Notes

Selena Quintanilla was an American singer. Her parents were Abraham and Marcella, and she was the youngest of three children. She was born on 16th April, 1971 at Lake Jackson, Texas. She was killed on March 31st ,1995, soon before her 24th birthday.

Selena’s father was a musician, and had played in a band called Los Dios when he was younger. He soon realised that his youngest child had a special gift for singing, and decided to capitalise on it. He formed a family band, to back Selena, and they started performing at the family-owned restaurant, Papa Gayos, under the name Selena Y Los Dios. Selena could not speak Spanish, but her father wanted to cater to the Spanish speaking crowd, who were fond of Tejano music which was a fusion of American and Mexican music. He taught her to sing in Spanish. He composed most of the band’s material. The restaurant had to close down, and the family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. Here, the band continued to perform at weddings and other occasions, and even on street corners. In fact, it became the main source of income for the family.

In 1986, Selena’s talent came to the notice of two important people in the world of Tejano music. In 1987, she won awards for Best Female Vocalist and Best Performer of the Year at the Tejano Music Awards.

In 1989, the prestigious EMI label signed her on, and after this, her popularity grew steadily. In 1990, her album Ven Commigo was the first Tejano record to go gold, selling more than 50,000 copies. Her album Selena-Live was awarded a Grammy for Best Mexican American album, in 1993, and in the next year, her album Amor Prohibido went gold. In February, 1994, she performed for a crowd of more than 60,000 people in Houston, Texas, and was working on a crossover album with some songs in English, when she died