Selena Quintanilla Perez

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What exactly is a hero? In my opinion, a hero is someone who does something to make this world a better place. A hero is someone who cares for others before themselves. To me, Selena Quintanilla Perez is a hero. Selena is important to the world because she inspired others all around her to help make this world better. For example, she used to go to all kinds of schools and talk to kids about staying in school. That might have helped because she had the ability to inspire people with not just the way she sang, but also the way she talked. I chose Selena as my hero because I think everyone should know she was not just a singer, but an inspiration to all.

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Selena was the baby of the Quintanilla family. On April 16, 1971 Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas. She had an older brother, Abraham Quintanilla the Third, and an older sister, Suzette Quintanilla. Her parents were Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcella Quintanilla. When Selena was nine, her dad made his children start a band after listening to Selena sing. They were called Selena y Los Dinos, or Selena and The Boys. The band played in the family restaurant, Papagallos. After that the restaurant fell and the family went bankrupt. It was then that the family decided to move to Corpus Christi. They toured around the state once Selena got into 8th grade and recorded their first album. Finally the band started to gain fame.

In the mid 80’s Selena y Los Dinos recorded their second album, Alpha, and Selena won the award for best female vocalist at the Tejano Music Awards. She then continued to sweep the awards for the next 10 years. Sometime after then the band hit it big time. They were automatically signed to EMI Latin records, one of the first Latin recording companies ever. The band decided to expand it from just being a family act. Pete Astudillo, who helped her brother write songs such as Como La Flor, then left after four years. That song hit number 1 sometime later. In 1990 Chris Perez was added to the band as a guitarist. On April 3, 1992 Selena married Chris Perez.

It was in the early 90’s that Selena accomplished most of her goals. In 1993 Selena won a Grammy for best Mexican American Performance for her album, Live. In 1994 Selena opened her own boutique called Selena ETC. and she spent most of her time touring and trying to keep students in school to accomplish a better life. Her album Mi Tierra, hit number 1 in 1995 beating out many other albums that have stayed in that spot. She set the record for being the 1st tejano singer to have the most fans attend her concert. It was her last concert. It took place on February 26, 1995 at the Houston Astrodome. 60,000 fans were there. It was a sad day on March 31, 1995, when Selena’s assistant shot her twice and killed her. Fans all over Texas had candlelight vigils to honor her. About 3 months after her death, Selena’s 1st English album, Dreaming of You, was released and hit number 1 quickly. Even after her death Selena will always be know as the Queen of Tejano.

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I chose Selena as my hero because she is pretty much everything a hero is. She is strong and never gives up. She gave back to her community and cared for others. In fact that’s how she died. She was going to help a person in need until they shot her. Selena’s life was full of accomplishments. When you think of Selena’s life, you might think that it was short but she was able to accomplish more things than most people who were her age when she died. I’m sure that Selena is looking down on us and thinking about how much good she has done. Selena Quintanilla Perez was and still is a true hero.