Kriti Mehrotra
It was March 31, 1995, when everything turned upside down for the Quintanilla family as the youngest of their brood of three, Selena, was shot to death at the hands of Yolanda Saldívar. This much has been evidenced in Oxygen’s ‘Selena and Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them’ and touched upon in Netflix’s ‘Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy’ to underscore the brutality of the matter. However, the truth is that, no matter what, the Queen of Tejano music’s impact was such that she is remembered by not only her loved ones but the entire Latin music industry even today.
Selena’s Father Was a Musician When He Married Her Mother
Although born on February 22, 1939, in Corpus Christi, Texas, as the middle child of Maria Calderon and Abraham Quintanilla’s six kids, Abraham Issac Quintanilla Jr. didn’t have an ordinary upbringing. That’s because not only did his parents leave the Catholic Church to become Jehovah’s Witnesses when he was 14, but he also left everything behind as a high school senior to pursue music. He aspired to make it big as a singer from the time he was a mere adolescent and thus often performed at local establishments across Texas before reality ultimately kicked in.
Abraham hence joined the US Air Force in October 1961, unaware that his subsequently being stationed at McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Washington, would arguably be the best thing for him. After all, that’s where he first came across proud half-Mexican American and half-Cherokee Native American Marcella Ofelia Samora, just for them to soon fall utterly head over heels in love. So, the couple decided to tie the knot on June 8, 1963, following which they welcomed three beautiful children into their lives — Abraham Isaac “AB” Quintanilla III (December 1963), Suzette Quintanilla (June 1967), and Selena Quintanilla (April 1971).
It was in 1969 that Abraham truly quit his band to begin working at an oil company to make ends meet because his desire to provide his family with a good life overpowered his dreams. Nevertheless, he once candidly said, “Even though the dream I’d had of making it had ended, it never left me. I tried to settle into life in Lake Jackson, but I thought about music all day long.” Therefore, of course, it’s no surprise he began teaching his children to play instruments as well as sing almost as soon as they were old enough, unaware their little familial passion would end up transforming all their lives in a way no one could’ve ever expected.
Music Was Always More Than Just a Creative Art Form For Selena and Her Parents
“I got a little jealous because of all the attention my brother was getting [once he started playing guitar],” Selena told Latin Style Magazine much prior to her demise. “So I picked up a songbook and started pretending to be reading the words and making a melody. My father looked at me and said, ‘Come here.’ He started teaching me. I was like a parrot, I repeated everything and singing what he was singing to me. I guess he saw dollar signs.” Well, Abraham actually did: he told a publication back in 1995 itself that “Her timing, her pitch were perfect. I could see it from day one,” before adding, it went beyond mere talent or skill — it was magic.
Abraham thus established Selena y Los Dinos with his kids — named after his own band from his younger years — and kickstarted their career by landing steady gigs at a local family restaurant in Lake Jackson. However, all their stability was shattered in the early 1980s due to the Reagan Recession, forcing them to take their art to the streets and adapt their music to the changing mood. “We lost everything, we lost our house; you name it; we lost it,” Selena recalled. “The only way to put food on the table was to go into the music as a profession. We struggled a lot to get where we are.”
The truth is, the patriarch subsequently found himself unable to find a job in the oil industry, so he genuinely had to rely on family members in more ways than one for financial assistance/strength. “Music was the only thing I knew how to do,” Abraham later told Texas Monthly. “The band was the best thing we had… We all agreed to try and make a go of it,” yet they never really expected to get as big as they did. That’s when they began having their fair share of ups and downs, primarily in connection with this experienced musician turned manager, just for them to always work things out to continue on, that is, until the tragic March 31, 1995, morning. As for his wife, Marcella Samora Quintanilla, she was the steady hand who gave them all unwavering support from behind the scenes at every step of the way.
Selena’s Parents Are Now Ensuring Her Legacy Rightly Lives On
Following Selena’s shooting death, her father/manager Abraham was quick to make it clear to the world that her friend/former employee Yolanda Saldívar had pulled the trigger on the youngster. He then ensured that her estate was passed on to him and Marcella, rather than remaining with her husband of three years, Chris Perez, in fear of others taking advantage and misrepresenting her. So, of course, the family played a significant role in helping Netflix create ‘Selena: The Series’ and ‘Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy’ — they wanted to do justice to her memory.
It hence also comes as no surprise that Abraham has since slammed Oxygen’s ‘Selena and Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them,’ and the reasons for it go much beyond the claims made against him. He was portrayed as controlling, greedy, intimidating, as well as threatening in this documentary series by Yolanda Saldívar, and he has denied almost all allegations against him. This 86-year-old family man, Q-Productions owner, plus Texas native, actually told TMZ that neither he nor any member of his family was involved or supported this project in any way, shape, or form.
Abraham then added, per TMZ, that he wants “absolutely nothing to do with Yolanda herself… cause everything she says is nothing but lies, and no one’s gonna believe what she has to say anyway.” He even wondered what more she has to say that she hasn’t already, reiterating his belief of everyone knowing there’s zero truth behind “anything that comes out of her mouth.” In other words, the Quintanillas are now doing their best to keep Selena’s memories as well as music alive in the most positive of manners — in a way that’s really true to who she was and how she lived her life. For this, they continue to run Q-Productions and are even behind the Selena Museum in their hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas. This museum is open every Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm, and actually seems to be thriving.
Read More: Where is Selena’s Sister Suzette Quintanilla Now?
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