Selena Quintanilla-Perez, most commonly known just as Selena took not only the Latin music world but the entire music industry by storm. Selena’s story begins as a young child when she was apart of band alongside her siblings called “Selena Y los Dinos” which translates simply to “Selena and The Boys” They were a Tejano musical group that played at their father’s restaurant. Singing mainly in Spanish, Selena had to learn to sing in Spanish and did so fairly quickly. [1]

For years Selena recorded and toured with her band.  They recorded their first album in 1984. From this moment on Selena was known as the “Queen of Tejano Music”and began winning many awards like the Tejano Music Award for “Best Female Vocalist” and “Best Female Performer” at the young age of 15. The band was greatly recognized in 1989 and was signed to Capital/EMI. [1]

Her success continued for about another 7 years. She married Chris Perez who was brought into the band later on in 1992 and also started her own company. Selena Etc. Inc, was the name of her very own boutique that sold her personal clothing line. [2]

Unfortunately Selena’s career was cut very short when she was killed in 1995. Her fan club manager Yolonda Saldivar shot Selena as she was walking out of a hotel. She died hours later at the age of 23. [2]

Even with her life quickly ending, Selena continued and still continues to shine. A few months after her death, Selena’s last recorded album “Dreaming of You” was released. The album quickly climbed the charts and topped the Billboard 200 Chart. Selling thousands of copies in its first day of release, Selena posthumously beat the female vocalist record. [2]

The influence Selena had on her fans and the entire music industry will never be forgotten. Over 20 years after her death, there are still releases under her name. The most recent being Lo Mejor de… Selena, which was released on the 20th anniversary of her death. [2]

Selena shone a bright light on Tejano music and helped create its success. Many say she brought the Latin community together and will be remembered for the impact she had it. She also opened many doors for other hispanic female artists when their wasn’t a lot of opportunities before her. Selena inspired her fans by showing that success is possible with hard work. She showed this through her musical success and her business success while remaining very humble. To this day she continues to influence.

Many current artists have spoken publicly about Selena’s influence on them. Jennifer Lopez is someone who was actually able to go into Selena’s shoes. As an up and coming actress, Lopez landed the role of Selena in a movie based on her life. Lopez explained in an interview that she felt Selena really influenced her own personal music career. She explained that Selena taught her to not “neglect parts of yourself and let people put you in a box because you’re an actress. You can do this, and you can also do that. Life is short, and you don’t know what’s going to happen. Go for your dreams and don’t let anyone hold you back.” Jennifer Lopez now has her own role in the Latin music community and has found great success. [3]

Beyonce, another very successful female artist also expressed her love for Selena and named her as one of her inspirations. Beyonce was actually able to meet Selena before her passing. She explained that she saw her across the room and was able to say hello. Beyonce also shared in an interview how Selena’s music, even though it was mainly Latin music, still influenced and had an impact on her as a young performer. [4]

Not only did Selena posthumously launch Jennifer Lopez’s career but she also had made other impacts on pop culture after her death. Selena has a very popular museum dedicated to her in Corpus Christi, Texas (her hometown) that is run by her family to this day for fans to visit. Also a very popular makeup company known as M.A.C released a cosmetic line named after Selena after a fan created a petition for it. [2]

Selena’s music is still celebrated today and as someone who actually has always very much enjoyed her music can say its worth the listen. My personal favourite song is one of her most popular hits, “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom What I love most about the song is how happy and uplifting it is. I think it really represents the kind of artist Selena really was. While listening you can her the Tenjano sound that we all know was her speciality. It contains a mixture of different sounds with a lot of rhythm. You can also her the drums throughout the entire song that keeps the beat.

Selena was mentioned in our textbook less than briefly. I really believe she should be discussed way more especially when talking about tejano music. She captured the essence of tejano music perfectly and really gave it a lot of success in America.

Sources:

[1] “Selena Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography. Accessed August 08, 2018. http://www.notablebiographies.com/Sc-St/Selena.html.

[2] “Selena.” Biography.com. November 08, 2017. Accessed August 08, 2018. https://www.biography.com/people/selena-189149.

