Rise to Fame
She spent her early career performing in a language she didn't actually speak. Her father coached her through the Spanish phonetically while Tejano venues across Texas refused to book female singers. None of that slowed her down. She won Female Vocalist of the Year at the Tejano Music Awards in 1987, then kept winning it every year after that. Entre a Mi Mundo (1992) sat at number one for eight straight months and was the first Tejano album by a female artist to sell over 300,000 copies. She won a Grammy in 1994 and was still recording her English crossover album when she was murdered.
In the Spotlight
Dreaming of You dropped posthumously in July 1995 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 175,000 copies in one day, a then-record for a female artist. It remains the highest-certified Latin album in U.S. history. Jennifer Lopez played her in the 1997 biopic and earned a Golden Globe nomination doing it. A Netflix series followed in 2020. In March 2025, the Texas parole board denied Yolanda Saldivar's petition for release, ruling she still poses "a continuing threat to public safety." The fact that Saldivar's parole is treated as Selena news tells you everything about how present she still is.
Side Notes
She grew up in Texas speaking English at home, not Spanish, which is the detail that reshapes everything about her career. She ran boutiques in San Antonio and Corpus Christi by her early twenties and was taking business courses by correspondence while still performing. She was delivered by Ron Paul, then an obstetrician in Lake Jackson before his congressional career. Twelve days after her murder, Texas Governor George W. Bush declared April 16 Selena Day in Texas. She was twenty-three.
Final Chapter
Three days after her murder, she was buried at Seaside Memorial Park in Corpus Christi. Texas Governor George W. Bush declared April 16 Selena Day on April 12, 1995. Yolanda Saldivar was convicted of murder on October 23, 1995, after jurors deliberated for less than three hours, and sentenced to 30 years to life. Dreaming of You debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 the following July, the first Latin album to debut at number one on the chart.