Selena (1971–1995) was the Tejano singer from Lake Jackson, Texas who carried Latin music to English-language audiences. Amor Prohibido (1994) is the landmark, and the posthumous Dreaming of You became the first Latin album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200. Find Selena vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was born in Lake Jackson, Texas on April 16, 1971 to Mexican American parents. She launched her recording career as a child in the late 1970s with her family band Selena y Los Dinos, led by her father Abraham Quintanilla Jr. (an ex-Los Dinos vocalist) - performing Tejano music alongside her siblings Suzette (drums) and A.B. (bass, songwriter, producer). She signed with EMI Latin in 1989 and launched her solo career. She is widely cited as the foundational figure of Tejano music crossover to English-language mainstream audiences. Her 1994 album Amor Prohibido - featuring the international singles Amor Prohibido, Bidi Bidi Bom Bom, and Fotos y Recuerdos - became a Latin music landmark. She was shot and killed by her fan club president Yolanda Saldívar (who had been embezzling from Selena's businesses) at the Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas on March 31, 1995 at age 23. Saldívar was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment (with parole eligibility in 2025). Her posthumous album Dreaming of You - featuring the English-language crossover singles I Could Fall in Love and Dreaming of You - debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 in July 1995, the first Latin music album to do so. The 1997 Gregory Nava film Selena (starring Jennifer Lopez in her breakthrough role) documented her life. She was posthumously inducted into the Tejano Music Hall of Fame in 1995. Her foundational influence on Tejano music, Latin pop, and broader Latin music crossover is widely cited.
Selena's sound is foundational to Tejano music crossover - combining Tejano music, Latin pop, cumbia, ranchera, mariachi, Latin music, Tex-Mex, and dance-pop with her distinctive vocal delivery (Spanish-language and English-language phrasing), Tejano music instrumental traditions (accordion, bajo sexto), and arrangements drawing on classic Tejano alongside contemporary Latin pop influences.
Original Q-Productions, EMI Latin, and SBK Records pressings of the Selena catalog are foundational items in Latin music and Tejano music collecting.
Listeners new to Selena typically start with Amor Prohibido (1994) or Dreaming of You (1995).
