Selena: The Legacy

Born the sixteenth of April 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas, Selena was the youngest of three children to Marcella and Abraham Quintanilla II. Being a part of a musical group already (Los Dinos), Abraham often practiced music in his home. He never really tried giving Selena a chance at singing or playing an instrument and focused mainly on Selena's older brother and sister, Abraham III and Suzette. At the age of 3, the young girl wanted to be a part of what the rest of her family (except the mom) was doing and began singing to her father out of a child's book of songs. Immediately, Abraham knew that his child had a unique talent: she had a voice for singing.

Abraham began practicing as much as he could with Selena and her siblings, soon beginning his own family group when Selena was 9 years old and renaming it Selena y Los Dinos after his former group. At this time, Selena was singing only in Spanish, since that is what her father taught her (though she spoke English originally), and mastered it so well that they wanted to perform publicly. In 1980, Abraham opened Papagallo where Selena y Los Dinos would perform. With Suzette at the drums, Abraham at the bass, and Selena at the microphone,Selena y Los Dinos was sizzling and performed many times, mostly on weekends. Though this lasted for quite a while, Papagallos went out of business, which caused the family to be broke and to move to Corpus Christi.

Now in Corpus Christi, Texas, Selena y Los Dinos didn't give up. They traveled around Texas playing at weddings, small clubs, on the streets, basically everywhere they could to earn money. By now, they, especially the delightful voice of Selena, were becoming well known to many. In 1984, many Texan record labels heard and wanted Selena y Los Dinos to start recording songs. Choosing the Freddie label, they came out with their first album. (They usually label the albums as Selena's and not Selena y Los Dinos' since she was the lead singer). Though she had her first album recorded, it didn't come out until 11 years later, due probably to individual songs on the album being repaired.

In the mist of all her fame, Selena met Chris Perez in 1988 and had a special relationship with him just as friends. After a while, Selena and Chris started feeling other emotions toward each other. Knowing Chris's history of fines and arrests even though he was considered the inward type, Abraham fired Chris Perez for getting emotionally involved with Selena, leaving Selena heart-broken. Seeing the damage

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