then when, in Jalisco, he participated in the radio program Amanecer Tapatío, and began to be recognized locally. At the age of 21 he appeared on the television show La calandria musical. It was his first paid show. On 27 December 1963 he married Maria del Refugio Abarca Villaseñor, with whom he had his first son, Vicente, who was born premature and had to be incubated at home because Fernández could not pay the hospital. That year, his 47-year-old mother died of cancer. In 1965 he moved to Mexico City to seek a future in the world of music. His first attempts with the record companies were unsuccessful, because it was the time of stardom for the singer Javier Solís. There he arranged to sing in a program of the radio network XEX-AM, which at that time was the most important in the country. A few days after the premature death of Solís in April 1966, Fernández received his first offers for albums. His first contract was with CBS Records of Mexico, the recording label in the Mexican department of CBS Records International, for whom he recorded albums such as "Soy de Abajo", "Ni en Defensa Propia", and "Palabra de rey". Some of Fernández's songs such as Tu Camino y El Mío and Perdóname were very successful. Career 1970s and 1980s: Volver volver and Fernández's success Fernández had to wait a decade to consolidate his career. With the death in 1973 of José Alfredo Jiménez, one of the great icons of rancheras, Fernández became a reference point in the music industry. His next album was La voz que estabas esperando and the following albums, titled El rey, El hijo del pueblo, and Para recordar, sold millions of copies. In 1976, with the song Volver Volver, written in 1972 by Fernando Z. Maldonado, his fame was catapulted throughout the country and the American continent based on the sales of this recording. That song came to be covered by more than twenty singers, including Chavela Vargas, Ry Cooder, and Nana Mouskouri. In the 1980s the style of Fernández's songs changed from bolero ranchero to a ranchera focused on migration. In fact, the song Los Mandados was a reference to those Mexicans migrating to the United States and reproduced macho and patriotic stereotypes. These were the years in which he built his ranch "Los 3 Potrillos", which would end up being his music