Son Of Narco-Ballad Pioneer Dies

Singer Adan Sanchez, son of narco-ballad singer Marcelino "Chalino" Sanchez, died in an car wreck in the northwest Mexican state of Sinaloa, federal police reported Sunday. He was 19.

Adan Sanchez, a resident of Los Angeles, died Saturday after the car that he was traveling in lost control and rolled, police reported.

The wreck on the highway between Rosario and Escuinapa, about 500 miles northwest of Mexico City, was the result of a blown tire on the 1989 Ford sedan carrying Adan, police said.

Two other people in the car were taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for injuries. No other vehicles were involved.

Adan Sanchez had recorded nine commercial music CDs that included romantic ballads and tributes to his father.

Chalino Sanchez, a pistol-waving music legend, transformed traditional Mexican ballads played to polka or waltz rhythms into tough tales about criminals and drug traffickers. He wore a cocked cowboy hat and survived an on-stage gunfight before being killed in 1992.

Chalino's fame accelerated after his death and his songs helped define the small genre of "narcocorridos," or narco-ballads.

At 19, Adan Sanchez already had a large listening audience in Mexico and United States, where his songs are played on Spanish-language radio stations.

Although Adan had used the "Chalino" middle name on CD covers, he developed a wider musical range than his father, according to music critics. He signed with Univision Records to produce his most recent CD in 2003.

The San Fernando funeral home in Escuinapa held a vigil for Adan Sanchez on Sunday. Funeral preparations were being made in Los Angeles, but more information was not immediately available about the ceremony or surviving family members.