Kriti Mehrotra
As productions living up to their titles in every way, Oxygen’s ‘Selena and Yolanda: The Secrets Between Them’ and Netflix’s ‘Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy’ can only be described as intriguing. That’s because they incorporate not just archival footage but also exclusive interviews to really underscore the life, career, impact, and shooting death of Tejano music superstar Selena on March 31, 1995. It thus comes as no surprise that her loving family, as well as fellow band members, especially her close confidant, elder sister, and drummer Suzette, played a significant role in both.
Suzette Quintanilla Loves How Music Connected Her Family
Although born on June 29, 1967, in Lake Jackson, Texas, as the middle child of Marcella Ofelia Samora and Abraham Quintanilla’s brood of three, Suzette’s upbringing was reportedly nearly idyllic. The truth is, she was given the same care, love, and importance as her siblings at every step of the way, including when their passionate father began teaching them about the beautiful world of music. In fact, while her elder brother AB was motivated to do his thing with the bass and her younger sister Selena got to hone her singing, she was encouraged to start drumming.
The Quintanillas did admittedly face a hard time in the 1980s owing to the Regan Recession, yet they still remained a tight-knit group and even mutually decided to continue being a band to stay afloat. That’s when Selena y Los Dinos (English: Selena and the Guys) — named after their father’s childhood band — really went from being local musicians to signed artists who then accomplished wonders. “We lost everything [in the 80s]… you name it; we lost it,” Selena once said. “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.” Their father, Abraham, also conceded to Texas Monthly that “Music was the only thing I knew how to do. The band was the best thing we had… We all agreed to try and make a go of it.”
However, the truth is they never really expected to get as big as they did, but their mutual respect plus appreciation for each other’s craft helped them last right until Selena’s early 1995 demise. By this point, Suzette was not only the band drummer but also dabbled in percussion and backing vocals, all the while helping her father run their 1990-established Latin music entertainment firm Q Productions. As a young girl, according to her own accounts in ‘Selena y Los Dinos: A Family’s Legacy,’ she often preferred to just spend time with her sister and her mother in their tour bus, discussing fashion, shopping, and their next outfits. However, as she grew older, she naturally developed a greater interest in the business side of things, driving her to take on more responsibilities.
Suzette Quintanilla Dons Many Hats Today
According to reports, Suzette decided to hang up her music hat following her sister’s tragic death, yet chose to remain actively involved in most projects that essentially carry on her legacy. This includes any undertaking that either uses Selena’s name or likeness in any sense, such as the Reina collection by M.A.C. in 2020, as well as the aforementioned Netflix productions. Although she helmed the former for another reason too: “When Selena passed away, one of the three things she was working on was her clothing line, a makeup line, and a perfume line,” she once said. “I promised myself that by the time I leave this world, I will accomplish what she started.”
Moreover, from what we can tell, Suzette has since learned the ropes of Q-Productions and now proudly serves as its CEO-President while also managing the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas. As for her personal standing, she has been happily married to her husband, Bill Arriaga, for over three decades (they tied the knot in September 1993), and they have a son named Joven Arriaga. The latter actually welcomed his own son named Lincoln on December 31, 2022, making the middle Quintanilla sibling an entrepreneurial daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, as well as a grandmother. It’s also imperative to note that Suzette has remained in touch with her former band members, especially the guitarist, Selena’s widower Chris Perez, whom she considers her a brother too. We should mention that she is even affiliated with several events and organizations that shine a light upon and bring positive awareness to Latinos plus Latino culture, as evidenced on her social media platforms.
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