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Selena Forever Home Guestbook Message Board / Poll Multimedia / Selena Pictures Selena Song Lyrics / Music Info Selena Info / Aftermath Selena Fans / The Musical, The Movie Biography / Newspaper Articles Spanish Links / Browse Selena Store My Trip to Corpus Christi / The Selena Trial Files Other / Site Guide SelenaForever.com Blog Soraya / Search Site in Spanish Get Selena's Live Performances DVD To read the "Selena at 40" Remembrance Page , click here Click here to go to the SF Blog Order Chris Perez's new book about Selena: To Selena, with Love To read a review of To Selena, with Love click here Order the new Selena CD Enamorada De Ti People Magazine 20 Year Tribute Article NBCNews 20 Year Tribute Article Click here to see the full video of J. Lo's tribute (backed by Los Dinos) to Selena at the Billboard Latin Music Awards The guestbook is now working! (only accessible from the home page right now) Selena Quintanilla Perez April 16, 1971 - March 31, 1995 Selena was born to Mexican American parents on April 16th 1971 in Lake Jackson Texas. She was the youngest child of Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcella Ofelia Samora. She joined her brother Abraham (A.B.) who was eight and sister Suzette who was four. At the time of her tragic murder on March 31st 1995, Selena was known as “The Queen of Tejano” . Tejano music is a fusion of polkas, country-western and traditional Mexican folk music that is sung in Spanish. Selena and her group “Los Dinos” created a unique sound by mixing in Colombian cumbia, pop and R&B – winning them fans all over the United States, Latin America and the world. Selena is loved by her fans for her kindness, her love of her fans, her positive attitude and, of course, the wonderful music she made. Selena started showing an interest singing when she was three years old. At six, she was singing in both English and Spanish – although because she didn’t know how to speak Spanish at the time, she sang phonetically. When Selena was nine, her father started a musical group. Abraham had always had a strong passion for music. In the late 50’s and early 60’s, he was part of a group called “Los Dinos” which in English means “The Guys” . He adopted his old group name, for the new family group name calling the band “ Selena y Los Dinos”. Suzette played drums in the group. A.B. played bass (he would go to produce and write many of Selena's songs.) The 1980’s Selena Y Los Dino’s first performance was in 1980 at the Quintanilla family restaurant “Papa Gayos” . Soon however, the restaurant went bankrupt. Abraham packed up the family and moved to Corpus Christi. In 1984, Selena recorded her first album simply called Selena Y Los Dinos on the Freddie Label. Despite radio airplay of Ya Se Va the album did not sell well. Abraham moved the band from the Freddie Label to Cara Records before ending up on the Manny Label. Abraham bought the rights to the Selena y Los Dinos album which was eventually released in 1995 as Mis Primeras Grabaciones (My First Recordings) . It was the only non-EMI Selena album to be re-released. In 1986, Selena y Los Dinos released the album Alpha followed by Muñequito Ee Trapo . Also in 1986, Selena was discovered by two huge names in the Tejano Music Industry: Rick Trevi founder of the Tejano Music Awards and Johnny Canales the host of one of the top Spanish television shows. Selena y Los Dinos released three more albums in 1987 and 1988 ( And The Winner Is . . . ; Dulce Amor; and Preciosa. (For Selena’s full discography click here.) In 1986 at the Tejano Music Awards, Selena won the Best Female vocalist award. An award she would win every year through to and including 1996. In 1989, EMI President Jose Behar attended the Tejano Music Awards. He he saw Selena perform and win...when she yelled out "Whattaburgers for everyone". ..the crowd went crazy! He was like "what's a Whattaburger?" But more importantly, because of her dynamic performance, he knew he'd found the star he'd been looking for. He soon signed her to EMI Latin. That same year, her first album was released on EMI Latin called simply Selena . It was the first album that listed the artist as Selena instead of Selena y Los Dinos. The song featured such notable songs as Besitos, Contigo Quiero Estar and Sukiyaki (a cover of Kyu Sakamoto's 1963 hit) . The same year, she also became a spokesperson for Coca Cola. The 1990’s I n 1990, Selena released Mis Primeros Exitos (My First Hits) a collection of some of her best 80's songs re-recorded and Ven Conmigo (Come With Me). Ven Conmigo was the first Tejano album to achieve gold status. In 1991, her duet with Salvadoran singer Alvaro Torres "Buenos Amigos" (Good Friends) became her first number one song. The next year, she released Entre a Mi Mundo (Enter My World) which also went gold. Entre a Mi Mundo contained what was to become one of her biggest songs Como La Flor (Like The Flower) . Selena married Chris Perez, the lead guitarist of Los Dinos, on April 2nd, 1992. In 1993, she won a Grammy for Best Mexican-American performance for her album Selena Live . Also in 1993, she began designing and manufacturing a clothing line. She opened two Selena Etc. boutiques; one in Corpus Christi and one in San Antonio. 1994 was another big year for Selena. Her album Amor Prohibido (Forbidden Love) was nominated for another Grammy. She made appearances in the Latin soap opera Dos Mujeres, Un Camino . Her duet with the Barrio Boyzz "Donde Quiera Que Estés" (Wherever You Are) hit number one on Billboard’s Hot Latin Tracks. In 1995, Selena made a cameo appearance as a background mariachi singer in the romantic comedy Don Juan DeMarco (starring Johnny Depp, Marlon Brando and Faye Dunaway ). She also became the first female Latin artist to be signed to SBK, the sister label of EMI Latin with intent of promoting her upcoming planned English album. On February 26th 1995 she played to 61,041 fans at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in the Houston Astrodome. The Last Concert, a DVD of her performance, was released September 2nd 2003. March 31st, 1995 I n early 1995, the Quintanillas discovered that Selena’s fan club president and manager of her boutiques, Yolanda Saldivar , was embezzling money from the fan club. They decided to fire her. Money also started to turn up missing from the Selena Etc. account. On the morning of March 31st, 1995 Selena agreed to meet Saldivar at the Corpus Christi Days Inn. Selena was hoping to retrieve some paperwork that was necessary for tax purposes. Saldivar told Selena she had been raped the night before. So Selena drove her to the hospital where doctors found no evidence of rape. Once they got back to the motel, Selena soon realized she could not longer trust Saldivar and an argument ensued. At 11:48 am, Saldivar drew a gun from her purse and, as Selena turned to run from the room, Saldivar shot her in the back. Selena ran to the lobby and collapsed on the floor. Before she passed out she identified Saldivar as the person who shot her. Selena was rushed to the local hospital where she was pronounced dead at 1:05 pm. She was 23. She was two days away from her third wedding anniversary and 17 days shy of her 24th birthday. In October of 1995, Saldivar was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison – with no eligibility of parole for 30 years. The Aftermath Selena’s death devastated the Latin community. Plus it shocked and saddened non-Latinos who had come to love her. Her funeral drew 60,000 people. Celebrities such as Gloria Estefan , Julio Iglesias and Madonna expressed their condolences to the Quintanilla family. People magazine published a commemorative issue in tribute to Selena called Selena - Her Life in Pictures. It quickly sold out. (Its popularity led to People’s decision to publish People en Español (People in Spanish). In the summer of 1995, the album Dreaming Of You was released. Dreaming Of Yo u was a combination of Spanish songs and the four English songs that Selena ha...