MEXICO: Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez gives his final concert in his native city of Guadalajara

Record ID: 306007

  • Title: MEXICO: Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez gives his final concert in his native city of Guadalajara
  • Date: 17th February 2013
  • Summary: GENERAL VIEW OF CONCERT FERNANDEZ DURING CONCERT GENERAL VIEW OF CONCERT
  • Embargoed: 4th March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVABW83Z326QLPC87E6KA6641CPO
  • Story Text: Mexican singer Vicente Fernandez played his last concert on Friday (February 15) in his native town of Guadalajara, almost a year after announcing his retirement from music.
    The concert took place at the Arena VFG, named in Fernandez's honour. Fernandez was born in Huentitlan, on the outskirts of the city.
    Fernandez, who turns 73 on February 17, announced his retirement in February 2012, but said that he would go on tour one final time to thank his fans for their support.

    "Well I am still not saying good-bye, that's what I'm telling you. God bless you for this love. It hasn't been 47 years. It's been 47 years with the company, but I've been singing serenades for seven years aside from that, and singing at tables for tips. I am an artist that comes from the very bottom. I didn't just appear out of puff of smoke," Fernandez said on Friday.
    Hailed as the "King of the Ranchera," Fernandez has won countless awards during a career spanning more than 45 years resulting in more than 100 albums and 25 motion pictures.
    Jose Manuel Flores, a concert-goer from the city of Tampico, Tamaulipas state, said that he hoped that the concert would not be the last time fans heard from Fernandez.

    "We came here for what appears to be his goodbye. But I don't think we have heard the last of Don Vicente. He will always keep singing. We hope he is always with us," he said.
    Fernandez is considered a folk hero in Mexico, and has attracted a huge following in other Latin American countries as well.

    "I like all his songs. All of his songs. But we were just listening to "My Defeat." I am a very happy woman, being here at his last performance," fan Zoila Mendez Aguirre said.
    In March and April, Fernandez will travel to the U.S. to play eight shows that were cancelled in 2012 due to a medical procedure to remove a lump from his liver.
    Fernandez is considered the quintessential Mexican crooner. Expansive sombreros, intricately embroidered mariachi suits, a stark black mustache and a rich tenor give him the perfect persona for singing traditional Mexican songs of love and loss.
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