Biography of Vicente Fernandez
Childhood
Vicente was born on February 17, 1940 in the town of "Huentitan el Alto". His family was
humble, so from a very young age he had to work in different jobs to be able to live with dignity.
“El Pequeño Chente” was his nickname since he was little, although he showed no signs of
becoming a singer, he was greatly influenced by Pedro Infante, wanting to be like him, he began to
practice music with his guitar, something that was somewhat difficult since he had to balance it
between music and living with dignity.
This is how she spent her entire childhood, until she was 21, while she sang at the restaurant
"Amanecer Tapatio" (singing on stage and at tables) and debuted on the television channel, "La
calandrina Musical", earning her first base salary of 35 pesos.
She saw her opportunity and decided to dedicate herself to this career, going to Mexico City and
performing at the "Amanecer Mariachi"
Musical career
Vicente Fernández participated in the group Mariachi Aguilar with Felipe Arriaga and performed at
the Teatro Blanquita in Mexico. He also started working at Televisa, where he met Raúl Velasco,
and began to be appreciated and known by the public. His career definitely took off when the CBS
record company offered him a contract and he recorded his first album, El Fabuloso Vicente
Fernández (1965), and reached his first high point with ¡Arriba Huentitán! (1972), which contained
the most universal of his greatest hits: Volver, Volver.
Thus began a career that would last for more than four decades, during which Vicente Fernández
alternated the interpretation of rancheras and other traditional genres with new songs. Along with
the aforementioned Volver, Volver (1972), Tu camino y el mío (1969), Que Dios te perdone (1977),
Mujeres Divinas (1988), Acá entre nos (2005) and Esto celos (2007).
Vicente began his career in cinema. He made his debut in 1971 in the film Tacos al carne, and three
years later he starred in and composed the soundtrack for his first big celluloid success: La ley del
monte (1974). For twenty years he combined both activities, appearing in more than thirty films
before retiring from cinema in 1991.
The last years under the cameras
His extensive discography includes more than 80 albums, including numerous compilations and live
albums. Added to this was the 2002 release of Vicente Fernández 35 aniversario, Lo mejor de Lara,
an album that was made in homage to his long and significant artistic career and to the work of a no
less famous Mexican composer: Agustín Lara. In 2012, when he announced that he was thinking of
retiring after a final farewell tour, he had sold more than 75 million copies of his albums.
Between 1989 and 2014, he was awarded the Lo Nuestro prize, which the Televisa network gives to
the best in Latin music, fourteen times in various categories; Hollywood awarded him one of its
stars on the Walk of Fame in 1998, a ceremony attended by five thousand people; finally, in 2010,
he won the Grammy for best Mexican album for necesito de ti (2009).
