Jenni Rivera Net Worth Estimate
Jenni Rivera net worth, at the time of her death, was estimated to be around $25 million.
Her family’s net worth went up considerably after her death, when they successfully made a wrongful death lawsuit against Starwood Management, Inc., for $70 million after she died in a crash in one of their planes, the Learjet 25.
Read on to find out more about who she was, her career, her personal life, and much much more!
Image Credit: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
So Who Was Jenni Rivera?
Jenni Rivera was a songwriter, singer, actress, producer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Numerous major papers called her the most important woman working in Regional Mexican Music.
She was also the top-selling woman in the genre. Her musical styles combined Norteño, Mariachi, and Banda. She was also named the “top Latin artist” and “best-selling Latin artist” of 2013 by Billboard Magazine. She died the year before, in 2012.
Jenni Rivera’s Career
Jenni Rivera’s first musical recording was in 1992, at the age of 22. She recorded some songs as a present to her dad for Father’s Day. In the process, she found out how good she was at it and how much she enjoyed it, so decided to record more music.
Very soon afterward, Capitol Records/EMI signed Jenni Rivera to their Latin music division. Later that same year, Somos Rivera (We Are Rivera, in English) came out. Many people told her at the time that she would never be a success. Regional Mexican was an extremely male-dominated genre.
The year before her death, Jenni Rivera told Billboard Magazine, “It was hard knocking on those doors to get my music played. One radio programmer in LA, the meanest son of a bitch in the world, threw my CD in the trash right in my face.”
Because of this, Jenni Rivera decided to independently release her next five albums: La Maestra, Poco a Poco, Por Un Amor, La Chacalosa, and Adios a Selena. Adios a Selena was a tribute to the much-beloved Latin singer Selena, after she was murdered by a former friend and co-manager of her boutique’s line in 1995.
These albums all came out over a surprisingly short period of time, because by the next year, 1993, Balboa Records had already signed Jenni Rivera onto their label due to their success. And she was successful enough at Balboa that Sony Music decided to sign her on later on in the decade, and then Fonovisa Records after them in 1999.
View this post on Instagram
That year then saw the release of Rivera’s first big commercial album, Que Me Entierren Con la Bana. This album featured what was locally a hit song entitled “Las Malandrinas”. According to Rivera, she wrote this song as a tribute to all of her devoted female fans. That song going on to become a huge hit is what Rivera attributed to truly making her a star.
Rivera’s next two albums, Dejate Amal and Se la Voy a Dar a Otro, came out in 2001. The latter was nominated for a Latin Grammy for Best Banda Album, her very first nomination from this prestigious awards show.
Rivera then released another album, Homenaje a Las Grandes, in 2003. The title translates to “Homage to the Great Ones” in English. It’s an album of covers of songs by numerous famous Mexican female singers. Jenni Rivera’s first huge hit album followed, a greatest hits compilation called Simplemente… La Mejor.
Rivera’s next album was an even more enormous hit. Entitled Parrandera, Rebelde y Atrevida, it came out in 2005 and eventually made it to 10th place on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. Since then, the Recording Industry Association of America has certified it as having gone double platinum in the field of Latin music.
“De Contrabando,” the album’s second single, went on to be Rivera’s only number one song in the United States’ Latin Regional Mexican Airplay. It is probably also of her most well known songs overall.
She followed this hit up two years later in 2007, wit the release of Mi Vida Loca. This album actually debuted in first place on the Regional Mexican Albums charts and second on the Top Latin Albums chart in the USA. The Latin Billboard Music Awards then honored it with the award for Regional Mexican Album of the Year in 2008.
Describing the album in her Billboard interview, Rivera said, “That was more of Jenni telling her story through music. My life has been so put out there by the media that I figured I might as well put it out there myself, in my own words, and through my music. I wanted to clear up speculations about my private life.”
Mi Vida Loca also got Rivera the Lo Nuestro Award for Regional Mexican Female Artist of the Year. She would then go on to win this award every single year for the remainder of her life and even two years beyond that, until 2015.
After Mi Vida Loca, Rivera released a live album called La Diva en Vivo, in which she was backed by a mariachi band. The concert occurred in Universal City, California, at the famous Gibson Amphitheater. It also gave Jenni Rivera the distinction of being only the first-ever female Banda singer to sell out a concert.
