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Selena Quintanilla’s Family Speaks Out After Killer Is Denied Parole
Watching old clips of Selena Quintanilla—whether she's singing, talking or just flashing that radiant smile—remains an exercise in exhilaration and heartbreak.
It never gets old, enjoying her enchanting presence.
But it does get awfully sad, especially once you lose yourself in the music and then remember that she never got the chance to get any older than 23.
And yet, 30 years after she was murdered by Yolanda Saldívar, Selena's legacy endures and her influence on the Latin-crossover music scene remains strong. Artists coming up in her wake have never stopped referencing her, despite the bilingual Tejana star having been struck down just as her fame was reaching new levels for all the right reasons.
Already a Grammy winner (1993's Live! became the first album by a Tejano singer to win Best Mexican/American Album) and burgeoning mogul with her own clothing line and a boutique-salon, Selena was killed—shot dead by the founder of her first fan club—in Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 31, 1995.
More than 30,000 people showed up to view her casket at the Bayfront Plaza Convention Center in Corpus Christi, where she grew up after being born in Freeport.
AP Photo/George Gongora-Corpus Christi Caller-Times, File
"Selena was such an inspiration to me and I was so lucky to be chosen to play her," Jennifer Lopez shared in a 2020 Instagram post marking the 23rd anniversary of the 1997 biopic Selena, featuring her own star-making turn as the singer. "As an artist, this movie truly was an experience I'm going to remember for the rest of my life."
After her life story was dramatized for the masses in Selena, she continued to be revered as a singular artist and person, known locally for her humanitarian work with battered women's shelters and youth programs such as D.A.R.E.
A life-sized bronze statue stands in Corpus Christi, where the Selena Museum opened in 1998. More than 65,000 people packed Houston's Reliant Stadium for a tribute concert in 2005 and in 2011 the U.S. Postal Service put her on a stamp as a "Latin Legend." Enamorada De Ti, a tribute album of Selena covers, was released in 2012.
Arlene Richie/Getty Images
Selena Day is celebrated in Texas annually on April 16, her birthday.For five years, starting in 2014, the Fiesta De La Flor, featuring a line-up of performers honoring Selena's musical legacy, injected millions of dollars into thelocal economy in Corpus Christi, but last year the Quintanilla familywouldn'tsign off on a 2020 event.
The family confirmed they wouldn't be moving the festival to another city, that they were instead shutting it down.
While she was poised for major crossover success after releasing four Spanish-language albums (Dreaming of You posthumously hit No. 1), Lopez's connection with Selena's story did help turn an entirely new crop of fans ontoher music.
Lopez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, wasn't everyone's first choice to play the artist revered as "La Reina (queen) de Tejano," whose family roots were in Mexico. (Director Gregory Nava fought for Lopez when the names of some actresses who weren't even Latina were floated as possible choices to star in the film.)
But J.Lo gave it everything—and both she and Selena emerged bigger than ever.
"God sent me that role for a reason," Lopez said in an interview. "So I could always have her as an inspiration."
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Ultimately, Selena's rise isn't difficult to explain,. It's how she has stayed on top all of these years—her influence extending to arenas she could have never imagined and her simple, sweet, melodious first name (which means "moon") becoming iconic—that may have to be attributed to otherworldly forces.
It wasn't just songs like the infectious "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" or the smash hits "I Could Fall in Love" and "Dreaming of You" that cemented her place in the hearts of so many artists whom she would never know.
"The grace with which she handled the business, the grace with which she handled her life, the humor," Lopez recalled to Billboard around the 20th anniversary of Selena's death. "Her spirit of loving what she did. Her sense of family. That's the tragedy of everything that happened and why she left such an imprint—because she was gone way too soon."
Lopez's third husband, Marc Anthony, actually knew Selena well.
"We were friends and colleagues, we started our careers at the same time," he recalled to reportersin Miami 2015, per Pulso Pop. "We were both born here [in the U.S.]. At first we struggled with our Spanish and were learning to speak it together."
Anthony added, "I had an incredible love for her. I think that Selena shines because of the way she managed her life, her talent, her career. The way she represented us...It's important that people keep remembering her as that figure. A lot of doors opened the way she achieved to open them in the market where a U.S. citizen can make a living singing in Spanish and traditional music from their country. Until this daywe still feel the impact. You know? That's why for me it's an honor to say that I considered her a friend."
Arlene Richie/Getty Images
Selena's influence was hardly limited toLatinxartists—in fact her music was the first exposure that some singers had toSpanish-languagemusic.Stars ranging from Katy Perry and Lady Gaga to Whitney Houston and Beyoncé paid close attention to Selena's sound and style.
"I listened to Selena all the time," Beyoncé told People en Espanol in 2007 after recording six songs in Spanish for a re-release of B-Day. "I grew up in Texas and one of my good friends from there is Mexican and she was so excited when she heard that I was doing songs in Spanish. She turned me on to Selena's album when I was growing up and I listened to it all the time. At the time, I wasn't too familiar with Spanish-speaking artists.
