From Her Over-Controlling Father to Being Disliked by Many, This Is the Story of Selena Quintanilla
Selena Quintanilla's rise to fame was gradual, but once she gained a foothold, it seemed like she was going to be an unstoppable force in music. However, her life and career were brought to an abrupt end when she was killed by the president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, in 1995. The details of her life have been told and retold in the twenty years since her death, but there's a lot of those stories have left out for some reason or another. The hidden details are even more exciting. Was Selena hiding a massive secret when she died or was she simply a talent who was gone too soon? Let's find out.
From Her Over-Controlling Father to Being Disliked by Many, This Is the Story of Selena Quintanilla
This article appeared in peoplish.com and has been published here with permission.
Selena Quintanilla's rise to fame was gradual, but once she gained a foothold, it seemed like she was going to be an unstoppable force in music. However, her life and career were brought to an abrupt end when she was killed by the president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, in 1995. The details of her life have been told and retold in the twenty years since her death, but there's a lot of those stories have left out for some reason or another. The hidden details are even more exciting. Was Selena hiding a massive secret when she died or was she simply a talent who was gone too soon? Let's find out.
Fighting Upstream
Selena Quintanilla may be one of the most successful Latina music artists of all time, but the path to stardom wasn't an easy one.
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When she first began to break through in the Tejano music market, many believed she would never gain a foothold as a woman. At the time, Tejano music, also known as Tex-Mex music, was dominated by male artists. No one could imagine that a woman would have any appeal, but boy were they wrong.
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Under Papa's Nose
In 1992, when Selena was only 21 years old, she eloped with her guitarist, Chris Perez. They had previously shown affection publicly, but were forced to make their relationship a secret when Selena's father forbid them from seeing each other.
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Instead, they decided to marry one another in secret. Selena believed that her father might be more accepting if they were married. The plan backfired after the media publicized their nuptials. Selena was subsequently estranged from her father for some time.
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Stealing Away in the Night
In a scathing tell-all that was published several years after Selena's death, her biographer revealed that there were some who believed Selena was planning on running away with her doctor when she died.
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The claim stems from the fact that a suitcase was found in her hotel room that had been packed with all of her clothes alongside a work permit for Mexico. Though Ricardo Martinez maintains the two had a romantic relationship, Selena's family considers the claim a lie.
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Her Way or the Highway
During her short time in the public eye, Selena not only built herself a music career, but was also building a career in fashion. Before her death, she owned several fashion boutiques around Texas.
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However, it seems that her business practices weren't always up to snuff. One of the allegations that emerged against her was that she would arbitrarily fire employees that she disliked for purely personal reasons. Some think this may have even contributed to her death.
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From Queen to Queen
When Selena was just beginning her career, she met a young girl at a Houston show. Seeing such a confident star surely had an impact on the Texas native, who we now also know by only her first name: Beyonce.
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Facebook // Selena Quintanilla-Perez Fans
Beyonce explained just how much of an impact Selena had on her when she was younger, adding that she was a little star struck to be meeting the performer, even before she was a mega star.
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From Rags to Riches
One of the elements that made Selena's story so inspirational to those who followed her career was that she came from humble beginnings. An economic downturn in the early 1980s left her family bankrupt when their restaurant failed.
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As they worked to improve their fortune, Selena's father would often only go to the grocery store at night because he didn't want anyone to know that the family needed to rely on food stamps in order to eat.
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Up-Routed
After Selena's death, her hometown of Corpus Christi in Texas wanted to name a street after the beloved singer. However, the city planners soon discovered there was a hitch in their plan.
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Facebook // Selena Quintanilla- Perez Annual. Tribute
One of the streets that intersected the road that would be named Selena was called "Yolanda." That's the same name as the woman who killed Selena. The government officials knew that plan would never work, which led to the initiative being dropped. However, she was commemorated in other ways.
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English First
Selena may be known for her Spanish-language music, but given that she was born and raised in Texas, her first language was actually English. When she first began singing Tejano music, she had to use phonetic spellings in order to pronounce the Spanish.
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Facebook // Selena Quintanilla Music
Though she did eventually learn to speak the language, she was very clearly speaking it as a second language. That didn't change her popularity among the Latino population in America, however, as she also gained a foothold in Mexico too.
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Selena and Scarlett
When the 1997 biopic about Selena first when into production, a search was launched across the country to find an actress with the skills to sell Selena onscreen.
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Young hopefuls flocked to the audition, making the search for Selena the second best attended casting call of all time. When all was said and done, over 21,000 actresses had auditioned for the role. The only casting call that saw more actresses was the one for Scarlett O'Hara.
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Throwing Til It Stuck
Yolanda Saldivar wasn't just Selena's murderer. She was also the president of the pop star's fan club. Getting the official fan club off the ground wasn't exactly an easy task, however, as Yolanda had to convince Selena's father Abraham to accept her proposal.
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Facebook // Selena Quintanilla-Perez Fans
It took roughly 15 calls from Saldivar before he relented on the fan club. She had ultimately convinced him that it would help her career to have an official fan club. In hindsight, maybe he should have remained firm.
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Closing in Tight
After Salvidar's push to create the official Selena fan club, the family didn't seem to dig too deep into her past. Instead, she became close to the entire family, which led them to overlook the $9,000+ she had stolen from a previous employer.
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Yolanda's misdeeds wouldn't end up being a one time slip up. Shortly before Yolanda killed the singer, the Quintanillas discovered that she'd embezzled nearly $30,000 from fans who had written in to receive official Selena merchandise.
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More Than Finances
Dr. Ricardo Martinez began his rapport with Selena as a financial advisor, but quickly became a trusted ear she could rely on. In recent years, rumors have cropped up that allege Martinez as having acted in the capacity of a medical doctor to Selena as well.
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Facebook // Selena Quintanilla-Perez Fans
His claims even go so far as to reveal that he may have performed liposuction on the star. At her young age, however, it's highly possible that the rumor has no basis in the truth.
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Just Like Madonna
While their music styles couldn't have been more different, at the peak of her career, Selena was often called the Mexican Madonna. Much of the moniker came from the way Selena dressed for her concerts.
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Pinterest // @hellobeautifulofficial
She would often make pieces herself by bedazzling regular lingerie with extra beads and sequins. In terms of the place they held within popular consciousness in their respective genres, both were equally influential. It's Selena though, who may take the prize for the barriers she broke down.
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