Almost 30 years after her death, Selena’s reign as Queen of Tejano continues

Of the Voces Oral History Center:

Selena Quintanilla-Perez was born on April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas. She formed a band with her two older siblings and played at her family’s restaurant and other small venues.

While she sang Spanish-language songs, Selena could not speak or read Spanish during those early years. Instead, she learned the songs phonetically.

In 1981, an oil spill forced the family to close their restaurant and move to Corpus Christi. Around this time, the family group “Selena y Los Dinos,” led by Selena’s father Abraham Quintanilla, became the sole support of the family.

Selena Y Los Dinos toured South Texas. One of her big breaks was appearing on the Johnny Canales Show in Corpus, which featured up-and-coming and established Tejano music acts.

At 15, Selena won the Tejano Music Award for Female Vocalist of the Year. It would be the first of many in her career.

A few years later, EMI Records signed her – their first artist in a new Latin music division. In an additional interview for the “Selena” movie DVD, José Behar, an EMI executive, spoke about what he saw in the teenager.

“I realized that the world wanted to see Selena and not Los Dinos,” he said in the interview. “No disrespect to Los Dinos, but the world, internationally, they wanted Selena.”

The following year, Selena’s “Baila Esta Cumbia” shot up the charts, particularly in Mexico. Her father Abraham was also interviewed for the Selena film.

“I don’t think Selena ever knew how big she was getting,” he said in the interview. “In fact, everywhere we played it was like we were waiting for the show and sitting on the bus and she was worried about people coming. And I kept telling her, ‘It’s totally in.'”

In 1994, Selena’s “Live” won a Grammy for best Mexican-American album of the year. Many of the songs were written by Selena’s older brother AB Quintanilla. Selena told a Univisión program, Tejano USA, about the excitement of being nominated.

“When they first told us we were nominated we all freaked out. We couldn’t believe it,” she said in the interview. “The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘I need to take a camera so I can photograph all these stars.’ It didn’t occur to me until later: ‘What if we won?'”

In March 1995, Selena was murdered by the president of her fan club on Corpus Christi.

Their bilingual English-Spanish album Dreaming of You was released in July 1995 and was the first Tejano album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts. In 1997, a film about her life was released, in which Jennifer Lopez played Selena.

Almost 30 years later, Selena Quintanilla is still popular. Her music is still played and her likeness, often holding a rose, appears on T-shirts and other memorabilia. In 2021, Selena was honored with the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

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