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Debra Martinez's life story was not far removed from the mariachi ballads she sang with grace and beauty.

There was triumph, tragedy, love.

A local singing phenomenon from her earliest years, Martinez - known to New Mexico mariachi aficionados in the 1970s and '80s as "La Chicanita" - died Wednesday after a four-year battle with cancer. She was 48.

"Music was her first love," said Roberto Martinez, Debra's father. "And she always used music to further everyone. It was not a `me' thing to her. It was an `us' thing."

A musical family, the Martinezes knew little Debbie would be a force not long after she learned to walk. Her first solo appearance came at a family gathering when she knocked everyone out with a strong, clear rendition of "Los Laureles."

"She not only sang it, but she performed it," Roberto Martinez said. "Right away, she had a certain stage presence."

After that, Martinez said his daughter was unstoppable. She continued to sing and at age 11 recorded a novelty record. Soon afterward she cut "Una Pobre También (A Poor Girl, Too)," a work that Roberto said took off in the Southwest.

"From then on," he said, "she was accepted by everyone."

To many, she broke new ground. Mariachis are and were popular in New Mexico, but in the 1970s, stardom, even on a local level, was generally reserved for men. La Chicanita, said her father, served "as an inspiration to a lot of female singers, young females."

Martinez attended Manzano High School, graduating in 1976, and was active in promoting Hispanic culture there, including helping form the school's first Chicano Club and encouraging performances by mariachi bands and Ballet Folklorico.

"She wanted people to know," Roberto Martinez said, "that we were not run of the mill. She wanted to highlight our accomplishments."

Her list of venues is impressive: the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City; the Queen Mary in California; Washington, D.C., home of the Image Convention. She recorded at least five albums during her career.

Sadly, however, the music of La Chicanita came to a stunning end in her 20s. Degenerative hearing loss, the product of a genetic defect that affected others in her family, effectively ended her musical career.

But it didn't end Debbie Martinez. She earned a degree in business administration from the University of Denver, and later, a law degree from the University of New Mexico. She practiced family law in Albuquerque for many years, but always stayed close to the mariachi scene and helped promote the group Mariachi Tepeyac.

About four years ago, Martinez was told she had ovarian cancer. She doggedly battled the disease but the cancer spread to her lungs about six months ago, Roberto Martinez said.

Debra Martinez loved going to Mexico, home to so much great mariachi music, and had planned to take her daughter, Sheila, on a trip to Guadalajara.

"It was a goal," Roberto Martinez said, "she was unable to accomplish."

Martinez is survived by her daughter, Sheila; her fathe, Roberto, and mother, Ramona; sisters Roberta Sanchez and Doris Martinez; brothers Lawrence and Robert Martinez Jr., and a longtime companion, Pete Salazar.

A rosary for Martinez will be recited Sunday at 7 p.m. at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church. A mass will be held at Our Lady of Assumption on Monday at 10 a.m. with interment at Gate of Heaven Cemetery.