One of Mexico's most famous performing artists, Cuco Sanchez, has died after a long illness.

He was 79.

Cuco Sanchez was considered to be one of the best composers of Mexican-style country and western music.

As a young man he was drawn to Mexico City from his native town of Altamira in the north of the country, and rose to fame as a singer-songwriter and actor.

He appeared in a number of films in the 1940s and '50s alongside some of Mexico's best-known artists, including Maria Felix, Pedro Armendariz and Jorge Negrete.

Cuco Sanchez composed more than two hundred songs and recorded more than a-hundred-and-thirty records.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service