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selena quintanilla biography essay
essay on the legacy of selena
essay on the legacy of selena
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Selena is a very well known name in the Latin-American community. She started her music career while she was still a child with her dad’s group Los Dinos. Selena married her lead guitarist and ended up being killed by her “biggest fan.” After her death Selena became even more popular.
Selena Quintanilla Perez was born on April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas. Selena grew up understanding Spanish, but English was her first language. At the age of five Selena saw her brother learning to play the guitar and became jealous of the attention he was getting. She picked up a songbook and began to sing. Her family quickly turned their attention to her strong and beautiful voice. In the first grade Selena excelled at a game called Jump the Brook, in which two ropes are placed side by side and each kid takes a turn jumping across.1 In middle school Selena was in honors classes and made A’s and B’s. Selena used her allowance to put clothes on layaway. As a teenager, Selena hung all of her awards on the wall next to the staircase in her family’s house. As an adult, Selena was very involved with kids. She was a spokeswoman for the D.A.R.E. Program.
Selena began performing at an early age. Selena’s father, Abraham, became her manager and Los Dinos became her backing band. In 1983 she made her recording debut after appearing on the popular radio show of L. A. deejay Johnnie Canales. Her first records were recorded in Spanish and she sang the words phonetically.2 After her music began to catch on, she began learning Spanish formally and by the time of her death, she was fluent in the language.
Selena started her career in 1984 by recording two records for a small independent label. One of the albums was released and later re-released in 1995. The other album was sold to her father and never released. Selena was the Hot Latin Tracks artist of the year in 1995. Selena has had seven number one singles on the Billboard’s Hot Latin chart. Only three other Latin artists have had more. The “Dreaming of You” album was the second fastest selling album by a female artist in history next to Janet Jackson. Although Selena improvised and created her own dance moves on stage, she used to watch “Soul Train” to get ideas for her dance steps.3 Once a man brought his sister who was dying of cancer and ...
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...; Daughters, 1996.
Endnotes
1Maritza Romero, Selena Perez: Queen of Tejano Music (New York: Power Kids Press, 1997) page 9 paragraph 2.
2Jill C. Wheeler, Selena, The Queen of Tejano (Minneapolis, MN: Abdo & Daughters, 1996) page 9 paragraph 3.
3Wheeler page 14 paragraph.
4Clint Richmond, The Phenomenal Life and Tragic Death of the Tejano Superstar. (New York: Coward-McCann, Inc., 1998) page 13 paragraph 2.
5Richmond page 15 paragraph 4.
6Richmond page 15 paragraph 5.
7Nancy de los Santos, “Working with the Fans Behind the Scenes,” Hispanic March 1997: page 34 paragraph 1.
8Diana A. Terry, “Tejano Music Queen,” Hispanic March 2000: page 28 paragraph 1.
9Belayck Benibo, “Anglo- and Mexican American Attitudes Toward Selena’s Memorialization,” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences February 1999: page 78 paragraph 5.
When Selena Quintanilla was at a young age she had a love for singing and music. Selena started to sing at the early age of three,by the time she was six she singing in Spanish and English. Selena Quintanilla became the lead singer for the group Selena Y Los Dinos at the age of nine, which was a group formed by her father. The group consisted of her brother Abraham that did the bass guitar and her sister Suzette that did the drums. At first the group did not do so well,but it was only a matter of time until there group started to really shine. The group Selena Y Los Dinos in the 1980’s played at the family's restaurant Papagayo until it closed down due to bankrupt and from then on they booked the band at clubs and weddings.
Selena Quintanilla Pérez was a famous woman Tex-Mex singer. Her life was filled with music, singing, joy, and fame. She had many accomplishments in her musical career. Unfortunately, she lived a short life and her music career wasn't as long as she would've hoped. Shot by her fan club president, Selena died at the age of 23. She may not have had a long music career, but she will go down as one of the most famous woman Tejano singers in history, known as the “Queen of Tejano Music”.
Selena, “Le Reina de Tejano”, was born on April 16, 1971, in Lake Jackson. She was the youngest of three children of Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcela, his wife. At a young age, Abraham had a strong passion for music that he still has. During the 1950s and 1960s, him and his friends made a group called “Los Dinos” and played at nightclubs and restaurants. Even though his passion for music, he gave it up when he got married and earned a job at Dow Chemical as a shipping clerk.
Selena Quintanilla was a Mexican-American singer, actress, songwriter, spokesperson, and fashion designer. Selena was born on April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas, U.S. Although she was born in the U.S. her mother is from Mexican descent. However, her father is American. Unfortunately, Selena died on March 31, 1995 in Corpus Christi, Texas. Yolanda Saldivar, the founder of Selena’s fan club was the one who murdered Selena. She got fired for stealing money from Selena’s boutique, but she still needed to make up all the money she embezzled. To do that she got lowered to a different position and started working off all the money she had stolen. Selena and Yolanda had become really good friends over time, but when Selena found out
Known as the “Queen of Tejano” and the “Mexican Madonna”, Selena Quintanilla-Perez was the adored Latin singer who sadly did not get to live to see all of the success of her career. One of her most famous quotes is, “We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever but to create something that will (PhilosIblog, 2014).” That is just what Selena did and she made sure that her legacy would live on for years. Selena surely left a her mark in this world with the help of her family, in her short lived 23 years. Selena was an amazing singer, she even made it very far in a genre of music that was dominated by men. Selena Quintanilla-Perez is an influential person because of her loving personality, her music career, her determination to succeed in a genre that was only men, and her success with her music that will never stop playing even if she is not here.
