For the movie, see Selena (film). If you were looking for "Selina", see Catwoman.
Selena Quintanilla Pérez (born Selena Quintanilla, April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995) was a Mexican-American singer of Tejano music whose skyrocketing career ended abruptly.
Her untimely death launched her to mythical status in the United States and Mexico. She is considered to be one of the most popular and influential Latino musicians.
Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas. When Selena was 9, her father started the group Selena Y Los Dinos. The group's first performances were in Papagallos, the Quintanilla family's restaurant opened in 1980. Everyone who saw her, even at that young age, knew she was going to be a star someday.
Soon the restaurant fell and the Quintanilla family went bankrupt, they were out on the streets without a roof over their head.So the family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas where they piled into an old bus with all their musical equipment. They played at every opportunity - on streets, at weddings, Quinceañeras, fairs. Soon all the hard work paid off. Selena recorded her first album in 1984 under the Freddie label. This album was not in stores just then and the original copies were bought by Abraham. However, the album was released in 1995 titled Mis Primeras Grabaciones (My First Recordings).
Because Selena was getting even more popular and the traveling to perform was interfering was school, Abraham pulled her out of school when she was in the 8th grade. Even though she was not attending school anymore, Selena earned a high school degree from The American School of Correspondence in Chicago and was even accepted at the Louisianna State University and othe fine schools.
In 1986, Selena's career really began to take off. Her second album, Alpha, was released then. At the Tejano Music Awards, she took the award for Female Vocalist of the Year (this was just the start of Selena sweeping the Tejano Music Awards for the next 10 years). Another important thing that happened in 1986 was she was discovered by two huge names in the Tejano music industry: Rick Trevi, founder of the Tejano Music Awards, and Johnny Canales, an entertainer with one of the top Spanish television shows.
