This is what Selena had to say on a number of subjects.
On Getting Signed To EMI Latin:
"I feel very fortunate. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time."
On Growing Up:
"I lost a lot out of my teenagehood but I gained a lot too. I can't really say that I lost because I got ahead of everyone as far as career and being more mature about business, even though I didn't know what the heck was going on."
"I miss going to school and having friends; that's normal for anyone my age. I had a very boring childhood because I never had the opportunity to associate with anybody my own age due to my career. I miss being around kids my own age."
"I loved Lake Jackson because of the green grass, the trees. I remember eating at the Sonic and Dairy Bar. I remember how it would flood where I lived, and my friends and I would play in the water. I was a little tomboy when I was growing up. I used to like to play football with the guys and you know, normal things like hide-and-seek, and get ahold of my brother's bike and try to teach myself how to ride it."
"We used to get my mom's sheets, you know, the fitted sheets, and we used to go outside and hide from the cars on the front lawn. We would make bubbles and hide under there. And if we got seen we had to go stand on the corner and make these ugly faces.
"We had these monkey bars in the back of my house and we used to get my mother's sheets and tie them to the bars and make little cocoons and just hang in there all day."
Her Advice To Kids of America:
"Be at your best at all times."
"With a positive attitude, you can be anything you want to be."
"Be strong minded and always think that the impossible is possible."
"You get a lot farther in life without drugs."
On Her Grammy Experiences:
"We got up and we screamed. It was the pre-telecast part of the awards and there was maybe like 10 of us sitting in one row towards the back of the place, showed up kinda late. Like always, I'm always late for everything and they announced uh me as the winner and I was like oh my God and we all stood and we screamed and I was wearing this like crystal beaded gown and I remember going down, cause it's kind of on a slant, and thinking gee Selena if you fall..you are gonna be so embarrased don't fall cause it had like this fishtail in the back of it and I was trying to be all cool walking up there, but it was great and thinking back now...it's just an experience I will never forget."
"So you can imagine how I felt when they called out my name. I cried in the back. It was just a great feeling."
"I bought one of the cheapy cameras cause I wanted to get pictures of all the stars and they wouldn't let me take it in but this year I saw people with cameras. I was mad."
"I really wanted to meet Andy Garcia."
On Their Early Years:
"I was 6 and a half when I started singing and I recorded my first record when I was 8 and started traveling when I was 9."
"It was a very gradual growing process. It's not like it came overnight and I'm like I cant handle it."
"Just because I'm a woman the promoters didn't wanna let me give shows, or promote the group because I was a woman and also very young. That was one of the problems with the group when we first started, they didn't wanna give us the oppurtunity to play."
"Everyday we had to practice for only 15 minutes. We didn't like it at all but when you're young you wanna play with your friends and neighbors just to pass the time and have fun and to practice 15 minutes it was like ah dad we wanna play but you know what those 15 minutes paid off."
"We were playing gigs that we could get at the time. We'd get like a hundred dollars a gig for playing 4 hours and be like oh god this is cool(she laughs) now it's like...ahhh(she laughs again but ya know you just take what you can get when you're starting out and we got laughed at we uh..my father was told that we would never make it.."
"It was kinda hard at first, cause I knew it was uh..a means of putting food on the table for the whole family. You know we did it to make a living."
"So the only way we could put bread on the table was try to sing and do music profesionally and make a living off of it."
"It was kind of a hobby. I didn't see the business side of it. We used to play for relatives just for the fun of it. With your relatives, you know who they are and you feel confident around them."
On Stage Fright:
"I'm nervous. I usually dont get nervous for shows but I am nervous tonight...see I'm too honest. I'm too honest for my own good.
On Her Movie Debut:
"It's a movie called Don Juan De Marco and the Centerfold with Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway and it's a little bleek piece in the movie but my goodness, just to be in the same movie with Marlon Brando and Faye Dunaway is great."
On her english album:
"It's kind of gonna be like starting all over again. Nobody knows me in the sense of the english market but I'm ready, I'm ready for the work. Gotta try.
"And the english album is still coming out I know we've talking about it like forever and ever. How many years? 3 years and it's finally happening."
"I'm nervous because this is something new. I've done Tejano music all my life but from what I understand the English market is very different. I'm scared because I don't know what to expect. I'm very happy to be given the oppurtunity. I've always believed in the saying good things come to those who wait and we've been waiting patiently. I'm sure everything is gonna turn out okay."
"Tengo miedo. Mucho. Muchito!"
On Her Fan Club:
"There's a fan club and it's based out of here in San Antonio and it carries the Mexican...for Mexico..la gente de Mexico..and tambien..tambien all the United States, and what they do is they send out a newsletter each month telling you where we're gonna play and tambien there's also a fan club where you can pay a fee and you get the newsletter plus interviews with the bandmembers and different stuff like that. T-shirts and all that junk."
