Singer Jenni Rivera Feared Dead in Mexican Plane Crash

Mexico’s music world mourned Jenni Rivera, the U.S.-born singer presumed killed in a plane crash whose soulful voice and openness about her personal troubles had made her a Mexican-American superstar.

Rivera, a mother of five and grandmother of two, was traveling on the Learjet 25 jet with six other passengers  that disintegrated on impact Sunday in rugged territory in Nuevo Leon state in northern Mexico.

Rivera sold 15 million records, and recently won two Billboard Mexican Music Awards: Female Artist of the Year and Banda Album of the Year for “Joyas Prestadas: Banda.”

She made history in September 2011 when she sold out the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the first female regional Mexican artist to do so. Her reality show on mun2, I Love Jenni, is one of the network’s highest rated shows.