Selena's Influence On American Music

On April 16, 1971, one of the most important artists in the history of Latin music was born. Selena Quintanilla Pérez was born to Marcella and Abraham Quintanilla, Jr. in the city of Lake Jackson, Texas (Selena, 2008). She grew up in a music oriented family and first began singing as a young girl. Selena was destined for stardom with her amazing talent. By the age of 13, she had recorded her first album. She went on to record and release over thirty more albums, including, but not limited to, studio albums, live albums, and remix albums. Throughout her career, she was an active member of the Latin community and always made time to give back to the community she loved so much. When Selena was only 23 years old, she was tragically murdered, leaving the world devastated by her loss. Although her life was short-lived, Selena’s memory lives on in …show more content…
He eventually encountered a Mexican audience who were not accepting of Latinos performing American style music and felt that Americans did not accept his music, because he was Mexican (Selena, 2008). He decided that he would begin performing Tejano music, which can be defined as “the fusion of American music styles into Mexican music” (Selena, 2008). This style of music first emerged in Texas by musicians of Latin descent. Abraham Jr. moved to Lake Jackson, Texas, married Selena’s mother and had two children ahead of Selena, Suzette and Abraham Isaac Quintanilla III, causing him to abandon his music career and focus on making money for his family (Selena, 2008). Although he was no longer performing music, Selena’s father was still very passionate about nurturing his children with it. When Selena was six years old, she began singing along to her father’s music at home; he explains in the Biography documentary, Selena, that he “saw a way back into music through her”