(CelebrityAccess) – Famed Ranchera singer Rita Vidaurri has passed away at the age of 94.
Vidaurri, who was nicknamed La Calandria, or the Lark, gained popularity across Mexico, Cuba and other parts of Latin America during the 1940s and ’50s.
Based in San Antonio, Texas, Vidaurri sang traditional Mexican country music and performed alongside artists such as Nat King Cole, Eydie Gorme & Los Panchos and Celia Cruz. By the 1950s she had become so popular that her name was often mentioned alongside such famous Tejana entertainers as Eva Garza and Lydia Mendoza.
Though she quit performing at the height of her fame, Vidaurri rekindled her career to much acclaim in the early 2000s, and even formed the group Las Tesoros de San Antonio, or the Treasures of San Antonio, with Ranchera singers, Beatriz Llamas, Blanca Rodríguez and Janet Cortez.
A documentary film about the group and their lives, “Las Tesoros de San Antonio: A Westside Story,” was released in 2016.
Vidaurri passed away on January 16 at a care facility. Her death was confirmed by her daughter, Linda Alvarado.
