Ex-Santa Sabina Singer Rita Guerrero Loses Battle With Cancer

The music world lost the life and the voice of Mexican singer Rita Guerrero on Friday night. She succumbed to breast cancer at the age of 46 after battling for more than a year with the illness. Guerrero was best known for being the front woman of Santa Sabina, a pioneering rock en español band based in Mexico City. Formed in 1989 when the singer left her hometown of Guadalajara to attend UNAM, where she met her future musical collaborators, Santa Sabina went on to record numerous albums, including Babel, Mar Adentro en la Sangre and Santa Sabina Unplugged.

Through various lineup changes, the band were able to maintain their signature sound and reunited after a hiatus at the Vive Latino festival in 2008. Guerrero was a pioneer in her own right, inspiring many future rockeras in the Mexican Latin alternative scene and beyond. Two of those women, Julieta Venegas and Natalia Lafourcade, were among the many musicians who gathered last December for a fund-raiser aimed at helping to cover the cost of Guerrero's medical treatment. Upon hearing the news of her passing, the two expressed their grief via Twitter (translations mine):

On Saturday, a vigil for Rita Guerrero was held at the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in Mexico City. Musicians from Jaguares, Maldita Vecindad and the Vive Latino/Coachella Caifanes reunion were present to pay their respects to an irreplaceable woman.