**FILE** Jenni Rivera, from the film "Filly Brown," poses Jan. 22, 2012, for a portrait during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Latin singer Jenni Rivera rehearses April 25, 2012, at the BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Fla., for the 2012 Billboard Latin Music Awards. (Associated Press/Telemundo)
**FILE** Singer Jenni Rivera (right) poses with a replica of a star for the Las Vegas Walk of Stars as her husband, former Major League Baseball pitcher Esteban Loaiza, reacts during an official presentation ceremony in Las Vegas on July 1, 2011. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Singer Jenni Rivera (center) is kissed by singers Nacho (left) and Chino as they walk the red carpet at the Latin Billboard Awards in Coral Gables, Fla., on April 26, 2012. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Mexican-American singer and reality TV star Jenni Rivera poses March 8, 2012, during an interview in Los Angeles. (Associated Press)
Photos and flowers honoring late singer Jenni Rivera, placed by fans next to religious images, are seen at the cemetery where her mother is buried in Hermosillo, Mexico, on Dec. 10, 2012. (Associated Press)
Pedro Rivera Jr. (right), brother of singer Jenni Rivera, is greeted by a well-wisher as he arrives at his mother's home in Lakewood, Calif., on Dec. 10, 2012. Jenni Rivera died Dec. 9 in a plane crash in Mexico. (Associated Press)
This photo shows the terrain Mountains of the Sierra near the site where a plane carrying U.S-born singer Jenni Rivera crashed near Iturbide, Mexico, on Dec. 9, 2012. (Associated Press)
A rescue helicopter with members of the Mexican General Civil Aeronautic Directorate stand Dec. 10, 2012, atop a hill next to the canyon where U.S.-born singer Jenni Rivera's jet crashed near the town of Iturbude, Mexico, the previous day. (Associated Press)
Federal police officers return from the site where a plane carrying U.S-born singer Jenni Rivera crashed near Iturbide, Mexico, on Dec. 9, 2012. (Associated Press)
A California driver's license bearing the name of Jenni Rivera sits on the ground at the site where a plane carrying Rivera crashed near Iturbide, Mexico, on Dec. 9, 2012. (Associated Press)
A fan of Jenny Rivera lights a candle at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Monterrey, Mexico, on Dec. 10, 2012. (Associated Press)
Signs of support, photos and candles that were placed by fans of U.S.-born singer Jenni Rivera stand Dec. 10, 2012, at the gates of the Arena Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, where Rivera held her last concert. (Associated Press)
A person takes a CD of singer Jenni Rivera displayed for sale at a music store in Mexico City on Dec. 10, 2012. U.S. authorities confirmed that Rivera, a U.S.-born singer whose soulful voice and openness about her personal troubles made her a Mexican-American superstar, was killed in a Dec. 9 plane crash in northern Mexico. (Associated Press)
Singer Jenni Rivera is seen on a video screen at a music store in Mexico City on Dec. 10, 2012. U.S. authorities confirmed that Rivera, a U.S.-born singer whose soulful voice and openness about her personal troubles made her a Mexican-American superstar, was killed in a Dec. 9 plane crash in northern Mexico. (Associated Press)
Fan Jose Ruelas lights a candle outside the home of singer Jenni Rivera's mother in Lakewood, Calif., on Dec. 10, 2012. Rivera died the previous day in a plane crash in Mexico. (Associated Press)
**FILE** Mexican-American singer and reality TV star Jenni Rivera poses during an interview in Los Angeles on March 8, 2012. (Associated Press)
Mexican-American singer and reality TV star Jenni Rivera died in the crash ... more >
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — U.S. authorities confirmed Monday that Jenni Rivera, a U.S.-born singer whose soulful voice and openness about her personal troubles made her a Mexican-American superstar, was killed in a plane crash in northern Mexico.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to help investigate the crash, and the board said Mexican authorities had informed them that Rivera had died in the accident.
Rivera’s relatives in the U.S. already had few doubts that she was on the Learjet 25 that disintegrated on impact Sunday in rugged territory in Nuevo Leon state in northern Mexico.
“My son Lupillo told me that effectively it was Jenni’s plane that crashed and that everyone on board died,” her father, Pedro Rivera, told dozens of reporters gathered in front of his Los Angeles-area home. “I believe my daughter’s body is unrecognizable.”
He said that his son would fly to Monterrey Monday or Tuesday.
Alejandro Argudin, of Mexico’s civil aviation agency, said Monday it would take at least 10 days to have a preliminary report on what happened to the plane.
“We’re in the process of picking up the fragments and we have to find all the parts,” Argudin told reporters. “Depending on weather conditions it would take us at least 10 days to have a first report and many more days to have a report by experts.”
Messages of condolence poured in from fellow musicians and celebrities.
Mexican songstress and actress Lucero wrote on her Twitter account: “What terrible news! Rest in peace … My deepest condolences for her family and friends.” Rivera’s colleague on the Mexican show “The Voice of Mexico,” pop star Paulina Rubio, said on her Twitter account: “My friend! Why? There is no consolation. God, please help me!”
Born in Long Beach, California, Rivera 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, banda and ranchero styles.
A 43-year-old mother of five children and grandmother of two, the woman known as the “Diva de la Banda” was known for frank talk about her struggles to give a good life to her children despite a series of setbacks.
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 apologized after her brother assaulted a drunken fan who verbally attacked her in 2011.
Her openness about her personal troubles endeared her to millions in the U.S. and Mexico.
“I am the same as the public, as my fans,” she told The Associated Press in an interview last March.
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 was nominated for Latin Grammys in 2002, 2008 and 2011.
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