Selena

Selena's Biography

Selena was born to Marcela and Abraham Quintanilla on April, 16, 1971. She was the third and last child after Suzzette and Abraham Junior III. As a little girl of 8 years old Selena worked singing at bars, weddings, restaurants, fairs, and such. The band she worked in was called "Selena Y Los Dinos" formed by her father, Abraham Quintanilla. Her sister, Suzzette, played the drums and her brother, Abraham Junior, played the bass. Selena barely enjoyed her childhood. She used to always play challenging games in school and with neighborhood friends. Dolls were not much her style, Selena was athletic (e.g. running, hide and seek, basket ball, climb trees and such). Instead of having a normal childhood, her father, a professional and experienced Musician and ex-member of the original "Los Dinos" from the nineteen-sixties, influenced Selena and her three brothers to be dedicated Musicians. A boyfriend could have never been on her schedule, considering music as a carrier was a time consuming business. The Country/Tex-Mex band officially started in 1981. The band was considered to be the "family business" of the Quintanilla family. This business was the main source they relied on to put food on the table. Since 1981 until late 80's the family went through very rough times. They barely had money for food, had to apply for food stamps, and on many occassions, they could not afford to pay a motel. Time and patience was what kept them going. In the late nineteen-eighties Selena Y Los Dinos gained popularity in the western states, which by then Mexican immigrants were more prominent in the United States than ever. Due to all the work imposed by the music business Selena abandoned school. Nevertheless, Selena Y Los Dinos savored their first success in 1986 when Selena received the "Female Vocalist Of The Year" and "Performer Of The Year" awards at the Tejano Music Awards. Since then the band has been among the top winners, taking awards in numerous categories year after year. Selena Y Los Dinos then went from bar performers to national performers. They appeared on "El Show De Johnny Canales", "Siempre En Domingo", "Sabado Gigante", "El Festival De La Calle Ocho" and other prestigious shows. By the early nineties Chris Perez entered the band as the Guitarist. As it is to expect, Selena without a boyfriend and Chris without a girlfriend, the fortunate Guitarist lost no time in dating the beautiful Vocalist. Selena's father, Abraham, totally opposed to the relationship and threaten to suspend Chris Perez from the music group. This was not seen as a threat at all, Selena could have been a solist and there were Rock 'n Roll bands offering contracts to Chris. The couple had deaf ears for Abraham's threats and married on April 2, 1992.

As Selena's popularity spread through out the Latin world, Yolanda Saldivar, a thirty-two years old certified Nurse in Texas, found Selena in a concert in 1993. In that same year, Yolanda immediately contacted the singer's fan club organization and left numerous messages on the answering machine. Abraham, father and manager of Selena, was intrigued and hired her as the president of Selena's fan club. A couple of months later, Yolanda met Selena personally and describes her first encounter as "meeting Whitney Houston". Yolanda Saldivar, obsessed or not, gained access to the personal life of Selena. She became the chaperon and intimate friend of Selena Quintanilla. It is rumored that the Nurse and the Vocalist shared secrets. These "secrets" were the bound between these two friends. Selena not satisfied with all of her music's success, she aspired to be a fashion Designer with Martin Gomez, a professional young Designer in Texas. In 1994 Selena opened her first boutique "Selena, Etc. Inc." located in 5410 Leopard St. Suite B. in the heart of Corpus Christi, Texas. Another two stores followed, one in San Antonio, Texas and another in Monterrey, Mexico. The naked truth is that at that time non of her boutiques were going well. By early 1995 Yolanda is being confronted by Abraham Quintanilla, who alleges Yolanda Saldivar was stealing money from the fan club. Yolanda denied the accusation. Selena and her father met with the fan club's president to question her about the issue. Yolanda had no concrete answers and Selena suspected she was guilty of fraud. Obviously, Selena felt betrayed.