Just came across this wonderful history lesson on Tejano music by the late Selena Quintanilla herself. Listen to Part I and then go to Part II to see the remaining part of her presentation (scroll down to my other blog post this morning).
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| By Dr. Deborah Paredez |
Here is a great biography of her on wikipedia which is the source of this next paragraph that reveals her singular impact on music history albeit posthumously:
Dreaming of You, the crossover album Selena had been working on at the time of her death, was released in July 1995. It sold 175,000 copies on the day of its release in the U.S.—a then-record for a female vocalist—and sold 331,000 copies its first week.[229][230] Selena became the third female artist to sell over 300,000 units in one week, after Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey.[231] It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, becoming the first album by a Hispanic artist to do so.[232][233][234] Dreaming of You helped Selena to become the first solo artist to debut a posthumous album at number one.[235] The recording was among the top-ten best-selling debuts for a musician, and was the best-selling debut by a female act.[236] Dreaming of You joined five of Selena's studio albums on the Billboard 200 chart simultaneously, making Selena the first female artist in Billboard history to do so.[237] The album was certified 35x platinum by the RIAA, for shipping more than 3.5 million copies in the U.S. alone.[74][238] As of 2015, the recording has sold five million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling Latin album of all-time in the United States.[239] In 2008, Joey Guerra of the Houston Chronicle said its lead single, "I Could Fall in Love", had "made the Tejano goddess a posthumous crossover star".[240] Her death was believed to have sparked an interest in Latin music by people who were unaware of its existence.[241][207][242] It was also believed her death "open[ed] the doors" to other Latin musicians such as Jennifer Lopez,[243] Ricky Martin, and Shakira.[244]
Our Tejana music legend, our own Tejana "candle in the wind," your death remains as wildly absurd today as is was the day that it happened on March 31, 1995. We miss you, Selena, but are thankful for your many legacies, including this lesson on Tejano/a music and its roots and influences, rightfully positioning it as a contribution to our world's musical heritage.
Angela Valenzuela
c/s
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