Selena Quintanilla was born on April 16, 1971, in Lake Jackson, Texas. Her Father, Abraham Quintanilla, was a former musician. Her Mother, Marcella Ofelia Samora, was a homemaker.
Selena grew up speaking English, but her dad taught her to sing in Spanish so she could resonate with the Latino community. She began performing at an early age, and around the age of 10, she became the lead singer in her family’s band. She was called Selena y Los Dinos. Her musical group started out playing at weddings and clubs in their native Texas. Her father managed and produced his family’s group, which also featured Selena’s brother, Abraham III, on bass guitar and her sister, Suzette, on the drums. Their music style was called Tejano and incorporated Mexican music, country, and western.
In 1987 at the Tejano Music Awards, Selena won Best Female Vocalist of the year and Performer of the Year. She was sometimes referred to as the “Mexican Madonna” for her dance moves and fashionable outfits, as well as the impact she had on her Tejano music. Her talents were eventually recognized by more than just her Tejano fans. In 1993, Selena won a Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album for her record Live, and two years later, she was posthumously awarded the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Award at the 2021 Grammy Awards.
She passed away on March 31, 1995, at 23 years old. She was shot by her former fan club manager, Yolanda Saldivar, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Her fans around the world mourned her death.
At some of her concerts, she would say, “Always believe that the impossible is possible.”
