Selena Quintanilla Perez By Marlana Quaill

Childhood Selena was born on April 16th 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas. She was the youngest child of a Mexican American family. Her parents were Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcella Ofelia Samora. She had one older brother, Abraham, who was nicknamed A.B. and one older sister, Suzette. Her family was very musically talented.

A Talented Family When she was three years old, she first showed interest in singing. By age six she was singing in both English and Spanish, even though she could not speak Spanish. When she was nine years old, her father started a musical group of her family. In the band, her sister, Suzette, was on drums and her brother, A.B., was on bass and would later go on to write and produce many of Selena’s songs.

Selena, Suzette, A.B., and their father

Beginning of Career Selena released her first album “Mis Primeras Grabaciones” in 1983 and became more popular. Selena’s father took her out of eighth grade to pursue her singing career. They instantly received criticism for this act. Some accused them of child labor and other thought it would be bad for them to be around drugs and alcohol. Despite the critics, Selena continued to sing and did not let it affect her.

Selena, nine years old, and others performing at her father’s restaurant

Rise to Fame She kept up with her academics while she was becoming famous. She earned a G.E.D. from a correspondence school when she was seventeen years old. Her brother A.B. became a songwriter and producer. He helped the band have more originality. Her music had a unique sound of mixing Colombian Cumbia, Pop, and R&B.

Selena at the height of her career

Awards and Honors At the Tejano Music Awards she was honored with both the “Female Vocalist of the Year” and “Performer of the Year”. EMI Latin signed her to a recording contract in 1989 soon after. EMI released three albums of Selena’s. The second, “Ven Conmigo”, earned gold status. The third, “Selena Live”, earned a Grammy award. She was known as the “Queen of Tejano”.

Selena Quintanilla Perez with flowers

Selena Quintanilla and Chris Perez Selena fell in love with a “Los Dinos” guitarist, Chris Perez. Her father did not accept the relationship. He went as far as firing Chris from the band to keep them apart. Selena eloped to Chris Perez. Her father eventually accepted the marriage.

Selena Quintanilla Perez with husband Chris Perez at their wedding.

Selena Everywhere Selena opened a pair of Texas boutiques called “Selena Etc.”. She also appeared in a 1994 romantic comedy called “Don Juan De Marco”. She talked about the importance of education at local schools. She also donated her time and money to many charities and organizations. Selena was referred to as the “Mexican Madonna” on television by Tom Brokaw. A movie was made about Selena’s life starring Jennifer Lopez as Selena.

Yolanda Salvidar In 1995, the Quintanilla family met Yolanda Salvidar. Yolanda continuously requested to be the president of Selena’s fan club. Selena eventually made her the president of her fan club and the manager of her boutiques. She was given control on sales, customer relations, and Selena Etc.’s finances. Selena’s father later found out that Yolanda had stolen a lot of money from the fan club and boutiques. Yolanda said that she could explain herself if given time to find the missing papers and prove her innocence. Yolanda hysterically called Selena claiming that the documents had been stolen and that she had been raped.

Yolanda Salvidar Selena Quintanilla Perez Selena and Yolanda Salvidar

Death Yolanda told Selena that she would give her the missing documents if she went down to Mexico City to get them. They were heard arguing and Yolanda shot Selena in the back after Selena fired her. Selena ran into the lobby bleeding as Yolanda chased after her shooting her again and calling her nasty names. The manager of the hotel called the ambulance and the police. Selena was announced dead on 1:05 PM on March 31st, 1995. In October of that year, Yolanda Salvidar was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to a life in prison.

Selena’s memorial grave Yolanda being sentenced to life in prison after murdering Selena. Yolanda Salvidar

Websites http://www.selenaforever.com/ http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.selenaforever.com/SelenaPictures20/selena108.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.selenaforever.com/Selenamusic/selena_biography.html&usg=__jUwf89J5zcd_6EF13VHs8fgn344=&h=450&w=364&sz=19&hl=en&start=13&itbs=1&tbnid=k_rmp5lkQxiuIM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=103&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dselena%2Bquintanilla%2Bperez%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1 http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nndb.com/people/690/000026612/selena_02.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nndb.com/people/690/000026612/&usg=__kG2BkMzZW5Hz7M1W8671oVpd5Ug=&h=269&w=221&sz=63&hl=en&start=11&itbs=1&tbnid=B9-4mucIfHElPM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=93&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dselena%2Bquintanilla%2Bperez%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena