While serving time in prison for petty crimes, Sánchez composed songs for inmates that had stories they wanted to preserve in sentimental ballads.

[1] Just a few months later, on May 16, Sánchez was shot and killed by unidentified assailants after a performance in Culiacán, in which he was handed a note, possibly a death threat.

He worked on farms from Seattle, Washington to Portland, Oregon and in January 1983 he later moved in with his aunt in Inglewood, California.

[10][6] Sánchez was introduced to Ángel Parra, who arranged for the singer to record his first demos at his studio with a norteño group, Los 4 De La Frontera.

By the third recording, his clients were ordering extra copies for their friends, and Parra suggested producing 300 cassettes, which sold easily and was followed by reorders.

The previous year he'd met Nacho Hernández, whose band Los Amables del Norte became his regular accompanists.

[15] On 25 January 1992, Sánchez performed at the Plaza Los Arcos restaurant and nightclub in Coachella, California, with 400 people in attendance.

Eduardo Gallegos, aged 32, an unemployed mechanic from Thermal who was under the influence of heroin and alcohol, requested the song "El Gallo de Sinaloa" to be played.

Sánchez' shots missed Gallegos, but accidentally hit and killed 20-year-old Claudio Rene Carranza.

[10] Both Gallegos and Sánchez were both transported to Desert Regional Hospital in Palm Springs, in critical condition.

[1][16][17][18][19] Gallegos, who survived his wounds, was convicted of attempted murder and was sentenced to twenty years to life in prison; he was paroled in 2023.

[10][20][6] The shooting gave Sánchez additional press and his sales and radio airplay increased particularly for his non-narco song "Nieves de Enero.

He distributed his gun collection to his friends and sold the rights to his songs to Musart Records, receiving just enough money for his wife to buy a house but depriving his family of any future royalties.

[6] The following morning, two farmers found Sánchez' body by an irrigation canal near Mexican Federal Highway 15, near the neighborhood of Los Laureles, Culiacán.

[6] Sánchez' music continues to be played on many Spanish language radio stations and is popular with young Hispanic listeners.

In 2004, at age 19, while riding in his father's 1990 Ford LTD Crown Victoria, he died in a roll-over car crash after the tire blew.