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Introducing her book
"I am my father's daughter"
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| THE QUEEN OF TEX-MEX LIVES |
| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Wednesday, April 06 2005 |
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| If she were alive today, she'd be getting ready to celebrate her 34th birthday on April 16. She would surely be enjoying a successful recording career and possibly a thriving retail business selling provocative outfits to little girls. But instead, one decade after her death, Selena Quintanilla lives only in the hearts and minds of millions of adoring fans who have catapulted "The Queen of Tex-Mex" to icon status.
Only 23 years of age and at the pinnacle of her career, Selena was shot down by the president of her fan club outside a hotel room in Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 31, 1995. "It was an accident," said Yolanda Saldivar, who is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for the murder.
"It was greed and jealousy," said Selena's family.
Whatever it was that made the once-devoted employee shoot a single bullet into Selena's back, it sent shockwaves through the Latino community that followed her meteoric rise to fame. Just as she captivated fans with her talent, charm and beauty during her many stage performances, her funeral attracted a crowd of more than 30,000 who came from all over the country -- and across the border -- to pay their respects.
The music world saw yet another young star die before her time. Still remembered are entertainers such as Ritchie Valens, whose career was just taking off when he died in a plane crash in Iowa along with rock 'n' roll pioneer Buddy Holly. Janis Joplin, one of the best white blues singers of the '60s, lost her life to a drug overdose. And more recently, R & B performer Aaliyah died in a plane crash with her crew after shooting a music video in the Bahamas.
Already having garnered several Tex-Mex music awards as well as a Grammy Award for best Mexican-American album, the Texas-born singer was preparing her crossover debut -- ironically, to the language she knew best: English. Four months after her tragic death, four songs she had recorded in English were released in a collection called "Dreaming of You." To date, it has sold more than 4 million copies; five of Selena's albums have become No. 1 hits on the Billboard Top Latin Album charts since her death, and she remains one of the top five Latin recording acts of all time.
But Selena's legacy lives on not only through her music, but also through an image that made her the beloved cultural icon she is today: that of a sexy and vivacious woman with an innocent, girlish smile. Selena loved fashion, and not only designed most of the outfits she wore on stage but also many of the ones she sold in her successful boutiques. Tight pants, midriff shirts, bell-bottomed bodysuits, sequined bustiers, big hair, bright-red lipstick and hoop earrings became a trademark for the Latin beauty that even today many young girls follow.
Her family, who has worked tirelessly throughout the years to make sure that her legacy stays alive, established the Selena Museum in 1998. With 50,000 visitors each year, the museum has become one of the top tourist attractions in South Texas.
When plans for the Selena movie led to a nationwide search for a Selena look-alike, also in 1998, thousands of young women hoping to play the role of the Latin beauty with Aztec goddess looks showed up to the casting calls. In the end, it was Jennifer Lopez who landed the role. It was a role that propelled her career and helped turn her into the superstar she is today.
Ironically, J.Lo is exactly what Selena Quintanilla dreamed of becoming -- an accomplished actress, singer and successful businesswoman, minus the public exposure of her personal life. I, for one, have little doubt that had Selena lived, she would have become all those things and more. Certainly her following among Hispanics would have grown, and she was sure to be a crossover success in the Anglo market. But like so many young artists before her whose lives ended in a tragic way, Selena's star shines ever brighter after her death. |
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