At eight years old, Vicente Fernandez He received his first guitar and since then he set out to be an icon of Mexican ranchera music. He succeeded in spades, in a career marked by success and pain.
Retired from the stage since 2006, the singer died this Sunday at the age of 81 in Guadalajara (west), the same day that Mexicans honor their patron, the Virgin of Guadalupe, with prayers and mariachis, of which "Chente" he was king.
He left after being hospitalized for almost five months for a fall at his Los Tres Potrillos ranch -as he called his sons-, in Guadalajara.
Born on February 17, 1940 in Huentitán el Alto (state of Jalisco), to a ranchero father and a housewife mother, he made his music part of the Mexican collective memory with songs such as "By your damn love" Y "Return Return".
But he also stuck in the hearts of millions of Latin Americans who have unconditionally followed him and elevated him to the Olympus along with stars like Jorge Negrete, José Alfredo Jiménez and Pedro Infante.
Of that court, Vicente Fernández has been considered by specialists as the last great idol of Mexican vernacular music.
Every time I went on stage I promised that "He wouldn’t stop singing if his audience didn’t stop clapping", which made his concerts memorable celebrations in which he pushed long shots of tequila.
This is how it was ruled for more than five decades of career, in which he was the recipient of multiple awards and recognitions, including three Grammys and nine Latin Grammys.
He sold more than 70 million copies of a vast discography made up of some 80 albums, and participated in some thirty films.
His long list of hits includes a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
"Sinatra of the Rancheras"
Because of his portentous voice, the American newspaper The Houston Chronicle christened him in 1991 as "the Sinatra of ranchera music".
"The day I stop hearing applause, that day I will die of sadness"said the star in February 2009, during his only concert in the Zócalo in Mexico City, the most important public square in the country.
That night, in front of more than 200,000 people, the "Charro de Huentitán" denied that "I will think about retirement".
But on April 16, 2016, he said goodbye at the imposing Azteca Stadium in the Mexican capital.
That night the political touch was not lacking. "If one day I have him in front of me, I’m going to spit on his face and I’m going to talk to him about his mother", he said in reference to Donald Trump, who then sought the US presidency by calling Mexicans as "rapists and criminals".
He was friends with renowned Mexican and Latin American politicians, such as the late former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who knew their songs by heart. Chávez received him at the presidential palace in 2012 and together they sang "Too bad you’re alien".
Offstage, Fernández was dedicated to his wife "Cuquita", their children Vicente, Gerardo, Alejandro and Alejandra and their 11 grandchildren.
But the music never went away. In his ranch studio he continued to record albums, the most recent released in 2020 to celebrate 80 years of life.
The pain of kidnapping
In contrast to a life of success, "Chente" He dealt with painful situations such as the kidnapping of his son Vicente Fernández Junior in 1998, which marked him forever.
"It was an episode that devastated Vicente Sr. and could destroy him. He never stopped singing, but he did it crying and when he got to his hotel he collapsed"Argentine journalist Olga Wornat tells AFP, who has just published "The last king", an unauthorized biography of the singer.
His first-born son remained 121 days in the power of the band "The Mochadedos", which cut off two phalanxes to press for the payment of a ransom that was finally valued at 3.2 million dollars.
Fernández was also at the center of the controversy due to his open homophobia, which even distanced him from another of the idols of Mexican music, Juan Gabriel, who died in 2016.
"He did not want it because Juan Gabriel was gay and also very mannered"Wornat commented.
In 2019, Fernández even stated that he refused to receive a liver transplant because he did not know if the donor was "homosexual or drug addict", which was rejected by the LGBT community.
Seven years ago, half his liver had been removed because of a tumor.
His last years were marked by multiple ailments. In 2013 he faced a pulmonary thrombosis and in 2015 three hernias were removed.
The shadow of sexual harassment also fell on him earlier this year, following the leak of videos in which he was seen touching the chests of female followers when they posed with him during visits to his ranch.
Fernández apologized for his actions in an interview."If I have something, it is to respect the public", He said.
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