SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian country singer Marilia Mendonca was killed on Friday along with her manager and aide when the small airplane they were traveling in crashed in the state of Minas Gerais.
Mendonca’s press office said in a statement that her producer, Henrique Ribeiro, aide Abicieli Silveira Dias Filho as well both the pilot and co-pilot of the plane were also killed in the crash.
Marilia Mendonca rose to fame as an icon of the Brazilian country music style “sertanejo,” winning a 2019 Latin Grammy for an album in the category. She had posted on social media a video https://www.instagram.com/mariliamendoncacantora boarding the plane earlier on Friday.
The airplane departed from the midwestern city of Goiania heading to Caratinga, where 26-year-old Mendonca had a concert scheduled for later on Friday, according to news website G1.
“Marilia Mendonca leaves behind a legacy for Brazilian regional music and culture. She will certainly not be forgotten,” Brazil’s government said via its culture department.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
Last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to wide-ranging lockdowns in Brazil, a live broadcast of a concert by Mendonca drew 3.3 million peak concurrent viewers, a world record for YouTube https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-livestreami-idCAKBN22B1BL at the time.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo in Sao Paulo and Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Brad Haynes and Sandra Maler)
