141 Facts About Selena Quintanilla: The Queen Of Tejano Music

When talking about the Tejano genre, the name of Selena Quintanilla Perez, or just Selena, has to be mentioned.

Selena sang her own authentic form of Tejano, which included the essence of pop and country music, as well. Born in Lake Jackson of Texas, Selena is considered to be one of the most influential artists of the century.

Selena's birthday was born on April 16, 1971. At a very young age, Selena's father discovered his daughter's musical talent and took the initiative to nurture her.

Selena started off her career in a band that had her elder brother and sister playing the guitar and drums, respectively. The band 'Selena y Los Dinos' released six albums before Selena started her solo career in 1989.

Needless to say, Selena's talent earned her tons of accolades and awards. Even to this day, her music inspires artists like Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez.

Unfortunately, Selena's life was put to a tragic end on March 31, 1995, when she was just 23 years old. She was murdered by Yolanda Saldivar, who was her friend and president of her fan club.

To learn more about Selena Quintanilla, keep reading! You can also check out Bruno Mars facts and Adele facts.

Fun Facts About Selena Quintanilla

Selena Quintanilla was one of the most well-known faces in music and fashion and continues to be so today. There are a lot of fun and interesting facts about this world-famous Latin artist, who took the world of Tejano music by storm!

In 1992, Selena married Chris Perez, becoming Selena Quintanilla Perez. Chris was the lead guitarist in Selena's band and started having romantic feelings for the singer.

Eventually, he tried establishing a relationship with her, and soon enough, they became a couple. However, Selena's father was against this relationship. Nevertheless, the two did get married and continued a happy married life until her tragic death.

Apart from having a love for music, Selena also dreamt of being a fashion designer. So, with the help of a Texas-based designer Martin Gomez, Selena opened her very own boutique in Corpus Christi. Soon enough, she expanded her business by opening two more boutiques in Mexico and Texas.

Selena's life was not only limited to being a singer and fashion designer, as she also starred in a TV series and movie. While her role in the series titled 'Dos Mujeres, un Camino' was of herself, in the movie 'Don Juan DeMarco', she played the role of a Mariachi singer.

Some of Selena's personal favorites were white roses and the colors black and purple. She was also fascinated by farm life, and along with her husband Chris, Selena bought 10 ac (4.04 ha) of land, where they were looking forward to building their own house and farm.

In the movie titled 'Selena', a biopic of Selena Quintanilla, Jennifer Lopez played the role of Selena, and that role put the spotlight on her. Lopez also became the highest-paid Latina actor in the history of Hollywood for her role in the movie.

Selena Quintanilla's Childhood

Though Selena Quintanilla, the world-famous Tejano artist, went on to become one of the biggest names in the music industry, she started off quite ordinarily and had a humble childhood.

Born on April 16, 1971, her full name was Selena Quintanilla, and she had no middle name, which is something not very common. She was born in Lake Jackson of Texas, to Abraham and Marcella Quintanilla.

Abraham, her father, was already a known face in pop culture for being a musician. Hence, Selena's roots in music were pretty strong from her childhood due to her father's influence. However, her father had stepped out of the music industry to settle down and have a family.

When Selena was born, her father was a shipping clerk in a company named Dow Chemical Company. Selena had two older siblings, a brother and a sister. As a young child, she was a student at the O.M.

Roberts Elementary School. Here, she became quite well-known for her ability to entertain people.

Selena's musical talent was discovered by her father pretty early on. One fine day, when her father was teaching her brother, Abraham III, how to play a few notes on the guitar, Selena, who was only six years old then, suddenly started singing.

This incident opened Selena's father's eyes to the fact that he was raising a budding superstar under his very own roof! This motivated her father to form a family band, where Selena became the lead singer and her sister Suzette was the drummer, while her brother played the guitar.

The band eventually came to be known as 'Selena y Los Dinos'. This was the beginning of Selena's life as an artist.

In 1980, Selena's father left his job as a shipping clerk and decided to open his own restaurant. In this restaurant, he set up a stage where the family band performed. Selena became quite the center of attention for her beautiful voice. Apart from performing English and Spanish songs, Selena performed original songs written by her father.

Unfortunately, the very next year, the Quintanillas went bankrupt. The family decided to move to Corpus Christi in Texas, which was their hometown.

