Selena Quintanilla Perez was born to Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcela Quintanilla on April 16, 1971, Easter Sunday, in Lake Jackson, Texas. Her father was a respected Latino musician who performed with a local group called Los Dinos. By the time Selena was 10 years old, she began performing with them alongside her brother Abraham Quintanilla III and sister Suzette Quintanilla in the group Selena y Los Dinos. Even though Selena’s native language was English, she sang mostly in Spanish in a style known as Tejano.
Selena y Los Dinos played everywhere that they could, streets, weddings, etc. Their hard work paid off and Selena recorded her first album in 1984 under the Freddie label titled “Mis Primeras Grabaciones”, “My First Recordings”. Her second album “Alpha was released in 1986. At the Tejano Music Awards, she took the award for Female Vocalist of the Year. Her career was really beginning to take off.
In 1988, two more albums were released, “Preciosa”, meaning “Precious” and “Dulce Amor” meaning “Sweet Love”. In 1989 was a good year for Selena. She was signed with Capitol/EMI Latin label. Selena y Los Dinos, which was once a three-person group, expanded. Pete Astudillo joined the group, but then left in 1993 to go solo.
Selena met a guitarist named Chris Perez who had performed with the popular singer Shelly Lares and had his own band. The Quintanilla family hired him to be in the band in 1990. On April 2, 1992, they got married. It was against her father’s wishes to get married though. He thought he was not good enough for her, but they got married anyway.
In 1990, a fan who approached Selena’s father with the idea of starting a fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, made it happen. She also became a very close friend of Selena’s. Her next album “Ven Conmigo” meaning they see with me was released that same year. Another album was released in 1994 titled “Amor Prohibido” meaning “Prohibited Love”
On March 31, 1995, Yolanda Saldivar, during a financial dispute with Selena shot her in her right shoulder and was pronounced dead two hours later. Selena was a beautiful woman and a wonderful signer, she would be missed by many people. She made such a contribution to the American culture and the Spanish culture. She sang in both Spanish and and English and made a big difference in people's life with her music.
Bio written by: CandyAnn9 |
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