He was encouraged to continue writing by his fellow inmates, and would compose ditties for anyone who had a story to tell him. The trauma of this event inspired his first ‘corrido’, dedicated to his lost brother. The fast life soon caught up with him and he was put in prison around time his brother Armando was fatally shot.

He spent his younger years immersed in world of crime, smuggling people and drugs across the US border as a drug trafficker and ‘pollero’ (human trafficker). Chalino took revenge into his own hands and shot the man to death when he encountered him at a party. He discovered that his sister was raped by a local ‘mafioso’ who was renowned for his power, influence and violent nature. In the words of his sister Juana, Chalino was a restless and badly-behaved boy who aspired to rise above a difficult childhood to become a famous singer. His father, Santos Sánchez, died when Chalino was six, and he and his siblings were raised by their mother Cenorina Felix. He was the youngest of the family and had seven siblings: Armando, Lázaro, Régulo, Lucas, Espiridión (known as El Indio), Francisco, and Juana.

Rosalino “Chalino” Sánchez Félix was born in 1960 on a small ‘rancho’ in Sinaloa, Northern Mexico. His story continues to captivate and has come to represent a kind of madcap American dream. At this point in time his discography spans around thirty releases, with many only being released in the years since his murder. Chalino’s songs chronicled the lives of shady men making their way by any means and resonated with the Latino communities of Southern California.

His unorthodox vocal style, lucid lyricism and untimely death have helped to popularise the ‘narcocorridos’ style in Northern Mexico, California and beyond.Ī narrative style at its core, ‘corridos’ often detail violence and oppression, representing a lineage that reaches back through literary history to styles such as the pittoresque and the chivalric romance. Chalino Sánchez is a shadowy figure in Mexican music.

Chalino sanchez songs