Biography

Selena

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Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas, 50 miles southeast of Houston, to Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcella Quintanilla. Abraham opened a Mexican restaurant, Papagayo, in Lake Jackson. Selena was 9 years old when her father discovered her talent for singing. He formed a band consisting of Selena on vocals, her brother A.B. Quintanilla on bass, and her sister Suzette Quintanilla on drums. The group, called Los Dinos after a band Abraham was a member of in the 1950s and 1960s, frequently performed at the restaurant. In 1981, the family moved to Corpus Christi where Abraham started booking his band for weddings and parties. This became their way of life. Selena and Los Dinos' big break came in 1987, when 15-year-old Selena won the Tejano Music Award for Female Entertainer of the Year. That award led Selena to a major record-label contract with Capitol Records and six very successful albums. By 1992, Selena had branched out and launched her clothing line and married her guitarist, Chris Pérez. In 1994, she was nominated and won her first Grammy for Best Mexican-American album, "Selena Live!" That year, she opened her first boutique in Corpus Christi, Texas. On March 31, 1995, Selena was murdered by Yolanda Saldivar, her friend and president of her fan club.
- IMDb mini biography by: Emarbo@aol.com

She never refused to sign an autograph.
Once Selena was late for an 8:00 p.m. gig at the Tejano Rodeo in Dallas because her plane was delayed by a snowstorm. When she showed up at 10:00 instead of canceling like many stars would do, she walked out on stage apologizing heavily and then sang and danced all night so her fans wouldn't feel shortchanged.
She was working on her first English album at the time she was killed. She was due in the studio the day of the murder.
Her 1994 concert in Houston's Astrodome took place in front of 61,000 fans, the largest crowd in Tejano music history and in Astrodome history, second only to Garth Brooks. After her death, the self-designed purple jumpsuit she wore at the record-setting concert was donated to the Smithsonian.
In the months following her untimely death, more than 600 baby girls throughout south Texas were named after Selena.

Stay in school, don't drink, don't do drugs, stay chaste, live good, and go to church.
The impossible is possible.
Although my Spanish is a little weak, I feel that I am Mexican and I'm proud of my roots.
I was six and a half when I started singing. I recorded my first record when I was eight and started traveling when I was nine.
If we got a hundred dollars a gig, we were like, whoa this is cool...but you have to take what you can get when you're first starting out. -on the early years of her career

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