Although she was signed and billed as a solo artist, Selena continued to collaborate with her family band, “Los Dinos,” during recording sessions and increasingly grand live performances. Her brother, A.B. Quintanilla III, a talented bassist, played a critical role in Selena’s sound and her rise to fame as a major-label artist. As the leader of Los Dinos, he served as a songwriter and producer, helping Selena to expand her musical styles while modernizing and preserving her traditional Tex-Mex borderland and Cumbia rhythms.

Released in 1989, her first major-label solo album, titled “Selena,” reached #7 on the Billboard Regional Mexican Albums chart, making her the biggest name in Tejano music —male or female. Outselling all her previous early albums combined, Selena later became the regional spokesperson for Coca-Cola that same year, recording commercials for the drink with music penned by her brother Quintilla III. 

With each successive solo album, Selena’s fans and influence continued to multiply. Her 1990 “Ven Conmigo” record is the first Tejano recording by a female musician to achieve gold status in the United States, and its follow-up studio effort “Entre a Mi Mundo” became the best-selling “Regional” album of 1993. However, EMI did not yet want to commit to a big-budget “Crossover” album just yet…. 

1994 was a banner year for the up-and-coming superstar. On the strength of her celebrity and personal style, Selena opened two fashion boutiques—one in San Antonio and one in her hometown of Corpus Christi. Her 1993 album “Selena Live” earned the Grammy for Mexican/American album of the year, as her new studio album “Amor Prohibido” was well on its way to becoming her best-selling album to date. With all the exposure, even Hollywood took notice, casting Selena as the Mariachi singer in Don Juan DeMarco, starring Marlon Brando and Johnny Depp. If ever the time seemed ripe for Selena’s rise to international sensation.  

Would Selena’s Cumbia, Tejano, and Corridos-infused Latin music find a broader audience in the mainstream market? Can Selena deliver the same profoundly emotive performance in English as she has in her well-loved Spanish-language catalog?

Despite being renowned for her deeply emotive vocal style and lyrical delivery, Selena grew up speaking only English and did not initially speak Spanish. With some coaching from her father, she learned to sing Spanish lyrics phonetically. Eventually, Selena became fluent enough to express a preference for singing in Spanish over her native English by the time sessions for “Dreaming of You” began. Selena also expressed feeling nervous about her ability to transition from a local phenomenon to success in the much larger pop market she was poised to enter. Thankfully, EMI had faith. Recording sessions for the long-awaited and well-deserved English-language crossover album begin on March 5, with an expected wrap-up by October ’95. Unfortunately for the world, Selena died on March 31, 1995, just shy of one month into tracking.