"A lot of my fans are Hispanic and they've always told me, 'You should sing something in Spanish' but I don't speak Spanish at all. I took it in school but I don't speak it at all but I thought let me give this a try."
Demi Lovato, who was 2 when Selena was killed,recalled toThe Huffington Post in 2014,"Growing up, I loved Selena's music."
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for NARAS
"I was really young when she passed, so I didn't know much about her until I got a little older. When I saw the movie, there was just some sort of connection. Even my dad is totally like the dad in the movie [Edward James Olmos played Abraham Quintanilla]. It's just so similar. There is something about the movie that was really inspiring to me. After that, you know, the songs are great, even though I don't know what the words are. I'm learning Spanish, but I don't know it fluently yet."
And still, she added,"I'm really proud of [my heritage], especially the way that the Latin community is kind of taking over and rising above politically. Even though I don't speak fluent Spanish, I love singing in Spanish. I love being able to represent the curvy sassiness of a Latina woman. It's just a part of who I am, and I couldn't be more proud to represent that."
Beyoncé also recalled meeting Selena in a Houston mall but not saying anything to her—because she herself wasn't a celebrity yet.
"I think she is a legend and I admire her," the Destiny's Child alum told MTV Tres. "She was so talented. Even though she didn't know who I was… I was still so excited that I got the opportunity!"
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"Selena is an angel, I think," Perry suggested during an interview with a Spanish-language station when asked about various Latina artists.
"Amazing woman—she would have been bigger than all of us," Eva Longoria mused on Lopez Tonight in 2011.
Even Houston, who inspired so many others herself before her death in 2012, took notice of what Selena accomplished in her short yet prolific career.
"What Selena did in the English market was brilliant," Houston told the New York Daily News in 1999. "Clive Davis and I are thinking about me doing that in the other direction."
Meanwhile, Selena's clothing, hair and makeup—an effortlessly sexy combination of sporty ease and bombshell glamour—never had a chance to enjoy a resurgence because her influence never went away.
Lady Gaga's early tour looks—she was a big fan of the bustier—were reportedly inspired by the late star, and we know her "Selena" concert tee was an all-time fave.
ZUMApress.com; AP
"One of my beauty idols was Selena, who had the most beautiful lips," Fergie revealed to Glamour.com in 2015. "I over-line my lips a bit—I completely admit it. I really like the look."
Cesare Bonazza/Getty Images
In 2016, MAC Cosmetics released the La Reina Collection, starting with a cherry-red lipstick called "Como La Flor," named after one of her biggest hits, and the Quintanilla familyteamed with the cosmetics brand for another linein honor of the 25th anniversary of her death.
MAC
While the first collection was more about Selena's glamorous concert looks, the second—whichincluded sparkly pink Bidi Bidi Bom Bom Lipglass—was more of a celebration of her legacy, her sister Suzette Quintanilla, who worked closely with MAC both times, explained to E! News in April 2020.
"Selena has been transcending into not just a Latina icon but a bi-cultural icon," she said."I see what the first launch represented and what this one is going to mean. It doesn't just represent Selena, it represents us as Latinas
Suzette previously told Refinery 29,"When Selena passed away, one of the three things she was working on was her clothing line, a makeup line, and a perfume line," Suzette also said."I promised myself that by the time I leave this world, I will accomplish what she started; what she held dear to her heart."
And for the generation who may only know of another young entertainer with that famous name, know that Selena Gomez's namesake is exactly what it sounds like.
"I am named after her. She was a big deal to my family and growing up from the get-go, I knew who she was and who I was named after," Gomezsaid on The View in 2012. "I got to visit her grave. I've actually met her family, some of her family, and it's such a honor to be named after someone so amazing."
"My dad is actually the one who had the final say," added the "Come and Get It" singer. "He loved her and it was a big deal—her, she was a big deal to us."
Gomez, Lopez, Adrienne Bailon,Bruno Marsand Camila Cabello are among those who've memorably covered Selena at their own shows, whileNicki Minajlauded the late star's enviable curvesin 2017's "Regret in Your Tears," rapping, "I count up the racks like Serena / Plus I got that ass like Selena."
"It makes me feel good that after so many years people still remember my daughter," dad Abraham Quintanillatold NBC Newsin 2015. "But at the same time I would rather that she be here."
In an audio clip from what's widely said to be the last interview she gave before she died, included in an online tribute, Selena was asked how she hoped to be remembered after she was gone.
"As, um…not only as an entertainer," the larger-than-life singer said, "but as a person who cared a lot and I gave the best that I could—and I tried to be the best role model that I possibly could, and the best person I could. I tried to help out."
On what would've been her 54th birthday, check out Selena Quintanilla's short but momentous life in pictures:
Philip Barr via ZUMA Wire
AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Dave Einsel
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AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, John Everett
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Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images
Barbara Laing/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images
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AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, D. Fahleson
Pam Francis/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Howard Castleberry
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AP Photo/George Gongora-Corpus Christi Caller-Times
AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Paul Howell
(Originally published April 16, 2016, at 4 a.m. PT)
