Latin superstar Jenni Rivera dies in plane crash

The wreckage of the Lear Jet carrying Ms Rivera was found in Nuevo Leon state on Sunday. Authorities said there were no survivors.

Ms Rivera, born in California in 1969, was at the peak of her career as perhaps the most successful female singer in grupero, a male-dominated regional style influenced by the norteno, cumbia and ranchero styles.

She has sold more than 15 million records of Norteno music and recently won two Billboard Mexican Music Awards: Female Artist of the Year and Banda Album of the Year for Joyas prestadas: Banda. She was nominated for Latin Grammys in 2002, 2008 and 2011.

The 43-year-old mother of five and grandmother of two, known as the “Diva de la Banda” was also a judge in the popular television programme La Voz (The Voice).

She was known for her frank talk about her struggles to give a good life to her children despite a series of setbacks which endeared her to millions in the US and Mexico.

She was recently divorced from her third husband, was once detained at a Mexico City airport with tens of thousands of dollars in cash, and she publicly apologised after her brother assaulted a drunken fan who verbally attacked her in 2011.

“I am the same as the public, as my fans,” she told The Associated Press in an interview last March.

No cause was given for the plane’s crash, but its wreckage was found near the town of Iturbide in Mexico’s Sierra Madre Oriental, where the terrain is very rough.

The Learjet 25, number N345MC, took off from Monterrey at 3.30am local time and was reported missing about ten minutes later. It was registered to Starwood Management of Las Vegas, Nevada, according to FAA records. It was built in 1969 and had a current registration until 2015.