Here, Selena was enrolled in the West Oso Junior High School. However, she missed classes quite a lot due to being on the road touring and performing with her family band, 'Selena y Los Dinos'. When she was in the eighth grade, her father decided to make her quit school, so she could pursue music more seriously.

Nevertheless, she did earn her GED in 1989, after taking correspondence courses. After completion of her high school diploma, Selena got admission to the Pacific Western University, where she studied Business Administration as her major subject.

Facts About Selena Quintanilla's Music

Selena made a huge contribution to Mexican music and helped shape Latin music history by selling nearly 18 million records worldwide. Hence, this Tejano singer is credited with being one of the biggest influencers of the 20th century.

Her biggest contribution was perhaps in the field of Tejano music, earning her the title of 'Queen of Tejano Music'.

Selena brought Tejano or Tex Mex's style of music into the mainstream with her hit songs. In addition, at the time, Tejano was a male-dominated genre, and as a female artist, Selena was able to challenge the gender hierarchy that existed in this style of music with her talent, popularity, and fame.

Selena's first album came out in 1984, which also featured her family band. The album was titled 'Mis Primeras Grabaciones' and was produced by the record label 'Freddie Records', based in Corpus Christi.

This album did not sell well, and subsequently, the band became part of other production labels without much luck.

While she continued touring with the band to open for bigger musical acts, a number of other albums of her and the band were released. All in all, 'Selena y Los Dinos' released a total of six albums from 1984-1988, with the last album of the band being titled 'Dulce Amor'.

The year 1989 marked the beginning of Selena's solo career. After being signed on by EMI Records, Selena had the perfect system supporting her career.

Her debut album, which was self-titled, was released in 1989 and had a total of 10 singles. This album put the spotlight on Selena as it gained significant attention. This album was the reason behind Selena winning her first Tejano Music Awards.

The very next year, Selena released her second album, which was named 'Ven Conmigo', which translates to 'Come With Me' in English. With 10 songs, 'Ven Conmigo' further put the spotlight on Selena as a budding Tejano singer. With the release of this album, comparisons between her and artists like Madonna and Janet Jackson were also made.

Selena released three more albums in her career, in the years 1992, 1994, and 1995. Her last album, 'Dreaming of You', was released after she passed away, and this album sold 175,000 copies on its first day in the US.

This album had both pop and Latin music influences and also contained some of Selena's unreleased songs from years before.

Selena Quintanilla's Accomplishments

The life achievements of this Tejano superstar, Selena Quintanilla Perez, better known as just Selena, began quite early. Selena started gaining recognition when she was just a teenager.

Apart from public recognition, this female vocalist also won awards that further underlined her capabilities as a singer and artist. Overall, throughout her career, Selena earned 86 nominations and won 67 of them.

The first award Selena ever won came quite early in her career, while she was making music with her family band.

At the prestigious Tejano Music Awards of 1986, an award show based in Texas that awards Tejano singers, Selena won the award for 'Female Vocalist of the Year'.

She was only 15 at the time. Quite unsurprisingly, that was not the only Tejano Music Award for the artist, as, over the next several years, Selena won many awards at this show.

In fact, even after Selena's death, the Tejano Music Awards honored her posthumously with a number of awards, and some of the notable ones were the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' and two awards for being the 'Best Female Vocalist' of both the '80s and '90s.

At the Billboard Latin Music Awards, Selena won 14 out of the 16 times she was nominated. Some of her nominations were made after she passed away.

However, from 1994-1995, while she was alive, Selena won every award that she was nominated for in this show. Her first award from this show came in the year 1994, for being 'Artist of the Year'.

She also won awards for 'Song of the Year', 'Album of the Year', and 'Music Video of the Year' in the very same year.

The year 1994 proved to be quite eventful for Selena, as this year was not only witness to her first Billboard Latin Music Awards win, but she also won a Grammy for the first time. She won in the category of 'Best Mexican/American Album' for her hit live album titled 'Selena Live!

', which was released in 1993, the year prior. Quite recently, in 2021, at the Grammy Awards, she was posthumously awarded the 'Lifetime Achievement Award'.

Apart from these, Selena was the recipient of a large number of awards such as BMI Music Awards and Lo Nuestro Awards. In addition, she also has her very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which