Mexican music star Chavela Vargas dies at 93

Mexico City, Mexico (4E) – Famous Mexican music star Chavela Vargas has died Sunday at the age of 93 due to respiratory failure.

According to EFE, Jose Manuel Nunez, Vargas’ physician, said, “She was quite conscious up until the last moment and expressed her best wishes for Mexico, which is in great confusion, to improve and she said that she has the best memories … of her public,” as reported by Fox News.

Isabel Vargas Lizano was born on Costa Rica in 1919 and moved to Mexico during her teenage years. Vargas made a living singing in bars but her success came only when she was in her thirties, when she took on “rancheras,” a traditional Mexican style of music about love and loss usually performed by men.

Aside from being an influential music star, Vargas did not hesitate to speak publicly about her sexuality. According to the BBC she once said, “Homosexuality doesn’t hurt, what hurts is when you’re treated like you have the plague because of it.”

Vargas, who has expressed that she wanted to be cremated, kept performing until before her death. She has recorded around 80 albums throughout her career.

According to her Twitter account, a tribute for Vargas is to take place Monday in Garibaldi.