50 Fun Facts About Selena Quintanilla

Selena is known by which regal nickname?

Selena was crowned the Queen of Tejano Music after dominating the Tejano Music Awards through the late 1980s and 1990s; the press also called her the 'Tejano Madonna'.

In which Texas town was Selena born on April 16, 1971?

Selena was born in Lake Jackson, a small Brazoria County town near the Gulf coast, where her father worked as a shipping clerk for Dow Chemical.

Which future congressman was the obstetrician at Selena's birth?

Ron Paul, then a Brazoria County obstetrician and later a Texas congressman and presidential candidate, delivered Selena in April 1971.

What was the name of the family's Tex-Mex restaurant where the kids first performed?

Papa Gayo's opened in 1980 and failed within a year as the Texas oil bust hit; the family went bankrupt and was evicted from their home.

Which instrument did Selena's sister Suzette play in Selena y Los Dinos?

Suzette played drums, an instrument she at first resisted as unladylike, and later ran the family's Q-Productions company.

Where did the name 'Los Dinos' come from?

Selena's father Abraham had sung in his own band called Los Dinos from the late 1950s into the early 1970s, and revived the name for his children's group.

What did Abraham Quintanilla name the old bus he refurbished as the band's tour vehicle?

Abraham bought a secondhand bus, fitted it with bunks and named it Big Bertha; the family toured Texas in it when they could barely afford gasoline.

How did Selena learn the Spanish lyrics for her early Tejano recordings?

She had wanted to record in English, but her father insisted on music tied to her heritage.

Selena won Female Vocalist of the Year at the Tejano Music Awards how many consecutive times?

Selena took Female Vocalist of the Year nine years running from 1987, when venues were still reluctant to book a woman in a male-dominated genre.

Selena signed with which newly formed record label in 1989?

EMI Latin had just been formed; its executive José Behar signed her after seeing her at the Tejano Music Awards, even though Sony had offered twice the fee.

Who wrote and produced Selena's 1995 English-language hit 'I Could Fall in Love'?

Keith Thomas, a Nashville producer known for Amy Grant's pop hits, wrote and produced 'I Could Fall in Love' for her crossover album.

Which soft-drink company made Selena a spokesperson in Texas in 1989?

Coca-Cola signed Selena as a Texas spokesperson in 1989 and kept her for years, later issuing commemorative Coke bottles bearing her image.

Chris Pérez joined Selena y Los Dinos playing which instrument?

Chris Pérez, a San Antonio guitarist, joined the band as its lead guitarist; he and Selena confessed their feelings at a Pizza Hut and dated in secret.

Selena and Chris Pérez eloped on what date?

They married in Nueces County on April 2, 1992, after Abraham had fired Pérez and called him 'a cancer in my family'; he later relented and rehired him.

Selena's first Billboard Top Latin Songs number one, 'Buenos Amigos', was a duet with whom?

Álvaro Torres, a Salvadoran balladeer, sang 'Buenos Amigos' with her in 1991; the number one opened up touring on both US coasts.

Which 1992 album is called Selena's 'breakthrough' record?

Entre a Mi Mundo, released in 1992 and led by 'Como la Flor', topped the Regional Mexican Albums chart for eight consecutive months.

'Como la Flor' was inspired by a family selling what at a 1982 concert in Sacramento?

The illuminated plastic flowers stuck in the writer's memory; a decade later the melody came to him in a hotel shower in Bryan, Texas, and took 20 minutes.

Who wrote 'Como la Flor'?

A.B. Quintanilla wrote the music and Pete Astudillo, her backup singer and dancer, finished the lyrics in about an hour.

'Bidi Bidi Bom Bom' was originally written about what?

Selena improvised it at a soundcheck as a song about a cheerful fish swimming in the ocean; the title later became an onomatopoeia for a lovestruck heartbeat.

Selena's Live! album was recorded at a free concert in which venue?

It was taped on February 7, 1993, and included three new studio tracks.

Live! made Selena the first female Tejano artist to win what?

It took Best Mexican/American Album at the 36th Grammys in 1994.

Selena briefly appeared opposite Erik Estrada in which Mexican telenovela?

Dos Mujeres, Un Camino, the 1993–94 telenovela starring Erik Estrada, gave Selena a two-episode guest role as herself; her episodes were among its highest-rated.

What were her two clothing boutiques called?

Selena Etc. opened in 1994 with one shop in her hometown and one in San Antonio, each with an in-house beauty salon.

Selena's 1994 album Amor Prohibido spawned how many number-one singles?

Four singles topped the Hot Latin Songs chart: the title track, 'Bidi Bidi Bom Bom', 'No Me Queda Más' and 'Fotos y Recuerdos'.

Which member of Selena y Los Dinos wrote the ballad 'No Me Queda Más'?

