Selena Quintanilla Perez was born on April 16, 1971 in a small town called Lake Jackson, located near Houston, Texas. Her parents names are Marcela and Abraham. She had a sister named Suzette and a brother named Abraham, also called A.B. by his family, who were both older than her. .
Selena lived in Lake Jackson for the early part of her childhood, Abraham, her father worked for Dow Chemical as a shipping clerk. He really liked music, and had a small band called Los Dinos, meaning The Boys, that consisted of his friends from high school. He liked Corner Street Do-wop; but Los Dinos played Tex-mex music, which is polkas and waltzes with Spanish music. Abraham was the singer in the band. He had said early on that Selena had gotten his singing talent from him. When Selena's father first realized she indeed had talent, she was five years old. "She would always walk around the house singing and her voice had a perfect pitch, " exclaimed Abraham. .
Soon, Abraham began teaching his children about music. The three children formed a little band with two other kids called "Selena y Los Dinos". A.B., Suzette, and the other children played various instruments while Selena sang. The group played at many local parties and weddings throughout the next couple of years.
In 1980, her father quit his job at Dow Chemical to start his own Tex-mex restaurant called Papagallo's. The whole family worked very hard at the restaurant and everyone did chores to help out, but it wasn't enough. A year later, the restaurant was forced to close, because there was a slight depression and people could no longer afford to go out to eat. The Quintanilla's had dedicated practically their whole lives to Papagallo's, so when it closed, they lost everything. In 1981, the family moved to Corpus Christi, which is another city in Texas, where they started a music group. They were forced into this because there was no other work available.
