni Rivera in 1999 she explained: "I wrote my first corrido in "94 because I knew it would catch attention. All the men were doing it and girls are bad girls too, you know. Not only do they like to listen to the music, but there are women drug dealers. So I figured we were being left aside. When Ward asked Jenni how she defended herself against criticisms that she was glorifying criminals she replied: "We've always defended our point of view by the fact that we've never used drugs, we've never sold drugs ... We grew up around this. We didn't grow up in rich neighbourhoods, we grew up in the ghetto. Rivera released albums annually, and was nominated for Latin American Grammy awards in 2003, 2008 and 2010. As her popularity spread she broadened her music, leaving behind the harshest narco-corridos while allowing her strong, witty personality to continue to shine. Adored by her female fans, Rivera spoke directly about the troubles in her relationships - she married and divorced three times - and in 2010 she was named the spokeswoman for the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Jenni Rivera died when a private jet carrying her to a performance in northern Mexico crashed. She is survived by her parents, Lupillo and four other siblings, and by her five children. Jenni Rivera, born July 2 1969, died December 9 2012