March 31st, marks the 25th anniversary of Selena Quintanilla’s tragic death at the height of her stardom. Significant figures from every corner of the entertainment industry mourned the loss of the young but influential singer across social media. During her brief career and after her passing, Quintanilla became a pop culture icon. To commemorate the singer’s impact on the world of popular music, her father, Abraham, is planning to release an official memoir about his slain daughter’s life and legacy.
On the morning of March 31, 1995, Quintanilla was set to meet with the president of her fan club when things went wrong. Upon meeting with Yolanda Saldivar at a motel to discuss “business matters” regarding the club, their interaction turned hostile.
Other motel guests at the time claimed to hear the two women arguing loudly. When Quintanilla’s attempted to confront Saldivar about financial matters, the then-fan club president drew a gun and shot Quintanilla in a vital artery as she attempted to flee.
Selena’s husband, Chris Perez, wrote a book about her in 2012. While the estate agreement that Perez signed with the Quintanilla family shortly after her death prohibited him from producing books, television, or movie deals about Selena, Abraham gave Perez his blessing on the book.
The same agreement gave the late singer’s father full control over all “Entertainment Properties,” including contract, trademark and copyright rights, rights to income, right of publicity, right to name, voice, signature, and photographs, among other rights, “throughout the world in perpetuity without restriction.”
The now-81-year-old father of the “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” singer posted on Facebook in Feb. 2020 about his coming memoir and how it will differ from other books that have been written about his daughter.
“Today I finally finished the last chapter of my book that I have been writing for the last few months… Since my daughter Selena died I was wanting to write a book.”
The father of the late artist then went on to address those who had written books about his daughter without the family’s permission since her tragic passing.
“The public might not be aware that there are about 21 unauthorized books written about Selena and none of the writers ever interviewed Selena. And I feel that the ugliest book was written by Telemundo’s Maria Celeste Arara, the woman for reasons which I can’t understand took sides with the woman who killed Selena.”
He then went on to clear the air and state that the book would be coming this year, “My family and I Chris Perez know exactly what happened, as I mentioned none of the writers or even Maria Celeste ever interviewed Selena. I will release the book later this year.”