On Tejano Music:
"When dad first introduced us to it we were like, no you can't make us play it. There were times we would come in to practice and we would start crying, 'We don't wanna learn this music.' But we learned it and now that's all we listen to on the radio and we like to play it."
"Tejano music is a combination or should I say fusion of a lot of different types of music all rolled into one package. It's country music it's jazz, it has roots of German polka, it also has Mexican music in it."
"Although my spanish is a little weak I feel that I am Mexican. I'm very proud of my roots and ever since I was little we played english music and country music a side from Tejano. It was something very natural for us."
"Tejano music is a very relaxing style and it reminds me of home."
On her fashion business:
"I'm in charge of the uniforms and outfits. I design clothes and jewelry on the side. So we make our own things, which I love to do. I love shiny things and I love clothing."
"I'm a workaholic. I have 4 businesses 3 of which are here in the states. I also have another business in Mexico.
"Well that's sort of my hobby. Since I enjoy it so much, I'm not really doing it for the money. I love clothing. You should see my closet, oh my God."
"I decided to blaze new paths in the world of fashion."
"I wanted to do something outside of the entertainment business to see if I'm un poquito inteligente."
On Her Success:
"Thank goodness we stuck to it because we have come a long way, you know. Really and truly, I can't imagine myself having an everyday job and going into an office. I love business. I have my own business aside from singing, but I can't picture myself going to the same place everyday. I don't know, it would be kind of a drag to me, I guess I have gotten so used to traveling now. When I have the chance to relax, I'm real hyper and ready to go."
"The reason I'm so appreciative of everything that's goin on around me is cause I never expected it. Never dreamed...never in my wildest dreams thought I would come this far and I plan to keep that attitude."
"We never thought we would ever come this far but...we're here."
"A lot of people say..ya know that it's hard to work with family and whats good about our family is that we've all had the same goal and we all have the same respect for my father...so when we get into a discussion there's dad like good old times with a belt.
"I think alot of the musical talent came on my fathers part cause he used to be a musician many years ago when he had his own band named Los Dinos."
"Whats cool about our family is that we dont hold grudges and I think that's sort of been the key to the success. Ya know we have our disagreements but whether we're right or wrong we'll just go and appologize. Thats just the way we are.
"The family that plays together stays together."
"I'm spoiled in the sense that now I get what I want but it's because I work for it."
On Winning Her 1st Tejano Award:
"Gosh that's neat at least I know I'm accomplishing something."
At the 1989 Tejano Awards:
"I think the public plays an important role in supporting an artist in their career."
At the 1988 Tejano Awards:
"You're spoiling me! But I like it."
At the filming of No Me Queda Mas:
"This is what happens when you gain weight before a video."
"They're putting more powder on me because I have very oily skin. That's why we're coming out with the Selena line of makeup."
On Performing:
"Well, when I'm singing I'm a completely different person. I could be very free, depending on the situation I could do what I want. I would have to deliver, like with many songs, a lot of emotion if a song is very sad, as with a very happy and excited song. It depends, it depends. Compared to when I'm my normal self, like whomever, of the public."
"The life of an artist isn't all glamorous. It's a lot of work. A lot of people think it's very easy. They think you always stay in good hotels, you buy good things, but it's not like that. You have to work hard like everybody else."
On Bungee Jumping:
"I'll never do that again but they dared me and when you dare me you better watch out."
On Spanish:
"One thing is that if I ever have children later on, for sure I want my children to know spanish. It only makes you a better person or even a smarter person to know 2 languages. If that barrier is not there you can cross both lines, talk to English and Spanish people and it gets you alot farther in business and personal communication."
On Her Husband Chris:
"Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of having a big wedding, with a long white gown and a bouquet of flowers but my love for Chris was so strong. I couldn't wait any longer for us to be together as husband and wife. I couldn't even wear my nicest dress because that would've made my father suspicious."
"We were friends. I never thought I'd wanna marry a musician."
"Mi amor en el autobus."
On "Como La Flor":
"The title comes from those flowers that they have at dances with the light inside."
On "Que Creias":
"It's one of those songs where the girl tells the guy off."
On Motorcycles:
"Chris wanted to show me first how to change gears. So later on down the road I'll be cruisin on a Harley hopefully."
On Overcoming Shyness:
"Well I think that's cause of my dad and his belt. (Selena laughs and imitates her father)you're gonna sing little girl!(shaking her hands in front of her and laughing). Boy, I was very shy but when a person grows up you change and those things do too."
On Morals:
"We grew up with morals and also respect for everyone. My father always treated us equal and we're not different. We all have talent even if they are in different aspects."
All quotes taken from:
Selena Remembered
Cristina Special Editon
Como La Flor
The Phenomonal Life and Tragic Death of the Tejano Superstar
En Persona