[3] Cobo, Leila. “Jennifer Lopez on Playing Selena: ‘She Had a Sense of Living in the Present & Following Her Heart’.” Billboard. March 31, 2018. Accessed August 08, 2018. https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/7728858/jennifer-lopez-selena-film-anniversary-interview.

[4] Alvarez, Alex. “That One Time Beyoncé Met Selena.” BuzzFeed. Accessed August 08, 2018. https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexalvarez/memorieeees?utm_term=.fb1OpGdx1#.pfNaPMJXY.

SELENA

‘Queen of Tejano Music’

 Selena Quintanilla – Perez was born April 16, 1971, in Lake Jackson, Texas. She was considered the ‘Queen of Tejano music’, she was also sometimes referred to as the ‘Mexican Madonna’ for her sexy outfits and dance moves. She began performing as a child with her family band around the age of 10. The family band featured her brother, Abraham, on bass guitar and her sister Suzette on the drums. Her father, Abraham, managed the family band after giving up his musical career. The family band took the name ‘Los Dinos’ after the father’s former band he was a member of. She grew up speaking English, but her father taught her how to sing in Spanish so she could connect with the Latino community. She learned the lyrics phonetically at first and eventually had to learn how to speak Spanish.

Selena and the ‘Los Dinos’ got their break with Tejano music in 1987, at the age of 15, she won the Tejano Music Award for Female Entertainer of that year. In 1989 she signed with EMI Latin where she realized her self-tittle debut album that same year. She had to break through some long-standing traditional barriers within the world of Latin music. She faced a lot of obstacles that a lot of women face in the recording industry; she was a woman in a very male-dominated industry. Particularly in the type of sound, she was doing, Tejano, it was a very male genre that no one could understand seeing a woman in. She was modernizing Tejano and making it more accessible to a younger audience.

In 1992 she loped with the guitarist, Chris Perez, and got married behind her fathers back. Her new husband was soon welcomed into the family, despite her father initial wishes. As a family worked behind the signs to help to build Selena’s success. On March 31, 1995, Selena was shot and killed by Yolanda Saldivar, her friend and former manager of her fan club and boutique.

Awards/ Accomplishments

• 1987- Selena won the Tejano Music Award for Best Female Vocalist running through 1987 to 1996. Winning 34 Tejano Music Awards
• 1985- she became a spokesperson for Coca-Cola
• Received 8 awards at Lo Nuestro Awards during her career
• 1990- her album was the first Tejano record to receive gold record states (sold over 500,000 copies)
• 1993- her album ‘live’ won the Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album
• 1994- Amor Prohibido was released and went gold

By July 1995, ‘Dreaming Of You’ became the fastest selling album by a female artist in pop history. Selling 400,000 copies in its first week-175,000 copies on its first day.

Her unexpected death shock the world and the music industry. Everything about her and what she did was carried on and remembered. It was turned around to be a memory in which you could celebrate. Selena has knocked down barriers and opening the door for female singers. She became a role model for many young women.

Selena influenced many individuals and artist to this day. Through her music, she was able to bring together the Latino community and make Latino music popular in America. Throughout the years she never let her flame change her. She continued to be this wonderful down to earth, kind spirit girl. Her voice, her spirit, and charisma influenced and inspired so many people like the artist today. Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez, and Demi Lovato are a few iconic Latino singers that were influenced by her.

In 1997 a film was produced recreating Selena’s life, played by Jennifer Lopez. Since the film her career took off reaching unimaginable heights in the music and movie industry

She opened the gates for woman in Latino music, but continued in inspire all woman across the board.

 

Selena – La Carcacha

La Carcacha is wonderful song by Selena that demonstrates her vocal capability and wonderful latino sound of Tejano. Her music carries a wonderful melody and sound that captivates the audience. The sound of accordion is instrument dominant, but her vocals strength the songs. Her songs, like this one, have country music evident as it focuses on stories, which tells of love, and break heart. Much of her songs fill a person with such energy and emotion as she sings with the band in a perfect complimenting form. Selena’s capability of breaking into Tejano music and making top chart songs give evidence of why she should be in our textbooks. Her voice, and her songs made people recognize Tejano music, and made Latino music popular, allowing for more Latino artist to be inspired and become known today.

