Pedro Infante

Pedro Infante Cruz was born on 18 November 1917 in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, the fourth child of Delfino Infante and Refugio Cruz. In 1919, while still a small child, he moved with his family to Guamúchil, in what is now the municipality of Salvador Alvarado, where he grew up and received his early schooling.

In Guamúchil, the son of a music teacher, he received intensive musical training from an early age; at fourteen he joined the orchestra "La Rabia." Guamúchil became the central setting of his artistic formation, and today houses the Museo Pedro Infante, dedicated to his life and work.

He began his singing career on radio station XEB in the late 1930s and recorded his first song for the Peerless label in 1943. His film debut, under director Ismael Rodríguez, launched a filmography of some 45 films, including Nosotros los pobres, Ustedes los ricos and La vida no vale nada, for which he won an Ariel Award.

A passionate aviator, Infante held a pilot’s license and helped found the airline Transportes Aéreos Mexicanos. He died on 15 April 1957, aged 39, when the plane he himself was piloting crashed shortly after taking off from the airport in Mérida, Yucatán.