SELENA’S LIFE
Selena Quintanilla was born in 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas. She is the youngest of three siblings. Her father is Mexican and her mother is half Cherokee and Native American. Selena started singing when she was three years old. At age nine her father started a group called “Selena Y Los Dinos”. As soon as the father started the group, her dad quit his job, a family business restraunt .Selena y los Dinos started performing in the restraunt. However, the restraunt went bankrupt. Selena and her family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. They would perform in weddings, qinceneras street corners and fairs. Her father took her out of school in eighth grade. When she was seventeen she got a high school diploma by the American School Program. The band started getting popular in 1985. When Selena was fourteen years old, she recorded her first album for a record company and became a success!

SLELENA’S SUCCESS
In 1987 at the Tejano music awards, Selena won best female vocalist. Jose Bejar signed selena because he thought he found the next Gloria Estefan. In 1990 her album Ven Conmigo was released. The song was written by her brother Abraham Quintanilla III. Chris Perez had his own band and got hired to be in Selena’s band. After 2 years, Selena and Chris started dating. Her dad did not like her being with Chris, and fired him from the band. He later rehired him and accepted the relationship. In 1992, Selena and Chris got married in Nueces County, Texas. A woman named Yolanda Saldivar, a fan of Selena, gave her father the idea to have a fan club. The father liked the idea and started the one. Yolanda became the club president. Selena did a song called “Como la Flor”. The song raised the charts. The next album, “Selena Live” won best Mexican-American album at the 36th Grammy awards.

THE MURDER
In 1995 the Quintanilla’s family discovered that Yolanda Saldivar was embezzling money from the fan club. They decided to fire her. About three weeks later, Selena went to see her at the Days Inn Hotel. Saldivar refused that she embezzled the money. Instead she gave Selena a sob story. She said she was in Mexico, and had gotten raped. Selena drove Yolanda to a local hospital where doctors found no evidence of the rape. They drove back to the hotel and Selena once again told her about the financial papers. Yolanda took a pistol out from her purse and pointed it at Selena. Selena tried to run out of the room, but Yolanda shot her in the shoulder. Selena ran towards the lobby but collapsed. The clerk called 9-1-1 while Yolanda was chasing Selena. Selena died at the hospital from the loss of blood on March 31st 1995. She is buried at Seaside Memorial Park in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Selena will be truly missed.