Celia Cruz was born in a humble neighborhood of Santo Suarez in Havana, Cuba on October 21, 1924. She was one of 14 children. One of her chores was to sing to her youngest sibling to sleep. Her first appearance as a child earned her a pair of shoes from a tourist that was watching. As a teenager she performed in many talent shows at school and community gatherings. Also her aunt took her cousin and her to nightclubs and cabarets. Yet, while her family supported her talent, her father was insisting for Celia to continuing her school so she could become a teacher.
Esperanza, the most liberated of the sisters, devoted her life to make other people’s lives better. She became a reporter and later on died while covering the Gulf Crisis. She returned home, to her family as a spirit. At first, she spoke through La Llorona, a messenger who informed La Loca that her sister has died. All her family members saw her. She appeared to her mother as a little girl who had a nightmare and went near to her mother for comfort. Caridad had conversations with her about politics and La Loca talked to her by the river behind their home.
Figueredo, Maria L. "The Legend of La Llorona: Excavating and (Re) Interpreting the Archetype of the Creative/Fertile Feminine Force", Latin American Narratives and Cultural Identity, 2004 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York. pp232-243.
Selena Quintanilla-Perez, was an American singer, songwriter, spokesperson, model, actress, and fashion designer. She was called the Queen of Tejano music, her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers. Selena was born on April 16, 1971 and died of a gunshot wound on March 31, 1995. Furthermore, in the 1980s, Selena was often criticized and was refused bookings at venues across Texas for performing Tejano music—a male-dominated music genre. However, her popularity grew after she won the Tejano Music Award for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1987, which she won nine consecutive times. Selena signed with EMI Latin in 1989 and released her self-titled debut album the same year, while her
Jennifer Lopez was born in the Bronx, New York on July 24, 1970. She was born in the United States to Puerto Rican Parents, Jennifer considers herself to be a Puerto Rican and she is very proud of her Hispanic heritage and culture. Her father is David Lopez, a computer specialist, and her mother Guadalupe Lopez, a Kindergarten teacher. Her parents recognized Jennifer’s talent and enthusiasm for performing and at the age of five the enrolled her in dance classes. Her mother said “Jennifer always loved to sing, but she was also a great actress and knew that she would have a bright future ahead of her.” With the support of her parents Jennifer grew up to be a very sensible girl, who is still very close to her family. When Jennifer earned her million-dollar paycheck for playing the role in the movie Selena, she bought her mom a Cadillac. Even though they saw Jennifer’s talent at the age of five, their relationship was not always understandable. Jennifer made a major decision and that was not to go to College. That decision was very disappointing to her parents who wanted her to go to law school. Her parents supported her pursuit of a career in show business, they did not wanted to be in the expense of her education. When Jennifer told her parents that she was not going to College and law school, they thought it was really stupid to go off and try to be a movie star.
The musical group started out playing weddings and clubs in their native Texas. The band featured her brother Abraham on bass guitar and her sister Suzette on the drums. Her father, Abraham, a former musician, managed and produced the group. Selena grew up speaking English, but her father taught her to sing in Spanish so she could resonate with the Latino community. She learned the lyrics phonetically at first, and eventually learned to speak Spanish fluently.
To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there were very obvious differences in their culture and the one that I belong. Mexican-American culture identifies with their family rather than individualized or spiritual identities and the culture has gone through significant changes because of discrimination and the changing demographics of the United States.
Known as “La Reina De Tex-Mex” and often referred to as the Mexican Madonna, Selena Quintanilla Perez touched the hearts of many people; and continues to touch the hearts of people long after her passing. Selena was a Hispanic singer, songwriter, spokesperson, model, and actress who is credited for including ‘Tejano music’ (a fusion of Columbian cumbia, pop, R&B sung in Spanish) genre into the mainstream music scene ("Selena Biography", n.d.). Through her music, beauty, and unconditional kindness, Selena has left an undying legacy for as she once said, "The goal isn't to live forever the goal is to create something that will."
Her death caused a large amount of suffering to her millions of fans around the world. Thousands gathered at nearby gas stations to mourn and light up candles to honor this great person. Yolanda Saldivar was not justified to cause this tragic moment because the Quintanillas had treated her with respect and provided her with a job. Her unthoughtful and vicious action caused many to lose an honored artist that was considered the Madonna of Tejano music. Although Selena’s death brought her even more global recognition, no one can replace the music that moved many. Many were disappointed to lose such a talented artist at just 23 years
Celia Cruz was born Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso on October 21, 1925, in a working-class neighborhood of Havana, Cuba. She began singing professionally on Cuban radio and in nightclubs in the late 1940s while studying music theory and voice at a music academy in Havana from 1947 to 1950. In 1950, she began singing with the popular Cuban orchestra La Sonora Matancera. Over the next 15 years, they collaborate had many hit singles, which raised Celia to the top and she performed diverse Afro-Cuban music throughout the Caribbean, South America, and the U.S.