(CNN Spanish) -- Vicente Fernández, a music icon in Mexico, died this Sunday at the age of 81, in a hospital in the western Mexican city of Guadalajara, according to a publication on his official Instagram account.
According to the statement, Fernández would have died at 6:15 am in the morning. His body was transferred to a funeral home in that city, where it is currently located.
The station wagon star had been hospitalized since August after a fall forced him to undergo cervical surgery. Later, his condition worsened when he was diagnosed with pneumonia, as reported in his account.
So far no details of his funeral have been revealed.
Known locally as "El Rey," Fernández recorded more than 300 songs, sold more than 65 million albums worldwide, and won three Grammys and eight Latin Grammys.
He was best known for his songs "Volver, Volver", "Por tu maldito amor", "El rey", "La ley del monte" and "Divine Women", among others.
Fernández, who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was named Person of the Year by the Latin Recording Academy in 2002.
He was going through a “critical moment”
The health condition of the Mexican singer Vicente Fernández "is critical" said a medical statement published on Saturday morning.
"Mr. Vicente Fernández in the last 12 hours presented a worsening of his health status. He presents greater inflammation of his lower respiratory tract and increased respiratory support," he indicated in a statement that was shared on the official Instagram account of the singer.
Previously, his son, Vicente Fernández Jr. said that his father is going through a "critical moment" of health.
Without giving more details, from the Hospital Country 2000, in Guadalajara, Fernández Jr. told local media that the artist "is delicate". "As you have been told, we ask for a lot of prayer," he added. For months, Fernández has been in poor health after a fall that forced him to undergo cervical surgery.
On November 30, an official statement from his team reported that due to inflammation in his airways, the artist needs respiratory support.
(Credit: LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images)
a race of glory
On October 6, 2019, in one of his last appearances, the Mexican singer Vicente Fernández said: "As long as my throat lasts, I am yours until the day God picks me up."
Guadalajara, the city where he was born, paid tribute to him by unveiling an equestrian statue erected in the heart of the Plaza de los Maricahis, the place where the Mexican idol began his career.
Fernández was born in Huentitán el Alto, a town on the then outskirts of Guadalajara, capital of Jalisco, in western Mexico, on February 17, 1940, according to the biography published on the singer's official website.
(Credit: ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP via Getty Images)
Vicente Fernández comes from a humble background. At eight years of age he received a guitar with which he learned the first chords that brought him closer to his idols Pedro Infante and Javier Solís, as he has stated in several interviews.
He was still a teenager when he began singing "Guadalajara" in traditional Mexican food restaurants and in the Plaza de los Mariachis, where people from Guadalajara hire mariachis to liven up parties or lead serenades.
It was in 1966 when, after trying his luck in restaurants, parties and television contests, he signed his first recording contract with CBS México (today Sony Music), with which he recorded "Tu camino y el mío", "Ni en Defensa Propio" and “Forgive me”, among others.
His arrival in the cinema in 1971, with the film "One and a half against the world", and three years later "La ley del monte", would boost his career even more; however, it was not until 1976 when he arrived “Volver, Volver”, his iconic song, with which he would transcend and the legend would begin to be written.
After four decades of experience and winning national and international awards, breaking sales records and appearing on the most renowned stages, Vicente Fernández is not only loved and recognized in his homeland, but also in Latin America, the United States and Europe, where , regardless of language or culture, sing “Back, back, back” with the same feeling.
