American singer
Selena
Selena Quintanilla Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known mononymously as Selena, was an American Tejano singer. Called the " Queen of Tejano music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mex ...
released six
studio albums, three
live albums, three
boxset
A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists and bands ...
s, one
remix album
A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 20 ...
, two
soundtrack albums, and twenty
compilation albums. Credited for elevating a music genre into the mainstream market,
Selena remains the best-selling
Tejano
Tejanos (, ; singular: ''Tejano/a''; Spanish for "Texan", originally borrowed from the Caddo ''tayshas'') are the residents of the state of Texas who are culturally descended from the Mexican population of Tejas and Coahuila that lived in t ...
recording artist whose posthumous releases continue to outsell those of living musicians. Selena has sold 18 million units worldwide (12 millions according to Nielsen Soundscan), making her one of the best-selling artists in Latin music. She was named the top-selling Latin artist of the 1990s decade by ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' magazine.
Selena's career began as lead vocalist of
Los Dinos
Selena y Los Dinos ( en, Selena and the Guys, Selena And the Dinos=Selena And The Dinos) was an American Tejano music, Tejano band formed in 1981 by Tejano singer Selena and her father Abraham Quintanilla, Abraham Quintanilla. The band remained ...
in 1980. Her albums with Los Dinos on the indie labels failed to gain any chart success. She signed with
EMI Latin
Capitol Latin (formerly EMI Latin) is a brand of Universal Music Latin Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Group. Previously, it was a subsidiary of EMI.
History
In 1989, José Behar, the former head of CBS Discos, signed Selena to ...
nine years later as a solo artist though her band continued to tour with her.
She released her
self-titled debut album that same year, which peaked at number seven on the U.S. ''Billboard''
Regional Mexican Albums
Regional Mexican Albums is a genre-specific record chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart was established in June 1985 and originally listed the top twenty-five best-selling albums of mariachi, tejano, n ...
chart. With ''Selena'', the singer outsold other competing female Tejano artists. Her second album, ''
Ven Conmigo'', was released a year later and was billed as the first Tejano recording by a female musician to achieve gold status in the United States. In 1992, Selena released her "breakthrough album",
''
Entre a Mi Mundo
''Entre a Mi Mundo'' ( en, italic=yes, Enter My World) is the third studio album by American singer Selena, released on May 6, 1992, by EMI Latin. In his recording debut with Selena y Los Dinos, guitarist Chris Pérez had fallen in love with Sele ...
'', which helped launch the singer's career in Mexico along with its single "
Como la Flor
"Como la Flor" ("Like the Flower") is a song that was recorded by American singer Selena for her third studio album ''Entre a Mi Mundo'' (1992). It was written by A. B. Quintanilla and Pete Astudillo. The song was conceptualized in 1982 aft ...
".
''Entre a Mi Mundo'' became the first Tejano recording by a female artist to sell over 300,000 copies, and was the best-selling Regional Mexican Album of 1993, it also ranks second on the Regional Mexican Albums All-time chart.
In 1993, Selena released ''
Live
Live may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film
* ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film
*'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD)
Music
* Live (band), American alternative rock band
* List of album ...
'', which contained three studio tracks. ''Live'' won Selena a Grammy and peaked at number two on the newly formed U.S. ''Billboard''
Top Latin Albums
Top Latin Albums is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine and is labeled as the most important music chart for Spanish language, full-length albums in the American music market. Like all ''Billboard'' album charts, the chart is base ...
chart and was certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
(RIAA) for shipments of 500,000 copies. Selena released ''
Amor Prohibido
''Amor Prohibido'' ( en, italic=yes, Forbidden Love) is the fourth studio album by American singer Selena, released on March 13, 1993, by EMI Latin. Having reached a core fan base, the label aimed to broaden her appeal with the next
studio rel ...
'' in March 1994; it was certified double Diamond by the RIAA, denoting shipments of two million copies in the United States. Additionally, the album spawned four consecutive US Latin number-one singles. By December 1994, ''Amor Prohibido'' became the second Tejano recording to achieve year-end sales of 500,000 copies. It was considered her "biggest album" and was credited with popularizing Tejano music among a younger and wider audience than any time in the genre's history.
With ''Amor Prohibido'', Selena was considered "bigger than Tejano itself", and broke barriers in the Latin music world.
This prompted
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012, ...
to begin marketing Selena as an American pop artist, believing she had reached her peak in the Latin music market. The singer recorded four tracks slated for what would have been her English-language
crossover
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Albums and songs
* ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album)
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album)
* ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album)
* ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
album by March 1995. On March 31, 1995, Selena was
shot dead by
Yolanda Saldívar
Yolanda Saldívar (; born September 19, 1960) is an American former nurse who was convicted of the murder of singer Selena in 1995. Saldívar had been the president of Selena's fan club and the manager of her boutiques, but she lost both positio ...
, her friend and a former employee of her
Selena Etc. boutiques over disputed embezzlement claims.
EMI Records and EMI Latin jointly released ''
Dreaming of You'' in July 1995. It sold 175,000 copies its first day of release, a then-record for a female vocalist.
''Dreaming of You'' debuted on top the
''Billboard'' 200 chart with 331,000 units sold its first week, the second largest first-week sales for a female musician.
''Dreaming of You'' became the first and to date the only predominantly Spanish-language album to debut and peak at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. ''Dreaming of You'' was among the top ten best-selling debuts for a musician, best-selling debut by a female act, and was the fastest-selling U.S. album in 1995.
''Dreaming of You'' went on to become the best-selling Latin and Latin pop album for two consecutive years.
At the time, ''Dreaming of You'' helped Selena to become the fastest-selling female act in recorded music history, and has since been ranked among the best and most important recordings produced during the
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...
era. With ''Dreaming of You'' peaking at number one, Tejano music entered the mainstream English market. As of January 2015, ''Dreaming of You'' has sold five million copies worldwide, and remains the
best-selling Latin album of all-time in the United States.
Since Selena's death, there have been twenty-three posthumous releases with the most recent, ''
Lo Mejor de...Selena'', released on the twentieth anniversary of her death.
Studio albums
Soundtrack albums
Live albums
Compilation albums
Remix albums
Box sets
See also
*
List of best-selling Latin albums in the United States
Since July 1993, ''Billboard'' has published the best-selling Latin albums in the United States on the Top Latin Albums chart. Latin music is defined by ''Billboard'' and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as a music release wi ...
*
List of songs recorded by Selena
American singer Selena has recorded material for her five studio albums and has collaborated with other artists for duets and featured songs on their respective albums and charity singles. Her six indie label albums—''Selena y Los Dinos'' (1984) ...
*
Selena singles discography
American singer Selena released twenty-four official singles, seven promotional singles. Her career began as the lead vocalist of Los Dinos in 1980. Her albums with Los Dinos on indie labels failed to achieve any chart success. In 1987, her remake ...
*
Selena videography
American singer Selena had released 22 music videos and 12 video album, video/live albums during her career. Her first music video was "Buenos Amigos", which is a duet with El Salvador, Salvadoran singer Álvaro Torres. It was released in summer 1 ...
Notes
References
Sources
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{{featured list
*Discography
Discographies of American artists
Latin pop music discographies
Regional Mexican music discographies