March 31, 1995: The Death of Selena

Sign that you're old: You hear "Selena," and you think "Quintanilla" before you think "Gomez"; "Demi," and you think "Moore" before you think "Lovato"; and "Kylie," and you think "Minogue" before you think "Jenner."

March 31, 1995: Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the biggest star of "Tejano" music, is killed in her hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas -- by the president of her fan club. She was not quite 24 years old, and had just released her first all-English album.

Like most Anglophone Americans, I never knew Selena was alive, until I knew she was dead. This would later be true of singer and plane crash victim Jenni Rivera -- although, having lived on the edge of a Mexican neighborhood in New Brunswick for a time, I had considerably less excuse for not knowing about her.

But People magazine reported that, for the first time in their 21-year history, an entire press run of an issue sold out: The one with the Selena murder cover story. The story singlehandedly convinced People and Newsweek to begin publishing Spanish editions, and led to the founding of Latina magazine.

Europeans from Germany), Poland, and Czechia migrated to Texas and Mexico, bringing with them their style of music and dance. They brought with them the accordion, and the polka form of dance. This influenced the Tejanos, people who settled in Texas while it was still under Spanish, then Mexican, and finally American control.

Central to the evolution of early Tejano music was the blend of polka music with traditional Mexican forms such as the corrido and mariachi. n particular, the accordion was adopted by Tejano folk musicians at the turn of the 20th century, and it became a popular instrument for amateur musicians in Texas and Northern Mexico.

Within her lifetime, Selena had already been credited with taking Tejano music outside its bubble of Texas and introducing it to America at large. Her band, Selena y Los Dinos (Selena and The Guys) was formed in 1981, when she was just 10 years old, by her father, Abraham Quintanilla. It would include her brother, Abraham III, a.k.a. A.B. Quintanilla, on guitar, and also their recording producer; her sister, Suzette, on drums; and her eventual husband, Chris Pérez, on guitar. (They had not yet had any children at the time of Selena's death.)

It wasn't a completely happy rise: Selena's skimpy outfits led to her being called "The Spanish Madonna," even though she was a much better singer than Madonna. But on February 26, 1995, she sold out the Astrodome in Houston, including singing songs from her upcoming English debut, Dreaming of You. It was released on July 18. (The concert was re-created for the 1997 film Selena, with Jennifer Lopez in the title role, singing at the Astrodome.)

Yolanda Saldívar, a former nurse who was the president of Selena's fan club, but had become mentally unhnged, was sentenced to life in prison, and is serving a life sentence at the Mountain View prison in Gatesville, Texas. Oddly, though she committed cold-blooded murder while George W. Bush was Governor -- and Bush was a fan of Selena's -- she was not given the death penalty. She will be eligible for parole for the first time in 2025. Don't count on her leaving prison in anything other than a coffin.

UPDATE: She was denied that first chance. She remains at the Patrick L. O'Daniel Unit, a State prison for women in Gatesville, in central Texas.

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March 31, 1995 was a Friday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 10 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Dallas Mavericks, 101-90 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 86-85 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Miami Heat, 100-99 at the Boston Garden.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Washington Bullets, 98-88 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Indiana Pacers, 107-92 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 118-102 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Despite the defeat, Glenn Robinson of the Bucks led all scorers on the night with 31 points.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Utah Jazz, 101-98 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 106-96 at the America West Arena (now the PHX Arena) in Phoenix.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 121-107 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Sacramento Kings, 120-95 at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. The Sonics played the 1994-95 season there, while the Seattle Center Coliseum was demolished and rebuilt at the Key Arena.

And there were 6 games in the NHL:

* The Washington Capitals beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-4 at the USAir Arena (formerly the Capital Centre) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Hartford Whalers, 2-0 at the ThunderDome (now Tropicana Field) in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* In an "Original Six" matchups, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Chicago Blackhawks played to a tie, 3-3 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the San Jose Sharks, 4-1 at the Kiel Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.

* In "The Battle of Alberta," the Calgary Flames beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-2 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 6-1 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.