Short Biography: Selena Quintanilla-Perez

Selena Quintanilla-Perez was born on April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas (Biography.com). Her family opened up their own Tex-Mex restaurant where thanks to her father, Selena and her siblings preformed (Biography.com). That’s where they formed Selena y Los Dinos, the band Selena, her brother, Abraham, and sister, Suzette were in. A year later, the restaurant went under, a victim of the recession caused by the Texas oil bust (Biography.com). The Quintanilla’s lost their home, many of their possessions and, above all, their livelihood. Selena and her family went through some tough times, but through it all she and her siblings kept playing music. People kept telling them that with Selena singing lead, they would get nowhere, because of women

It was unknown to her fans and also to her parents for a long time, until they decided to secretly get married. Selenas father did not approve of Chris until after they got married, in which it was too late to do anything. Unlike Perez, Yolanda Saldivar was dangerous to Selena, but no one would’ve thought that until the end, when Saldivar shot and killed Selena. Not only was Yolanda Saldivar the founder of Selenas fan club, she was also the manager of Selenas boutique in San Antonio (Biography.com). It all started when Selenas father accused Saldivar of embezzling money, and was about to fire her. Prior to that, Selena and Yolanda had become close friends, one of the reasons why Selena made Saldivar manager of her boutique. “Saldivar worked hard, but it wasn’t long before she started having problems with other employees,” (People.com). Saldivar became very possessive and wouldn’t let anyone talk to Selena, by that time, people started to suspect something more than just work tension. Out of loyalty, Selena did nothing, later, her father began receiving calls from some of Selenas fans complaining that they weren’t receiving the things they paid for (People.com). When the Quintanilla’s confronted Saldivar, she insisted nothing was wrong and kept cool. It wasn’t until Selenas father kept seeing a problem and decided to do something about it, that Yolanda started to panic. The day after Selena and her family confronted Saldivar and were going to fire her, Yolanda called Selena and asked her to meet her at a hotel so that they could talk privately. It was that night when Selena died, Saldivar shot her after begging and pleading Selena not to fire her. Selena died on the night of March 31, 1995, in Corpus Christi,