12 years after Jenni Rivera's death, fans say Walk of Fame star validates multi-platinum singer

Some of the fans waiting outside the Capitol Records building on Thursday for Jenni Rivera’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star to be unveiled remember her in the early 1990s before she was a big star.

“A lot of people don’t know this, when she used to play at… El Parral in South Gate,” said Los Angeles resident Marcia Estrada.

“I’m from South Central. That’s where I met her, I must have been 14, 15 [years old],” Estrada added. She showed off tattoos of five butterflies on her leg with the words “Mariposa de Barrio,” the title of a song by Rivera.

Others standing in the midday sun next to the iconic building never got to see Rivera perform live.

Victoria Bakatra from Yorba Linda with a photo of Jenni Rivera from an April, 2012 concert she attended, months before Rivera died.

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“In 2012 when she passed away, I was still in high school and I cried so much because I wanted to go to a concert… I couldn't afford a concert ticket, my parents could never afford to take me to a concert,” said Sebastian Velasco.

Along with other fans, Velasco belted out Rivera’s song “Mirame,” about rejecting a lover who was disrespectful and comes back.

Irene Stokes showed off her Jenni Rivera nails.

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LAist

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So many of Rivera’s songs are about standing tall and asserting dignity in the face of physical or emotional abuse. Twelve years after Rivera’s death, those songs and what she did as an entrepreneur continue to resonate with her fans.

“She speaks in those songs a lot about what other women don’t talk about,” Estrada said.

15 gold records, 15 platinum, five double platinum

One of those songs is "La Gran Señora," which sounds like a traditional mariachi ranchera song. But listen to the Spanish lyrics and you’ll hear Rivera’s talk about her partner's lover. She tells that lover that she worked hard for the relationship and that the love triangle isn’t working. The lover will understand this through words or “a madrazos,” in other words, by getting beaten up. The message of the song is that she’s the grand lady in the relationship and will be respected as such.

Flor Rivera from Ontario brought a Jenni Rivera blanket to the Jenni Rivera Hollywood Walk of Fame star unveiling.

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“Going through a lot of heartbreak, going through different situations is something that not only do I relate with it myself, but I see around the women that I love as well, my mother, my family members,” Velasco said, connecting Rivera’s lyrics to his own life experience.

Rivera’s success is deeply rooted in urban, working class, Mexican American culture. She was born in Long Beach to immigrant parents. She went on to sell 15 million records in an era before streaming became the dominant way of listening to music.

Bakatra's Jenni Rivera tattoo

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

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LAist

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“Jenni Rivera was the most successful regional Mexican act in the business,” Justino Aguila told LAist. He interviewed Rivera about a dozen times when he was writing for Billboard.

Jenni Rivera's posthumous fame

Rivera’s fame grew in the months after she died.

“She sold more records in the year [after she died] compared to 20 years of a trajectory in music,” Aguila said.

He described her as bold, sassy, and not afraid to speak her mind.

In the years before she died, Rivera founded Divina Realty, Divina Cosmetics, Jenni Rivera Fragrance, Jenni Jeans, Divine Music and The Jenni Rivera Love Foundation, and starred in television and film.

“Even though there were those struggles for Jenni Rivera, she always stayed focused on making sure her family was OK, and making sure she had a way to keep it all together financially and in many other areas,” Aguila said. He’s reported that there are English songs Rivera recorded that are yet to be released.

Fans at the Hollywood Walk of Fame star unveiling said they felt a sense of fullness and absence at the same time.

“The only thing is, we wish she was here. She was taken too young,” said fan Marcia Estrada.