EMI Latin 34123
Producers: Keith Thomas, Guy Roche, Rhett Lawrence, Arto Lindsay, Susan Rogers, David Byrne, A.B. Quintanilla III, K.C. Porter, and Jose Hernandez
Track listing: I Could Fall in Love / Captive Heart / I’m Getting Used to You / God’s Child (Bails Conmigo) / Dreaming of You / Missing My Baby / Amor Prohibido / Wherever You Are (Dondequiera Que Estes) Techno Cumbia / El Toro Relajo Como La Flor / Tu Solo Tu / Bidi Bidi Bom Bom
August 5, 1995
1 week
When 17-year-old Selena Quintanilla became the first artist signed to the newly established EMI Latin label in 1989, Jose Behar, president of the imprint, didn’t have his eyes specifically set on the Hispanic market. “I was more secure about signing her with a vision of having crossover into the Anglo market,” he says, “as opposed to her becoming huge with the Hispanic market. Because when I signed her, females were not known to be great sellers [among Hispanics]. It was a male- dominate genre.”
However, that would soon change. Initially, Selena fronted a group called Selena y Los Dinos, which featured her older siblings Abraham III on bass and Suzette on drums. The group’s 1991 album, Ven Conmigo, topped Billboard’s regional Mexican chart. A year later, Selena was billed as a solo act with the release of Entre a Mi Mundo.
Although Selena wasn’t fluent in Spanish (“She understood it perfectly, but she could only speak about 50 percent Spanish at first,” says Behar), she became a superstar of Tejano music. Entre a Mi Mundo and Live! also topped Billboard’s Mexican chart, while in 1993 Selena picked up her first Grammy and was signed EMI Records in a deal that Behar hoped would realize Selena’s crossover dreams.
As part of that plan, 1994’s Amor Prohibido included a diverse selection of music, from Tejano to R&B and hip-hop. The mix proved successful, as the album topped The Billboard Latin 50.
With crossover stardom on the horizon, Selena appeared as a mariachi singer in the film Don Juan de Marco and began working on her English language debut album. Then, on March 31, 1995, Selena arranged a business meeting with Yolanda Saldivar, the former president of her fan club and manager of the singer’s two clothing boutiques. Selena had hoped to clear up reports that Salvidvar was embezzling money from the singer’s stores, but Saldivar had other things on her mind. She shot the singer in the back with a .38-caliber revolver. Despite a blood transfusion, Selena died later that afternoon. She would have been 24 on April 16.
With the music world mourning the singer’s loss, EMI announced only days after her death that it would release an album to pay tribute to the artist. That album evolved into Dreaming of You. It includes five songs in English, some of which Selena had recorded for her English language debut, and two English/ Spanish duets, including “God’s Child (Bails Conmigo),” a duet with former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. It also features four unreleased Spanish songs, originally recorded for Don Juan de Marco, as well as her three biggest hits: “Amor Prohibido,” “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,” and “Como la Flor.”
“We felt after the tragedy that it would be important to include the hits that brought her to this point in her career, as well as the Spanish- and English-language music that would take her into the future,” says Behar. “That would enable her new fans to really understand what she was about musically.”
The concept proved to be a winner, as Dreaming of You entered The Billboard 200 at Number One. It made Selena only the fourth act of primarily Hispanic descent to top the album chart, following Santana, Los Lobos, and Cypress Hill.
While cynics attributed the success of the album to the publicity surrounding Selena’s death, Behar strongly disagrees. “I’m not convinced that the 11 o’clock news drives hundreds of thousands of people to a record store to spend $14 on a CD,” he says. “I’m convinced it’s about the music.”
THE TOP FIVE
Week of August 5, 1995
1. Dreaming of You, Selena
2. The Show, the After Party, the Hotel, Jodeci
3. Cracked Rear View, Hootie & the Blowfish
4. CrazySexyCool, TLC
5. Pocahontas, Soundtrack