This nabbed her a second nomination from the Latin Grammy Awards for Best Ranchero Album, the only woman who was to get a nomination in the category that year.
The next year, 2008, saw the release of Jenni Rivera’s 10th studio album, simply titled Jenni. It won her her second Lo Nuestros award, this one for Banda Artist of the Year. She remains the only woman to ever win this award to this day. Jenni also became the first album of hers to land in first place on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart in the US.
Rivera then released a fully mariachi studio album, La Grana Señora, in 2009. It reached second place in the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart in the US, and got her another Latin Grammy nom, this one for Best Ranchero Album.
Rivera knew the album was a risk and was gratified by what it did for her career. She spoke about how she knew how rare it was for a woman to be successful doing mariachi, and yet she managed it, which made her legend grow even greater than before.
It was so huge, in fact, that it led to Rivera announcing a tour to promote it. Once the tour was done, she then released a live album recorded on the tour called La Grana Señora en Vivo, which featured many of both her mariachi and Banda hit songs.
The album was recorded over two nights at Los Angeles, California’s famous Nokia Theatre on August 6th and 7th, 2010. These two nights also made Jenni Rivera the first artist to ever sell out the venue on two consecutive nights. She had already broken an earlier record there on July 9, 2009, only the first Latin musical artist to ever sell it out.
Both the studio album, La Grana Señora, and the live album that was recorded on its tour received Latin Grammy noms in the category of Regional Mexican. Both also went platinum in both the United States and Mexico.
Jenni Rivera renewed her Fonovisa Records contract in August of 2011. In honor of the occasion, she then performed at Los Angeles, California’s prestigious Staples Center. As with many previous occasions, Jenni Rivera also not only sold out this concert but became the first woman in Regional Mexican to accomplish that.
Rivera then recorded a two-part set of covers albums, Joyas Prestadas: Pop and Joyas Prestadas: Banda. Enrique Martinez produced both albums. All of the songs were ones that she fell in love with when she worked as a record store cashier in her younger, pre-fame days. It was the first time she’d ever recorded any ballads.
Shortly after that, Rivera sold out Mexico’s National Auditorium, a feat that only a handful of women in Regional Mexican have ever managed to pull off.
In non-music areas, Rivera also produced Chiquis & Raq-C, a reality television show that featured Chiquis, her eldest daughter. She herself appeared on its spin-off series, called I Love Jenni. Her next reality show appearance was a music coach for La Voz… México, a musical talent series based on The Voice. People en Español included her on their list of Top 25 most powerful women in October 2012.
In December of that year, the same month she died, Rivera became the third musical artist to ever have three albums in the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart in the same year. The other singers who accomplished this, Selena Quintanilla and Celia Cruz, also only managed this posthumously.
Two days after she died, Fonovisa put out La Misma Gran Seńora, a greatest hits compilation honoring the fallen singer. It debuted in the first spot on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart, Billboard Regional Mexican Albums chart, and Mexico’s Top 100 chart.
It won three Latin Billboard Music Awards, two Mexican Billboard Music Awards, and the Top Latin Album Award at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards.
In 2013, Jenni Rivera net worth grew by an estimated $7 million posthumously, landing her on the Forbes Top Earning Dead Celebrities list of that year. She also won two Oye! Awards, and was also named the Top Latin Artist of 2013 by Billboard Magazine.
Worldwide, Jenni Rivera sold 20 million albums, which secures her the spot as the highest-earning singer in the Banda musical genre of all time. This is especially remarkable given how dominated Banda is by male musicians and performers. Jenni Rivera was a truly remarkable woman.
Recommended Reading
Blac Youngsta Net Worth – How Much Does He Make?
Jenni Rivera’s Early Life
Jenni Rivera was born in Long Beach, California on July 2, 1969. She was raised by her parents Rosa Saavedra and Pedro Rivera, who were Mexican immigrants.
Jenni and her siblings, four brothers (including Lupillo Rivera and Juan Rivera), and a sister, Rosie Rivera, were extremely close and raised to love music. Throughout their childhoods, their parents played them Mexican music such as ranchera, norteña, and banda. Her brother Lupillo also grew up to work in Regional Mexican music.
Growing up, Jenni was fluent in both English and Spanish. She was a straight A student all the way up until her sophomore year of high school, when she became pregnant at the age of 15. This baby would be her first child, Janney Chiquis Marín-Rivera. She would go on to have four more.