Ricky Vela, the band's keyboardist, wrote 'No Me Queda Más' about his unrequited feelings for Suzette Quintanilla after she married in 1993.

'Fotos y Recuerdos' reworks which Pretenders song into a cumbia?

A.B. heard the Pretenders' 'Back on the Chain Gang' on the radio while short of material and turned it into a cumbia with new Spanish lyrics about old photos of an ex.

Selena played a record-breaking sold-out show in February 1995 at which venue?

Selena drew 61,041 to the Houston Astrodome on February 26, 1995, a record for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, a month before her death.

Selena had a cameo in which 1995 film starring Marlon Brando and Johnny Depp?

In Don Juan DeMarco Selena appears as a mariachi singer serenading Marlon Brando's character and his wife; the film opened days after her death.

Yolanda Saldívar first entered Selena's life in what role?

The registered nurse later managed the boutiques and was caught embezzling more than $30,000.

Selena was shot at a Days Inn motel in which city?

The Days Inn was in Corpus Christi, where Selena had gone to collect financial records Saldívar kept delaying; she died at Memorial Hospital at 1:05 p.m.

How old was Selena when she died?

Selena was 23: she died on March 31, 1995, sixteen days before her 24th birthday.

How long was the standoff before Saldívar surrendered to police?

Saldívar sat in her pickup truck in the motel parking lot for nearly nine and a half hours, a gun to her head, before surrendering to police.

What sentence did Yolanda Saldívar receive in October 1995?

Her first parole request was denied in March 2025; the next review is set for 2030.

Which Texas governor declared April 16 'Selena Day' two weeks after her death?

George W. Bush, in his first year as governor, proclaimed April 16 Selena Day in Texas, saying she represented 'the essence of south Texas culture'.

Selena's posthumous album Dreaming of You made her the first Latin artist to do what?

Dreaming of You entered the Billboard 200 at number one in July 1995, the first album by a Latin artist to debut on top of that chart.

Selena is buried in which cemetery?

Seaside Memorial Park, on Ocean Drive in her adopted hometown, holds her grave; tens of thousands of fans had filed past her casket at a public viewing the day before.

Which magazine's Selena tribute issue sold nearly a million copies and spawned a Spanish spin-off?

People's tribute issue sold close to a million copies, and the sell-out prompted the 1996 launch of People en Español.

Who played Selena in the 1997 biopic?

More than 21,000 people auditioned, the biggest search since Scarlett O'Hara; Lopez earned a Golden Globe nomination.

Who wrote and directed the 1997 film Selena?

Gregory Nava, who had made El Norte and My Family, wrote and directed it; Abraham Quintanilla hesitated over him until producer Moctesuma Esparza won him over.

Which actor played Abraham Quintanilla in the 1997 film?

Edward James Olmos played Abraham Quintanilla, with Jon Seda as Chris Pérez and Constance Marie as Selena's mother Marcella.

Which Mexican actress turned down the chance to test for the film role, saying it was 'too early'?

Salma Hayek declined to audition, saying it was too early to dramatise a death still so raw; the finished film grossed about $35 million on a $20 million budget.

Who starred as Selena in Netflix's 2020 Selena: The Series?

Christian Serratos, known for The Walking Dead, played Selena across the series' two seasons, which Abraham and Suzette Quintanilla executive-produced.

What is the Mirador de la Flor?

Sculpted by Buddy Tatum and unveiled in 1997, it draws about 30,000 visitors a year.

Which cosmetics brand released a Selena line in 2016 after a fan petition?

MAC launched the collection in October 2016 after a Change.org petition gathered tens of thousands of signatures; it sold out within hours and became MAC's best-selling celebrity collaboration.

Selena's 2017 Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony set what record?

Around 4,500 fans turned out on November 3, 2017, the largest crowd ever recorded for a Walk of Fame star unveiling.

Chris Pérez's band won a Grammy for its debut album titled what?

Resurrection, the Chris Pérez Band's 1999 debut on Hollywood Records, took the Grammy for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album in 2000.

Selena earned her diploma at 17 through which institution?

The American School of Correspondence, based in Chicago, awarded her diploma at 17; she was also accepted by Louisiana State University and later took business courses by mail.

Which radio host's mockery of Selena's murder prompted Texas retailers to pull his products?

Howard Stern played her songs over gunfire sound effects and likened her music to Alvin and the Chipmunks; Sears and McDonald's publicly disapproved, and he later apologised in Spanish.

Which singer did Selena credit with opening the door for female artists of Hispanic descent?

Selena named Gloria Estefan, the Cuban-born Miami pop star, as the artist who had opened the door for female singers of Hispanic descent like herself.

How many US copies did the posthumous album Dreaming of You sell on its release day in July 1995?

Dreaming of You sold 175,000 copies in the US on release day, then a record for a female vocalist, and went on to top 2.9 million US sales.