Selena Perez Essay, Research Paper
Imagine what it would be like to grow up as a performer in a world that didn?t
even except female Tejano singers? Can you imagine how much courage and work it
would take to make it to the top? That?s was Selena Quintanilla Perez had to
go through. Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas on April 6th, 1971 to Abraham
and Marcella Quintanilla. Abraham was a shipping clerk for a chemical company
and Marcella was a housewife. Abraham being a well respected Mexican musician,
who only sang English songs, and had his career ruined because of that. American
people didn?t respect him because he was Mexican, and the Mexican people did
not respect them because they sang English songs. By the time Selena reached age
10, it became very obvious that Selena was a natural born performer and that she
had a great amount of singing talent. Abraham decided to start a band, he was
afraid that the same thing would happen to her, so he decided to teach her some
Spanish songs, but one problem, Selena only knew how to speak English, so Selena
went on with most of her life not even knowing what the words meant that she was
singing. Well in order to start the band they would need more then Selena so
Abraham made Abraham III (nicknamed A.B.) her older brother, and Suzette, her
older sister. A.B. already knowing the drums, Suzette already knowing the drum,
and Selena having an awesome voice started their band, ?Selena Y Los Dinos?.
They started practicing together and performer a little. In 1980, Abraham and
Marcella opened up a Mexican restaurant. At first business was booming, Abraham
even had to quit his shipping clerk job to devote his full time and attention to
the restaurant. Unfortunatly after the Texas Oil Bust of 1981, the restaurant
went bankrupt and had to be shut down. So Abraham bought a bus and ?Selena Y
Los Dinos? began to tour the Texas countryside. At age 13 Selena had to leave
8th grade and start taking high school correspondence courses by mail. Selena
sang almost exclusively Spanish. She sang a Tex-Mex pop called Tejano. They made
there first recording in 1984, slowly people started to notice and love Selena,
but by her being a female Tejano performer, no one thought she would actually
last, because the Tejano industry of music was ruled over by men, and although
many women had tried, they rarely made it to stardom. Little did they know that
?Selena Y Los Dinos? would climb the charts and end up being the top Tejano
band in the country. It was in 1987, that they really started to make it to the
top. All the recording and touring throughout the 80?s finally paid off,
because in 1987 ?Selena y Los Dinos? came to national attention, when Selena
won a Tejano Music Award for Female Vocalist and Performer of the Year. It was a
great accomplishment for a 15 year old girl. Until then the two categories
didn?t even exist. Her fame was definitely being brought to the Latino
communities, but Selena wanted more. In 1989, Selena and her band were signed to
EMI, also known as Capitol Records, releasing there album a year later. Over the
next few years Selena became one of the most popular Tejano Performers. In 1992,
Selena and her lead guitarist Chris Perez eloped, after her father had forbid
for them to see each other. Her family later welcomed him into the family with
open arms. In 1994, Selena?s first mainstream exposure came in, she played a
singer in the 1993 film Don Juan DeMarco. Also in 1994 she won a Grammy for
?Best Mexican/American Album? for her album ?Selena: Live?. It was her
first time ever being nominated for a Grammy. Also, later that year she opened
?Selena Ect.? Two fashion boutiques located in Texas. Her outstanding
success, concerts, and now boutiques attracted many fans, including Yolanda
Salvidar, who would have a big effect on Selenas life later on. Toward the very
end of 1994 Selena signed a major world wide English- language crossover album
recording contract. ?Dreaming of You? was released in February 1995. With
sales booming and Selena holding a record breaking concert at the Houston
Astrodome where over 61,000 fans attended, there was no thought in anyone?s
head that anything could stop Selena. And then tragedy struck? After the
record-breaking concert, Selena and her father came to realize that Yolanda
Salvidar, who was now her fan club president, had been embezzling funds from the
boutiques. On March 5th, 1995 Selena went to a hotel to meet up with Yolanda to
recover the missing paperwork. It was said that the women argued loudly and then
Yolanda pulled out a handgun and shot Selena as she was leaving.
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