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Selena: A star whose light dimmed too soon

Selena was a popular Tejano singer who won a Grammy Award for her album, “Selena Live” and recorded numerous albums during her brief career.
By the age of 19, she was a millionaire.
Tragically, however, Selena's career was cut short at the age of 23 when she was murdered by Yolanda Saldívar, ironically, the president of her fan club.
Selena Quintanilla was born April 16, 1971, in Lake Jackson, Texas, a small industrial town near Houston.
Her parents were Abraham Quintanilla, Jr. and his wife Marcela.  They had three children: Abraham III, Suzette, and Selena, the youngest.
In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, Abraham Quintanilla performed as a vocalist with Los Dinos (‘The Boys’), a popular South Texas band. When he heard his daughter sing at just 6 years old, he knew Selena was destined for a musical career and encouraged the musical talents that she revealed.
After years of working for others, Quintanilla opened his own Tex-Mex restaurant in Lake Jackson.  It was there, at her father’s restaurant, that Selena first performed in public with her brother and sister as members of her band.
But, the economic recession of the early 1980s delivered a knockout blow that closed the family restaurant, forcing them to leave their home and sell all their belongings.
While the rest of the Quintanilla clan relocated in Corpus Christi, Selena and her siblings hit the road, performing throughout southern Texas as “Selena y Los Dinos.” They played at weddings and in cantinas and honky-tonks to very small audiences — oftentimes, less than 10 people.
Selena left school in the eighth-grade to spend more time travelling with the band and earning money for her family, but she eventually completed her high school equivalency requirements through a correspondence course.
The band started playing larger venues, including ballrooms. They also recorded nearly one dozen albums for a small regional label.
In 1986, Selena— then 15 years old — won Tejano Music Awards for best female vocalist and performer of the year.
Three years later, the Latin division of the EMI Records Group signed the band to a record deal.
Selena could not speak Spanish and learned the Spanish lyrics for her lively songs and romantic ballads phonetically, coached by her brother, who wrote the songs.
At the advice of her father-turned-manager, she began taking Spanish lessons in the early 1990s, so that she could project a more genuine Hispanic image during interviews on Spanish-language radio.
In April 1992. Selena Quintanilla married the band’s guitarist, Chris Pérez.  But, Selena lost no time in the recording studio. She recorded the songs, “Ven Conmigo,” “Entra a Mi Mundo” and “Baila Esta Cumbia” between 1990 and 1993.
In 1993, “Selena Live” received a Grammy Awardfor best Mexican-American album.
The following year, Selena’s album, “Amor Prohibido” — which also received a Grammy nomination — sold 600,000 copies in the United States.
The fourth single from that album, “Fotos y Recuerdos,” reached the Top 10 on Billboard magazine’s Latino charts.
By 1995, Selena’s albums had sold a combined total of 3 million copies.
Selena’s hit single, “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” won the singer a song-of-the-year award at the Tejano Music Awards in early 1995.
She also won five more of the 15 awards presented at the 1995 Tejano Music Awards ceremonies, including best female entertainer; best female vocalist; album of the year; Tejano crossover song; and record of the year.
An amazed Selena was quoted in Time magazine, saying, “Never in my dreams would I have thought I would become this big. I am still freaking out.”
Selena had repeatedly refused offers for fan clubs, keeping her career a family project, but in 1990, a woman named Yolanda Saldivar expressed interest in founding and running Selena’s fan club.
Saldivar lived near San Antonio, working as a registered nurse, and caring for three children abandoned by her brother.
Selena and her family appointed Saldivar as the president of the Selena fan club, an unpaid position. In just four years, Selena’s fan club attracted 9,000 members.
In 1994, Selena promoted Saldivar to a paid position as head of Selena Etc. Inc., a company devoted to overseeing two Selena boutiques/salons — one in Corpus Christi and one in San Antonio — and to market a line of Selena fashions to be sold in the boutiques as well as in other retail venues.
But, things began falling apart rapidly. First, fashion designer Martin Gomez quit, claiming that he could not work with Saldivar, whom he accused of being “mean and manipulative.”
The problem escalated with reports of other lapses by Saldivar, including allegations of misusing funds.
Meanwhile, fans were not receiving T-shirts and other Selena souvenir items that they had paid for. And, money was disappearing from one of the salons.
Selena and her father both confronted Saldivar about the reported abuses.
Saldivar protested, claiming that she had documentation to prove her innocence and offered to show Selena the alleged papers.
Selena and Saldivar were supposed to meet alone at the Days Inn where Saldivar was staying.
Instead, Selena brought her husband; Saldivar proved not to have the papers she had claimed to possess.
The next day, Selena went to the Days Inn sometime before noon to talk with Saldivar.
At 11:50 a.m., March 31, 1995, the Corpus Christi police received a 911 call of a shooting at the motel.
Police later reported the details that Saldivar met Selena at the door of her motel room with a .38-caliber revolver, shooting the singer in the back and shoulder.
Selena staggered to the lobby before collapsing, though she remained conscious until paramedics arrived. Response teams rushed Selena to the hospital.
Despite blood transfusions, Selena died a few hours after being shot.
Saldivar was charged with Selena’s murder.
By all accounts, Selena was killed just as her career was about to skyrocket in new directions.
She had recorded six songs for an English-language album, her first with EMI’s SBK division, making her only the third Hispanic performer to ever cross from the Latin division to the more mainstream part of the record company.
The album was released as “Dreaming of You.”
In addition, she had just made her film debut as herself in “Dos Mujeres, Un Camino,” a Latino Television soap.
In 1995, she continued to advance her film career as a mariachi singer in the film “Don Juan DeMarco,” and she had collaborated with former Talking Heads leader David Bryne on the song, “God’s Child” for the film, “Blue in the Face.”
Selena’s life story was depicted in the movie simply titled, “Selena,” which starred award-winning actors Jennifer Lopez, Edward James Olmos, Constance Marie, Jacob Vargas, and Jackie Guerra.
It was directed by Gregory Nava, who also directed Mi Familia/My Family.
On April 12, 1995, George W. Bush, then the Governor of Texas, declared April 16 (Selena’s birthday) as “Selena Day” in Texas.

Sources:  gale.com ; hotshotdigital.com ; and wikipedia

Today’s Lesson:
1)  Selena Quintanilla born in ___________________ on _____________.
2)  Selena y Los Dinos first performances were at _________________________ .
3)  Cite three of Selena’s albums recorded between 1990 and 1993. _________________________.
4)  In _______, “Selena Live” received a Grammy Award for ______________________.
5)  Selena died on ______________.

Answers:
1)  Lake Jackson, Texas.  April 16, 1971.
2)  The restaurant of the family.
3) “Ven Conmigo,” “Entra a Mi Mundo” and “Baila Esta Cumbia.”
4) 1993. Best Mexican-American album.
5) March 31, 1995.