After much anticipation, Netflix finally released Selena: The Series last week and it's proved to be a big hit with viewers.
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While the superstar's rise to fame and her iconic stamp on the music industry has been at the centre of the series, the story behind her tragic death in 1995 has left fans wondering what happened to Selena. Find out what sad story behind her passing below...
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How did Selena die?
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was just 23-years-old when she tragically died. In March 1995, the Grammy-award winning musician was shot and killed by Yolanda Saldívar, who was a former friend of the singer and even worked under her management as the president of the Selena Fan Club.
Selena's father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr, was her manager and hired Yolanda to start and run the fan club. But after Abraham started receiving complaints from fans regarding missing memorabilia, and from other employees about Yolanda's poor work, it transpired that she had been embezzling money from the fan club's accounts.
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© Photo: Getty ImagesSelena was tragically murdered in 1995
Yolanda was confronted by the family, and Selena herself, before going on to buy a gun and fatally shoot the singer in the Days Inn Motel in Texas. Paramedics arrived at the scene quickly and attempted to revive her, but sadly Selena was pronounced dead after suffering severe blood loss and cardiac arrest. Yolanda was arrested and given a life sentence, which she is still serving to this day in Mountain View Unit, a maximum security women's prison in Gatesville, Texas.
What happened after Selena's death?
After Selena's death was announced, the music world was shaken. Many fans travelled miles to visit the home of the late singer, as well as her boutiques and the crime scene itself, laying flowers and messages.
The news shocked the wider community as well. On Selena's birthday, two weeks after her death, the governor for Texas at the time, George W. Bush declared her birthday as 'Selena Day' in the state. The former US president said at the time the singer represented "the essence of south Texas culture".
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© Photo: NetflixChristian Serratos as Selena in the new Netflix series
Who was Selena?
Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was a singer who was thought of as one of the music industry's most successful and influential Latin artists. The singer was even at one point labelled the 'Tejano Madonna'. At the height of her fame, the singer's work made up over 50 per cent of Latin music sales and was noted for reviving the genre during the 1990's music scene.
Selena was the first Latin artist to have an album debut at number one on the Billboard charts, and she even made history at the Grammy's in 1994 when she was awarded Best Mexican/American Album.
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