Selena...The Queen of Tejano Music

Until her untimely death at age 23, Selena was the sexy and charismatic 'Queen of Tejano.' (Tejano music is a South Texas creation which uses guitars and accordions to blend Mexican music with European polkas and waltzes.) Selena was raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, and before she turned 10 she was already fronting the family band, Los Dinos. Their 1989 album Selena y Los Dinos put them on the map, and the 1992 album Entre a Mi Mundo (Enter My World) went gold. Still unknown in much of America, Selena became a star in Mexico and Latin America, known both for her Spanish-language hits and her wholesome sex appeal. A fashion plate who liked to design her own clothes, Selena favored snug pants and midriff-baring bustiers that earned her the nickname "the Mexican Madonna." Selena Live! (1993) won a Grammy as best Mexican-American album, and Amor Prohibido (Forbidden Love, 1994) was another hit.

In 1995 Selena began recording her first English-language album, Dreaming of You, and seemed poised to cross over to mainstream success. But on March 31st of that year she was shot and killed at a Days Inn hotel in Corpus Christi. The shooter was Yolanda Saldivar, the founder of the Selena fan club and manager of Selena's clothing boutiques, who apparently realized she was about to be fired for embezzling money from the singer. Saldivar was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum of 30 years. Selena was played by Jennifer Lopez in the 1997 film Selena. A greatest hits album, Ones, was released in 2002.

Selena married Christopher Perez, a guitarist in her band, on 2 April 1992... She had a small role as a mariachi singer in the Johnny Depp film Don Juan DeMarco, which was released just a week after her death in 1995... According the Houston Chronicle, the name Los Dinos "was taken from the Italian slang word for los muchachos, the boys"... Yolanda Saldivar's first opportunity for parole will be in the year 2025, coincidentally the same year of release originally scheduled for Arthur Bremer, who shot George Wallace. Bremer was released early in 2007... In 2002, with the approval of her family, the revolver used to shoot Selena was cut into pieces and scattered in Corpus Christi Bay.

Bio From
http://www.answers.com/topic/selena

Here are some super fun facts all about Selena!

#1. Selena was born April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas

#2. Selena was raised as a Jehovah's Witness

#3. Selena was only 9 when her father formed Selena y Los Dinos

#4. When Selena was just seventeen she earned a high school diploma from The American School of Correspondence in Chicago, Illinois

#5. At the 1987 Tejano Music Awards, Selena won Best Female Vocalist and won for the next 7 years as well

#6. Selena appeared alongside Eric Estrada in a Latin soap opera titled Dos Mujeres, Un Camino

#7. Selena was shot at 11:48 A.M. and died from loss of blood at 1:05 P.M.

#8. Selena was compared to Madonna and was often called, "The Mexican Madonna"

#9. Two weeks after her death, on April 12, George W. Bush, then Governor of Texas, declared Selena's birthday April 16 as "Selena Day" in Texas

#10. The gun used to kill Selena was later destroyed and the pieces thrown into Corpus Christi Bay

#11. The American Bank Center in Corpus Christi named their 2,526-seat auditorium for concerts in her memory (the Selena Auditorium)

#12. When Selena y Los Dinos performed during weddings, street corners, fairs and Quinceañeras they were sometimes booed offstage and even had food thrown at them