Born on 17 February 1940 in the suburb of Huentitán El Alto in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Fernández spent his early years on his father Ramon’s ranch on the outskirts of Guadalajara. He also worked at a young age as a waiter, dish washer, cashier, and finally manager of his uncle’s restaurant. “Chente”, as he was commonly known, became fond of the idyllic ranch lifestyle. His mother often took him to see the films of Pedro Infante; he has said of these films’ significance: “When I was 6 or 7, I would go see Pedro Infante’s movies, and I would tell my mother, ‘When I grow up, I’ll be like him.'” By age 8 he had taken up the guitar and was practicing singing in the style of the ranchera singers he heard on the radio. As a boy, Fernández sang at a festival in Arandas, Mexico where he won the contest. Later, at 12, he won 31 pesos in another contest. In 1954 he won an amateur contest sponsored by a Guadalajara television station. It was his first break into performing and he began to play at local clubs and gatherings. Around this time, however, Fernández’s father lost the ranch and the family moved into the city of Tijuana. Fernández, who had dropped out of school in fifth grade, began working jobs in the city such as janitor, dishwasher, waiter and whatever else he could find, all the while holding to his musical aspirations.

In 1960, Fernández devoted himself to music full-time. He went back to Jalisco, where he performed as a busker and occasionally appeared on the television show La calandria musical. After a couple of years Fernández tried his luck in Mexico City, where he found a job singing in a restaurant called “El Amanacer Tapatío”. When he wasn’t working, he was auditioning -unsuccessfully— for record companies. Discouraged, he left around 1963 to marry María del Refugio “Cuca” Abarca Villasenor. They now have three sons: Vicente Jr., Gerardo, and Alejandro. Vicente Jr was born 3 months premature in 1963; Fernández’s mother died the same week.

In the spring of 1966, Javier Solís, Mexico’s most popular traditional singer, died. Discos CBS, the recording label in the Mexican department of CBS Records International, offered Fernández a recording contract. He released his first recording, “Perdóname”, with the company in 1966; Fernández still records for the label, which is now Sony Music Latin of Sony Music Entertainment.

In 1970, just as Fernández was about to go onstage, his father died. Overwhelmed by the news but determined not to let the crowd go without a show, Fernández went onstage and performed. By the end of the night the critics were comparing him to other famous ranchera artists like José Alfredo Jiménez, Jorge Negrete, and Javier Solís. Since then his music has expanded rapidly. In 1998, he continued to tour despite the kidnapping of his oldest son. (He was released 4 months later with a ransom of $3.2 million.)

Fernández has recorded more than 50 albums in 35 years and claims to have recorded 300 more songs, making another 30 albums possible even if he retires. When he records an album, he spends 12–13 hours in the studio recording up to 18 songs; he takes a day off, then returns for another marathon session of recording another 15 or more songs. From this accumulation, he and his producer choose 12 tracks. Fernández’s greatest hit was “Volver, volver,” released in 1972; his first million-selling album was 1983’s 15 Grandes con el número uno. In 1987 he launched his first tour outside the United States and Mexico when he traveled to Bolivia and Colombia. On 16 April 2016 Vicente Fernández performed for the last time in his career at Estadio Azteca effectively announcing his retirement.

In 1990, Fernández released the album Vicente Fernandez y las clásicas de José Alfredo Jiménez, a tribute to Mexico’s famous songwriter from Guanajuato known as The “God of Ranchera Music” José Alfredo Jiménez, who is also his main musical influence. The album earned him Billboard and Univision’s Latin Music Award for Mexican Regional Male Artist of the Year, which he won 5 times from 1989 to 1993.

He branched into acting with the 1971 film Tacos al carbón. His first hit movie, for which he did the soundtrack, was 1974’s La ley del monte. He stopped acting in 1991. Maintaining the ranchera tradition, Fernández always performs wearing the charro, an embroidered suit and sombrero.

In 1998, Fernández was inducted into Billboard’s Latin Music Hall of Fame.

In 2002, the Latin Recording Academy recognized Fernández as Person of the Year. That year he celebrated his 35th anniversary in the entertainment industry, a career in which he has sold more than 50 million records and was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame. He has 51 albums listed on the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for gold, platinum, and multiplatinum selling records. He also has his own star on the walk of fame in Hollywood, California; over 5,000 people attended his star-presentation ceremony, which is a record itself.

Fernández also has an arena in Guadalajara named in his honor, a star placed with his hand prints and name at the Paseo de las Luminarias in Mexico City. In 2010, Fernández was awarded his first Grammy Award for Best Regional Mexican Album for his record Necesito de Tí.

On 10 October 2012, a stretch of 26th Street (a street in a Hispanic neighborhood of Chicago called Little Village) was named in his honor. In 2015, Fernández was awarded his second Grammy Award for Best Regional Mexican Music Album (including Tejano) for the album Mano A Mano – Tangos A La Manera De Vicente Fernández.

Fernández sparked controversy after some statements he made during an interview on May 2019 regarding his health. Fernández stated that he had been interned at a hospital in Houston, United States to undergo a liver surgery, but he decided to reject a transplant because he did not “want to sleep with [his] wife while having the liver of another man, who could have been a homosexual or a drug user”.