Why singer Selena will receive a posthumous star on Walk of Fame

Famous Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla will receive a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, joining a group of 2017 star recipients that includes Ice Cube, Dwayne Johnson, Amy Adams, Tyra Banks, Eva Longoria, John Legend, Sarah Silverman, and Hugh Laurie. 

Ms. Quintanilla, who was known to her listeners merely as Selena, was the first singer of her genre to receive a Grammy Award (she won the best Mexican/American album prize for the 1993 album “Selena Live!”). Her 1995 album “Dreaming Of You” became a number-one hit on the Billboard 200 chart, which measures album sales. She died in 1995. A movie based on her life, titled “Selena” and starring Jennifer Lopez, was released in 1997. 

The Tejano music genre to which Selena’s music belongs incorporates musical elements as diverse as those of polka and country music. 

What keeps her fans thinking of her more than two decades after her death? Associated Press staff write that “she has become a cultural icon for Latinos who see her as a woman who was proud of her roots and achieved her dreams.” 

Marta Solis, a fan of the singer, said, “For me she is a role model, because she got far for a Latina woman.” 

Chicago Tribune writer Teresa Puente agrees, writing that “she made young people proud of their heritage, validating Mexican-American and the broader, diverse Latino culture that many felt has been denigrated.” 

Ms. Puente also notes that following the success of Selena, corporate media discovered an audience they had overlooked.

“The filmmakers [behind ‘Selena'] also are providing a huge wakeup call to corporate America of an untapped market of epic proportions,” she wrote. “Time Inc. started a new publication, People En Español, after a Selena tribute issue sold a million copies.”