Rivera was born and raised in Long Beach, California, to Rosa Saavedra and Pedro Rivera, who were from Mexico. Her parents raised Rivera and her sister and four brothers in a tight-knit, musical household; her brother Lupillo is also a regional Mexican musician. Rivera spoke both English and Spanish fluently. Her family introduced her to traditional Mexican music, including the genres of banda, nortena, and ranchera.
1992--2004
Rivera made her first recording in 1992 as a Father's Day present to her father; she made more recordings and signed to Capitol/EMI's Latin division. Her first album, Chacalosa (slang for "party girl"), was released in 1995.  At the onset of her musical career, she was told many times she would not make it. At that time and still today, the genre known as regional Mexican music was and is dominated by men. In a 2011 interview with Billboard magazine, she stated, "It was hard knocking on those doors to get my music played. One radio programmer in L.A., the meanest son of a bitch in the world, threw my CD in the trash right in my face." Those were the kind of issues Rivera faced as a female trying to crack the regional Mexican genre. She then released the albums We are Rivera and Farewell to Selena independently, the latter a tribute album to Tejano music singer Selena who was murdered in 1995.  She signed to Sony Music in the late 1990s, and then with Fonovisa Records in 1999; in the same year, Rivera released her first commercial album with Fonovisa, titled Que Me Entierren Con la Banda, featuring local hit "Las Malandrinas". Rivera stated that she wrote "Las Malandrinas" to pay homage to her female fans. She also said, "The song blew up. People became interested. That's when Jenni Rivera the artist was actually born."  In 2001, she released the records Dejate Amar and Se las Voy a Dar a Otro, which garnered her, her first Latin Grammy nomination for Best Banda Album. She became the first American--born artist to be nominated for the award in 2003. Her 2003 release Homenaje a Las Grandes (in English "Homage to the Great Ones") was a tribute album to female Mexican singers.  In 2004, she released her first compilation disc titled Simplemente... La Mejor, which became her first record to detonate a chart in the United States.

Q: What happened in 1992 for Jenni?
A: Rivera made her first recording in 1992 as a Father's Day present to her father;

Q: what was the name of her first recording?
A: Chacalosa

Q: What were some of her other recordings?
A: Que Me Entierren Con la Banda,
Did she ever win any awards with her recordings?
her first Latin Grammy nomination for Best Banda Album.
her first Latin Grammy nomination for Best Banda Album.