Selena Quintanilla Discography

Related Artists

Similar Artists

Jennifer Lopez :: Gloria Estefan

See also Biography Index (S) :: Filmography Index (S) :: Discography Index (S)

April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), best known as Selena, was an American singer who has been called "The Queen of Tejano music".[2] The youngest child of a Mexican couple, Selena released her first album at the age of twelve. She won Female Vocalist of the Year at the 1987 Tejano Music Awards and landed a recording contract with EMI a few years later. Her fame grew throughout the early 1990s, especially in Spanish-speaking countries.

Selena attained further notability in North America after she was murdered at the age of 23 by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of her fan club. On April 12, 1995, two weeks after her death, George W. Bush, governor of Texas at the time, declared her birthday "Selena Day" in Texas.[3] Warner Brothers made a film based on her life starring Jennifer Lopez in 1997. As of June 2006, Selena was commemorated with a museum and a bronze life-sized statue (Mirador de la Flor in Corpus Christi, Texas), which are visited by hundreds of fans each week.
Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas, to a Mexican[4] father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and a Mexican-American mother, Marcella Ofelia Samora,[5] and was raised as a Jehovah`s Witness. She began singing at the age of six; when she was nine her father founded the singing group Selena y Los Dinos, which she fronted. They initially performed at the Quintanilla family`s restaurant, PappaGayo`s, but the restaurant failed shortly afterwards.[3]

The family soon went bankrupt and was evicted from their home. Taking their musical equipment in an old bus, they relocated to Corpus Christi, Texas. There, they performed wherever they could: at street corners, weddings, quinceañeras, and fairs.[6] Their efforts at spreading their names and talents paid off in 1985 when the fourteen-year-old Selena recorded her first album for a local record company. The album was not sold in stores and her father bought all of the original copies. It was re-released in 1995 under the title Mis Primeras Grabaciones.

Selena did well in school, but as she grew more popular as a musical performer, the travel demands of her performance schedule began to interfere with her education. Her father pulled her out of school altogether when she was in eighth grade.[2] She continued her education on the road; at age seventeen she earned a high school diploma from The American School of Correspondence in Chicago, Illinois. Selena released her second album, Alpha, in 1986.

Jeniffer lopez Played Selena In the Selena Movie

Post a Comment | View All Comments (4)