Selena Quintanilla

Selena Quantilla was a famous recording artist known as an influential superstar in Mexico from 1971-1995.

According to Biography, at the age of ten, Selena Quantilla was already an astonishing singer

from the beginning as she was already the lead singer in her family band called Selena y Los Dinos.  She grew up playing in her family’s restaurant but ended up leaving when the restaurant closed down. According to the Encyclopedia of World Biography, Selena started touring with her family around this time displaying her music to the rest of the world. By eighth grade, Selena became so busy with tours she ended up quitting school to be homeschooled while touring the state.

One of the biggest impacts Selena made was the spread of Tejano Music. Selena was born in Texas and was raised learning English. However, Selena’s father decided that her music would sell better if she sang in Spanish. Her father thought this was the best idea because he wanted her to continue his legacy and sing Tejano music. This is due to the fact that he created the genre of Tejano Music which was a mix of traditional Mexican music and rock and roll. This led Selena and her family to go on and produce Tejano based albums with some older based Texan recording companies. However, these albums did not sell as much as they would have hoped, leaving them to continue to tour. This is when the family decided they would start to play different genres of music for different audiences when on tour. 

They decided to continue to play traditional Tejano music for small Texas towns and more rhythm-based-blues music for larger cities. With this new idea and her new partnership with EMI records, Selena started to appeal more to wider audiences in the United States, Mexico, and Central & South America. 

Selena and her family produced many influential songs over the years that are still listened to today. If you wish to listen to her music go to this Spotify Playlist  and listen to Selena’s all time hits. Selena went on to win multiple awards with these songs such as a Grammy award and multiple female Tejano music awards.But more importantly, Selena touched the hearts of many as she grew up. In fact, she was so loved, her death still deeply affects people today.

Sadly, Selena died due to being shot by the president of her fan club. Though, even with this sad ending, Selena grew even more popular at the time and she is still a distinguished figure in society today. To learn more about Selena’s life, go to MsMojo.com to watch a video documentary about her.