Selena (1971-1995)

Singer
Biography
Singer. Born Selena Quintanilla on April 16, 1971, in Lake Jackson,
Texas. Selena was considered the "Queen of Tejano," a type of
Mexican music that incorporated other styles, such as country. She
was also sometimes referred to as the "Mexican Madonna" for her
sexy outfits and dance moves. Selena began performing as a child.
Around the age of ten, she was the lead singer in her family's band,
Selena Y Los Dinos. The musical group started out playing
weddings and clubs in their native Texas. The band featured her
brother Abraham on bass guitar and her sister Suzette on the
drums. Her father Abraham, a former musician, managed and
produced the group. Selena sang in Spanish, learning the lyrics
phonetically since she understood the language, but did not speak
it at first. She went on to Spanish and later was a fluent speaker.

Selena became very popular with Tejano music fans and won Best
Female Vocalist of the Year and Performer of the Year at the 1987
Tejano Music Awards. Her album Ven Conmigo (1990) was the first
Tejano record to achieve gold record status, meaning it sold more
than 500,000 copies. In 1992, Selena took enough of a break from
her hectic schedule to marry Chris Perez, the band's lead guitarist
in April.

Her recordings continued to have strong sales, and she won the
Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American Album in 1993 for her
album Live. In 1994, she and the band played numerous tour dates
in New York, California, Puerto Rico, and Argentina. Amor Prohibido
was released that same year and went gold.

Selena went to work on an English-language album that she hoped

would put her on the top of the U.S. pop music charts.
Unfortunately, she did not live to see its success. Selena died on
March 31, 1995, in Corpus Christi, Texas, after being shot by
Yolanda Saldivar, the founder of the Selena fan club. Saldivar had
been managing Selena's boutique in San Antonio and was about to
be fired for embezzling money. Selena's murder sent shockwaves
through the Latino community and her fans around the world
mourned the singer's passing.

Selena's first English-language album, Dreaming of You, was

released after her death and became a huge hit. Her music
remains popular today. Since her untimely death, Selena's life story
has been the subject of a 1997 film starring Jennifer Lopez as the
Tejano superstar and James Edward Olmos as her father.

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