The Enduring Beauty of Selena Quintanilla-Perez, the Queen of Tejano

#Selena #Tejano #SelenaQuintanillaPerez #Mexicana #Tejas

By Tijana Ilich

Selena Quintanilla-Perez became known as the "Queen of Tejano Music" during her short but well-received music career performing in the genre in her home state of Texas before her tragic death at age 24 in 1995.

Selena was born on April 16, 1971, in Lake Jackson, Texas, and raised in a Mexican-American family, but only spoke "kitchen Spanish," originally learning to sing her Spanish tunes phonetically but later taking intensive Spanish classes to sharpen her vocabulary and pronunciation.
She released her first album, "Mi Primeras Grabaciones" with her band "Selena y Los Dinos" in 1984, but the group wasn't noticed until seven years later, in 1989, when she signed a record contract with Capitol/EMI.

Growing up in Texas

Selena was the youngest of three children born to Mexican-American Abraham Quintanilla and Marcella. Her father loved music and formed a band with Selena, her sister Suzette and her brother A.B. (A.B. Quintanilla III of Los Kumbia Kings / Kumbia All Starz fame). Selena was 6 years old, but her father claims he could tell she was destined for a musical career because she had perfect pitch and timing.
Quintanilla Sr. had performed as a vocalist with "Los Dinos" ("The Boys") when he was young so when he opened a restaurant named "Papagallos" a few years later, the newly formed band "Selena Y Los Dinos" were the featured performers.
Although the restaurant failed and the family went bankrupt and relocated to Corpus Christi, the band hit the road, performing at weddings, cantinas, and festivals throughout southern Texas. Ultimately, Quintanilla pulled Selena out of school when she was in the eighth grade so that she could stay on the road, and she passed her high school equivalency exam via correspondence school.

Early Albums and International Attention

In the beginning, "Selena y Los Dinos" was a small band comprised primarily of Selena, Suzette, and A.B., but over the next few years, they added a few members and started recording for a small local label. Their first album, "Mi Primeras Grabaciones," came out in 1984, and although it wasn't sold in any stores, Quintanilla would carry the album with him and pitch them to record executives at the band's performances.
The band recorded 5 albums in this manner, including "Alpha" in 1986; "Preciosa" and "Dulce Amor" came out in 1988. The previous year, Selena won the Tejano Music Award for "Best Female Vocalist" and "Best Female Performer" when she was just 15 years old.
For the next 7 years, Selena would continue to win award after award. In 1989, she signed a record contract with Capitol/EMI and made a string of albums, including "Ven Conmigo," "Entre A Mi Mundo" and "Baile Esta Cumbia." Her 1993 album "Selena Live!" won the "Best Mexican-American Album" Grammy, making Selena the only Tejano artist to win a Grammy award.

Personal Affairs and Business Endeavors

Things were going well in Selena's personal life, as she'd met a man named Chris Perez, who was hired to perform in Selena's band, and the two married in 1992 after overcoming her father's objections and agreeing to move into the house next door. In the family business, Perez is still performing with brother A.B.'s Kumbia Kings/Kumbia All-Starz.
Selena also began to capitalize on her fame in other ways. She opened Selena Etc. Inc, a company that included boutiques that sold her clothing line.
The family avoided fan clubs until 1990, when Selena met Yolanda Saldivar, the aunt of one of Selena's childhood friends. Although they were strangers then, Saldivar convinced the family that a fan club would be a good idea and professed great admiration for the singer. Saldivar became the president of Selena's fan club—an unpaid position that soon boasted over 9000 members.
In 1994, as a reward for her hard work, Selena promoted Saldivar to the paid position of overseeing Selena Etc. Inc. Things started going wrong in short order. The company's designer quit, saying he couldn't work with Saldivar; products that had been paid for were not delivered, and there were accusations of misused and missing funds.

Tragedy and Betrayal

Selena and her father confronted Saldivar. The Washington Post reported that Saldivar was actually fired by phone the evening of March 29th and that the fan club president simply said, "OK". The next day Saldivar called back and made arrangements to meet with Selena so that she could hand over some paperwork.
On the morning of March 31, 1995, Selena went to the Days Inn in Corpus Christi to meet with Saldivar. We can only guess what was said, but Saldivar shot her briefly as Selena left the room. Selena made it to the lobby before collapsing. She died at the hospital a few hours later. It was 2 weeks before her 24th birthday.
While Selena's young life prematurely ended, she continues to win awards and sell records. Her popularity has only grown in the wake of her death with the posthumous release of her last unfinished crossover album "Dreaming Of You," which went quadruple platinum upon its release in 2004, proving that while Selena may have lost her life, her voice has not been stilled.

Are we really listening to what MLK had to say?

#MartinLutherKingJr #MLK #CivilRights #DrKing In 2020, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday falls in a national election year, one that reminds us of the importance of voting rights, citizenship and political activism to the health of our democracy. King imagined America as a "beloved community" capable of defeating what he characterized as the triple threats of racism, militarism and materialism. The passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, alongside the 1954 Brown Supreme Court decision, represents the crown jewels of the civil rights movement's heroic period. Yet King quickly realized that policy transformations alone, including the right to vote, would be insufficient in realizing his goal of institutionalizing radical black citizenship toward the creation of the "beloved community." King argued that justice was what love looked like in public. 2020 also marks the 55th anniversary of the passage of the Voting...

The Power of Authentic Self-Esteem

#HealthyRelationships #selfesteem What does it mean for someone to be truly authentic? And how many people do you know actually fit that description? Do you feel that you’re authentic? Let’s take a look at what this word truly suggests and just what blocks us from achieving authenticity. Naturally, the word authenticity evokes an image of something pure or unadulterated. A letter of authenticity confirms that a certain object or work of art is not a counterfeit. The act of authenticating is a process of determining that something is indeed genuine, as it is purported to be. Experts receive training to authenticate precious objects, memorabilia, and documents, among other rare items. Yet we have no such method for ascertaining the authentic nature of people. Short of being caught in a bold-faced lie or transgression, methods of determining an individual’s authenticity often go unexplored. One’s authentic nature is revealed in their ability to express and share what they think...

Video - X-Press 2 Ft. David Byrne - Lazy (Shiprinski deep-house Remix)

#DavidByrne #Lazy #Remix #XPress2 #deephouse #HouseMix No tears are fallin' from my eyes, I'm keepin' all the pain inside Now, don't you wanna live with me? I'm lazy as a man can be!

A Single Dose of CBD Reset the Brains of People at High Risk of Psychosis

#CBD #Psychosis #MentalHealth #Medicine #Neuroscience #Psychology #Weed P sychosis, a severe mental disorder characterized by a loss of grip on reality, can include unsettling hallucinations and delusions . As no one’s been able to pin down a single cause of psychosis, it’s been even harder to pin down a treatment. But researchers behind a new JAMA Psychiatry study seem to be on the right track. In the study, they report that they’ve found a way to reset the psychosis-afflicted brain using an unlikely plant: marijuana. Researchers are increasingly finding evidence that the active components of marijuana can help ease symptoms in people with epileptic seizures , chronic pain , and post-traumatic stress disorder , but there’s much to be learned about its relationship to psychosis. The most well-known cannabinoid Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol — better known as THC — has previously been linked to the development of psychosis...

Triple5Light Therapy

Search This Blog