Aida Cuevas | Carlos Cuevas

Traditional Mexican singer Aída Cuevas is affectionately known as "la reina de la ranchera ("the queen of ranchera"). She has been an iconic figure in traditional Mexican music since her teens. Cuevas is an impassioned performer with a resonant, multi-octave instrument that evokes deep sorrow, abundant joy, and profound longing; her vocal range and expressiveness have drawn comparisons to Aretha Franklin's. She is the only female singer in the Mexican regional genre to win both a Grammy and Latin Grammy. Without a label since the 1980s -- she likes it that way -- she has eit...