Selena's Childhood

The talented singer was born on October 21, 1925, in the Santo Suarez neighborhood of Havana. Her singing talent was obvious even when she was young, but instead of pursuing

Selena practiced sing in Spanish and when she perfected it, she performed it. Selena started to become big, performing with her family all over. Her father Abraham being the manager they ended up meeting Chris Pérez, who was a very good guitarist. They considered Chris Pérez joining the

pop music because other artists had already broken the barrier of this new trend of genre combinations. Selena was making a crossover to dance music similar to Paula Abdul or Madonna.

The main character in the film “Selena” is a woman named Selena. Everyone else in the movie is a sub character that plays off of the role of Selena. The movie is about Selena’s life and the movie begins with her as a little girl and ends with her as a Mexican-American pop star loved by both the Mexican and American communities. Selena goes from being a young girl who’s band is compromised of her brothers and sisters to a mega star known by fans all over the world. As Selena became more successful she faced many obstacles in her career. First, Selena had to learn Spanish in order to sing in Spanish to connect with the Mexican community as her father felt she had the best chance to make it big if she tried to appeal to the Mexican community. Once she became a huge star with her Spanish singing music, she then did a crossover album in English, which helped to make her a pop star worldwide. Since Selena was Mexican-American, not Mexican, it was an obstacle for her to be seen as authentic by the Mexican community. Selena’s second big obstacle was that she was a woman. Mexico is traditionally a male dominant society and before Selena there had never been a Spanish singing female to evolve into a superstar. In the movie, Selena overcomes both of these obstacles and she does become one of the greatest

However, the first person she told was her father. She knew he would be furious that she disobeyed his orders but instead of just running off with Chris, she came back to the family. Selena and her father sat down and talked until they both came to an understanding about their feelings and actions. In American culture, when a teenager is told she can’t be with the man she loves, it tends to be the norm that two will run away together and not come back to the family. America focuses more on the individualized identity while Mexican-Americans care most about the familial identity. Martin and Nakayama had a Mexican-American student and the student actually explained in depth how their culture identifies as more familial rather than individualized or spiritual:

could you 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

In conclusion, I told you a little bit about Selena. Maybe you knew some of it,

Selena quintanilla-Pérez was an extremely successful singer. She was referred to as the “Queen of Tejano music.” Selena released 11 albums 5 with her band and 6 without. Selena won a total of 67 awards and was nominated for 86! In 1998 Selena was inducted into the Billboard Latin Music hall of fame.

First, I will talk about her childhood and how she became famous. Selena Quintanilla was a Mexican singer. According to biography.com she was born on “April 16,1971, in Lake Jackson, Texas.” She was known as the “Queen of Tejano” which is a style of Mexican music such as country. Selena’s first language was English, but her father taught her to sing in Spanish, so she picked up on the language, and became a fluent Spanish speaker. At the age of 10 Selena was the lead singer in her family’s band known as “Selena Y Los Dinos.” They played in weddings and clubs in Texas but it was hard for them because a lot of people think that women can’t get the attention of men singing Tejano music, but she proved them wrong.

On April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas, a little girl named Selena Quintanilla – Perez was born. She was born to Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcella Quintanilla. Selena Quintanilla- Perez has 2 siblings named Abraham Quintanilla 3rd and Suzette Quintanilla. Mrs. Quintanilla- Perez was an American singer, songwriter, spokesperson, actress, and a fashion designer. She was also known as the Queen of Tejano music and to the media outlets they called her “Tejano Madonna” for her clothing choices. Selena Quintanilla- Perez was raised as a Jehovah’s witness. When Selena Quintanilla was 6 years old her father discovered her talent at sing. Her father told the People Magazine that her timing, her pitch was perfect, I could see it from day one. Mr. Quintanilla Jr. opened up a restaurant where the kids performed a lot. Her family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas and that’s when Quintanilla Jr. became the manager to Selena y Los Dinos and began to

Selena Quintanilla was surrounded by loving people who helped jumpstart her career until the day she died. On April 16th, 1971 Selena Quintanilla was born to Abraham Quintanilla and Marcella Quintanilla in her hometown of Lake Jackson, Texas. Selena

Selena Quintanilla was born on April 16, 1971, in Lake Jackson and then moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. Selena was also considered as the "Queen of Tejano," a type of Hispanic culture; she was also fashion designer and actress. Selena was also sometimes referred as the Mexican Madonna for her sexy outfits (like bustier) and dance moves. Selena began performing as a child at her parent’s family restaurant. Around the age of 10, Selena became the lead singer in her family's band, Selena Y Los Dinos. The musical group started out playing weddings and clubs in their hometown. The band featured her brother Abraham playing bass guitar and her Sister Suzette playing on the drums. Her father, Abraham, a former musician, managed and produced the group.

I chose to watch Selena. Overall, the movie was really good. I chose it because it looked like a movie I would watch just for fun. I figured if the movie is good then the paper will be easier for me to write. I have also heard a lot about Selena, so the movie tied the pieces of information I already knew together. I feel like I learned a lot about her relationship with her family. She started out singing with her brother and sister in a band their dad made and named Selena y los Dinos (Selena and the Boys). Her brother, A.B., was the bass player, Selena did the lead vocals, and her sister, Suzette, played the drums. They started out playing at a Mexican restaurant their parents owned. However, they gained attention and developed a fan base from that. Eventually, they begin touring around Texas at State Fairs. Selena grows up and her music and style does too. She meets the love of her life, who also happened to be her guitarist. They get married even though Selena’s father did not allow her to see him. She is later killed by the president of her fan club over a paperwork dispute. Her music career is cut short and she died before she got the chance to make her way into mainstream pop music.

Selena’s talent was distributed to a larger audience and was no longer confined to the walls of the family business when Primo Ledesma, a disc jockey, who hosted a weekly Spanish-language radio show, drifted into Papa Gayo’s for a listen. Lesdema recorded Selena singing, telling her father, Abraham, that “she was going places” (Patoski 42). There were numerous responses and intrigues about the new voice that was played when Ledesma broadcasted the tape on his show the following day. The incident with Ledesma was the beginning of the fame Selena would come to know. After Papa Gayo’s was shut down due to foreclosure, the Quintanilla family went bankrupt as well. This hapless circumstance came to be the initiation of Selena’s musical career: Selena recounts, “Basically, my musical career started when my family went bankrupt, and had to resort to music for money” (Patoski 43-45). The Quintanilla children hit the road, performing throughout southern Texas as Selena y Los Dinos with their father Abraham as their manager. Their venues consisted of weddings, cantinas and honky-tonks, and even when the audience was less than ten people, the group never passed up an opportunity to perform; the family’s means of survival lied in those performances (“Selena”).

Lake Jackson, Texas was blessed to see the birth of what would be the Queen of Tejano Music on April 16, 1971. Born to Abraham Quintanilla and Marcella Samora and having two siblings by the names of Suzette Quintanilla, and Abraham Quintanilla III also known as A.B Quintanilla. When selena was the age of eight