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Popular Brazil singer dies in plane crash

By AAP Newswire

Nov 6, 2021

Brazil Mendonca Obit — One of Brazil's most popular singers Marília Mendonca has been killed in a plane crash. She was 26.

Brazilian country singer Marilia Mendonca has been killed along with her manager and aide when the small plane they were travelling in crashed in the state of Minas Gerais.

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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 on Friday.

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 boarding the plane earlier on Friday.

The plane departed from the midwestern city of Goiania heading to Caratinga, where 26-year-old Mendonca had a concert scheduled for later in the day, 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 at the time.