 

https://www.biography.com/people/selena-189149

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/legends/selena/

Selena’s Life:

Selena was born on April 16th, 1971 in Lake Jackson. As a child Selena loved performing and by the age of ten she was the lead singer in her families band.  Selena was bilingual. She grew up speaking English, although her father taught her to sing in Spanish. Her father thought it was important to to sing in Spanish in order to connect to the Latino community. Once she started singing in Spanish, she eventually learnt to speak the language fluently. Selena made her recording debut in the 80’s and this was only the beginning for the award winning artist. Selena was very influential and successful and unfortunately her life was taken from her too soon in 1995 when she was murdered by Saldivar. Saldivar was an employee of Selena’s who was about to be fired for embezzling money.

Accomplishments:

• 1987- Selena attended the Tejano Music Awards and was awarded the Best Female Vocalist of the Year and Performer of the Year.
• 1990- Her album was the first Tejano record to achieve gold record status (sold more than 500,000 copies).
• 1993- She won a grammy award for her album.
• 1994- Amor Prohibido was released and went gold.

“At the time of her death, Selena was already a cultural icon and widely beloved role model. Adolescent years spent nursing her musical talent resulted in hit songs, hundreds of thousands of album sales, crossover success, and a Grammy win, all before she turned 23. And 20 years after her death and the film’s subsuquent  release, the singer’s legacy has only grown stronger, bolstered by numerous pop-cultural markers that have popped ip within the last few years.”

After Selena:

The Latino community was devastated after hearing about Selena’s death as was the rest of the world. Although, some may think this would be the end of Selena, the world continues to recognize her to this day.

Her first English album “Dreaming of You” was released and became a huge hit.

In 1997 a film was produced recreating Selena’s life. Jennifer Lopez played the huge role of Selena.

She has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.

The mayor stated November 3rd to be “Selena Day” in L.A.

Those Influenced:

Selena influenced many artists and individuals. She managed to involve both English and Spanish in her music career and because of this she never lost her roots. Through her music she inspired others and brought people together. The amount of success she achieved in her twenty three years of living is remarkable and she managed to stay humble and kind through it all. Selena should definately be included in the textbook. She is an icon. She was very influential to both female and male artists and individuals and should be showcased. She made an impact on the world and different cultures within.

• In 2017, Kim Kardashian dressed up as Selena for Halloween, as she represented music legends.
• Singer Bruno Mars also paid tribute to Selena while performing in Mexico singing “Dreaming of You”.
• “I am named after her. She was a big deal to my family and growing up from the get-go, I knew who she was and who I was named after. It’s such an honour to be named after someone so amazing.”- Selena Gomez
• “Growing up I loved Selena’s music. I was really young when she passed, so I didn’t know much about her until I got a little older, and when I saw the movie there was some sort of connection… There is something about the movie that was really inspiring to me.”- Demi Lovato
• ” I think she is a legend. I admire her. She was so talented.”- Beyonce

“I Could Fall in Love” by Selena Quintanilla

I chose this song because I thought it was simple but yet truly showed the beauty in her voice. This song was one of her first songs that transitioned her from Spanish to English which is a huge accomplishment. This song goes through the feelings of heartbreak and the emotion of fear and being rejected. This song is filled with emotion and the instrumentation and Selena’s voice really compliment each other. This song won an award for the Tejano Crossover song of the year!

Works Cited:

Blay, Zeba. “17 Artists Inspired By The Divine Glory Of Queen Selena Quintanilla.” Retrieved August 2nd, 2018. 

Desta, Yohana. “Forever Selena: How a Fallen Icon’s Legacy Has Kept Alive.” Retrieved August 2nd, 2018.

Finn, Natalie. “Selena Quintanilla’s Enduring Legacy.” Retrieved August 2nd, 2018.

“Selena Biography.” Retrieved August 2nd, 2018.