Latin Grammy winning Brazilian singer Marília Mendonça died in a plane crash on Friday. The 26-year-old was on her way to a concert in Caratinga, a small city in Minas Gerais state located north of Rio de Janeiro, when the airplane crashed. Police confirmed that four other passengers – her uncle, her producer and two crew members – also died in the crash. The cause of the crash was not known. 

Photos and videos circulating on the internet showed a plane laying just beneath a waterfall. Meanwhile, just before the take off, the singer had shared a video of herself walking towards the plane with guitar case in hand. 

Who was Marília Mendonça?

The singer started her career as a teenager and rose to fame in the popular country music genre called sertanejo. Best known for singing about women’s empowerment, the 26-year-old became a national star in 2016 following her hit single about infidelity. Her album “Em Todos os Cantos” album won her the 2019 Latin Grammy for best sertanejo album and she was nominated for the same award this year for her album “Patroas”.

Known as the country’s “Queen of Suffering,” Mendonça has over 22 million followers on YouTube and more than eight million monthly listeners on Spotify. As concerts were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic last year, the singer performed in a series of online gigs with one of them setting the record of the most-watched live stream in the world.

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Following her death, several people, including fans, politicians, musicians and soccer players, paid their tributes on social media. 

“I refuse to believe, I just refuse,” Brazil soccer star Neymar, who is a friend of Mendonça’s, said on Twitter.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro also used social media to mourn the passing “of one of the greatest artists of her generation.”

“The entire country receives the news in shock,” he said.

The singer leaves behind a son, who will turn 2 years old next month.

With inputs from The Associated Press