She supported Chiquis and herself by selling her CDs at various flea markets while simultaneously completing her GED. She graduated as a valedictorian.
In a 2003 interview, she said, “Usually, when a young girl is pregnant, she drops out of school and concentrates on being a mother. I thought that’s what I had to do, but my counselors told me there was no way they would let me drop out. I had too much promise.”
After high school, she studied at Long Beach City College and got a business admin degree. She briefly got a job working in real estate, and then went on to work at the record label her dad owned. A businessman and bartender, her dad also ran a record label called Cintas Acuario, which launched Mexican singer/songwriter Chalino Sánchez’s illustrious career.
Jenni Rivera’s Personal Life and Family
Image Credit: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
Over the course of her life, Rivera had three marriages and five kids. Her first daughter, Janney, known as Chiquis, was born in 1985 when Rivera was still a high school student. She married Chiquis’ father, José Trinidad Marín afterward and they went on to have another two children together. They had Jacqueline in 1989 and Michael in 1991.
They divorced in 1992, however. Jenni Rivera claimed both physical and emotional abuse on his part. Later on, it came out that Marín had sexually abused Rosie, Jenni’s younger sister, and was molesting his own daughters, Chiquis and Jacquie, as well.
The case against him occurred in 1997, and Marín went on the run from the law for 9 years. In April 2006, he was finally apprehended. He was convicted of rape and sexual assault and then sentenced to serve over 31 years in prison, with no possibility of parole.
In 1997, Rivera was married to Juan López. Together, they had another two children: a daughter, Jenicka, in 1997, and a son, Juan Angel, in 2001. In 2003, however, they divorced. López was arrested and convicted for being a drug dealer. In 2009, he died in prison due to pneumonia complications.
In 2010, Rivera married Esteban Loaiza, a baseball player, but filed for divorce in 2012. The divorce was never finalized, however, due to her death that same year.
Recommended Reading
Lil Tecca Net Worth in 2022 – How Much Does He Make?
Jenni Rivera: Death
On December 9, 2012, Jenni Rivera tragically died in a plane crash. She had been traveling on a Learjet 25 with six other people when the accident occurred right by Monterrey, Mexico. She had been there due to a concert she had performed at the Monterrey Arena the night before.
After the close of the show, she held a press conference, and then went to board her flight, along with a staff of four, and two pilots. The flight departed Monterrey Airport at about 3:20 AM on the morning of the 9th. It was on its way to Toluca, Mexico, where Jenni had been scheduled to appear on La Voz…México.
15 minutes after the flight took off, however, all contact between them and the air traffic control tower was lost. Later that day, the plane’s wreckage was discovered near Iturbide, Nuevo León. Amongst the passengers and crew, there wasn’t a single survivor.
Rivera’s death made the international news for weeks. She was buried at Long Beach, California’s All Souls Cemetery on December 31, 2012. According to her father, the delay was caused by legal issues.
The cause of the accident was never determined, despite an in-depth joint investigation between the Mexican authorities and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. The aircraft hit the ground at a speed of about 1,000 miles per hour, completely destroying the craft and the flight recorders. Jenni Rivera was only 43 at the time of her death.
Jenni Rivera: Social Media Presence
Although Jenni Rivera once had an active social media presence on Twitter, with 1.9 million followers as of the present date, her managers and/or family have not chosen to continue tweeting under her name since her death. Over on Facebook, however, where she has over 7.9 million followers, there continue to be updates, including nostalgic photos of various events in her career, quotes, facts, and other projects surrounding her legacy, such as upcoming, new compilation albums.
Jenni Rivera also has an official Instagram that has 2 million followers even though, as of the present time, it only 3 posts, which just goes to show how enormously popular she continues to be, even a decade after her untimely, tragic death.
View this post on Instagram
Recommended Reading
Tee Grizzley Net Worth – How Much is He Worth?
Jenni Rivera: Height, Weight
Jenni Rivera’s height is approximated to have been 5 feet 1 inch, or 155 in centimeters, although it’s difficult to assess the accuracy as it isn’t publicly known information. Her weight is also not public knowledge.
Jenni Rivera Net Worth & Bio Summary
| Name | Jenni Rivera |
| Real Name | Dolores Janney Rivera Saavedra |
| Age | 43 (Deceased) |
| Place of Birth | Long Beach, California, USA |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Net Worth Estimate | $25Million (before death) |