Late Tejano icon Selena posthumously honored for arts by President Biden
American singer Selena (born Selena Quintanilla-Perez, 1971 - 1995) rides in a carriage during a performance at the Houston Livestock Show; Rodeo at the Houston Astrodome, Houston, Texas, February 26, 1995. The performance was her last before her mur
WASHINGTON - The late Tejano music queen Selena Quintanilla-Pérez was posthumously honored Monday by President Joe Biden with the prestigious National Medals of Arts medal.
Filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee and Ken Burns and singers Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah were among 20 recipients of National Medals of Arts, while the 19 recipients of National Humanities Medals included playwright-screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and historian Jon Meacham.
Selena was one of three medals awarded posthumously. Other recipients included artist Ruth Asawa, who was given the arts medal, and the late chef-author Anthony Bourdain, who was among the humanities medal winners.
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"Above all, you are the masters of your craft that have made us a better America with all of you have done," Biden said at the White House ceremony.
The medals are for acclaimed filmmakers, singers, writers and others who have made their mark on American culture.
The arts medals are managed by the National Endowment for the Arts, and the humanities medals by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Who was Selena?
Known simply as Selena, the singer-songwriter broke barriers for women in Latin music. She opened the floodgates for a new generation of contemporary artists of Latin descent who would go on to enjoy huge popularity with mainstream American audiences.
Singer Selena (Quintanilla) receives Grammy Award at The 36th Annual Grammy Awards on March 1, 1994 in New York, New York at Radio City Music Hall. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
Quintanilla-Pérez was born in Texas in 1971. She was the youngest child of a mother of Cherokee ancestry and a father who was Mexican-American.
What happened to Selena?
Quintanilla-Pérez died in 1995 at 23 after being shot at a hotel by a business colleague, Yolanda Saldivar, who was once the late star’s pal and president of her fan club.,
The bullet shattered an artery in Quintanilla-Pérez's collarbone before it exited her chest, the New York Post reported. According to the outlet, she was able to stumble down to the hotel lobby pleading for help as she left a nearly 400-foot trail of blood.
Quintanilla-Pérez was able to tell the hotel staff who her shooter was and where she could be found before collapsing.
She later died at Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital.
Where is Yolanda Saldivar?
Salvidar is in prison and is eligible for parole on March 30, 2025.
In the documentary, Saldivar claimed she had no intention of killing Selena on March 31, 1995. Instead, she insisted she wanted to end her own life, but the gun went off and hit the 23-year-old instead.
Saldivar allegedly killed Quintanilla-Pérez after her pal discovered she had embezzled a reported $30,000 from her clothing boutiques. Two days after Quintanilla-Pérez confronted her, Saldivar applied for a permit to purchase a gun from a gun store in San Antonio, witnesses said.
Saldivar denied ever stealing from Quintanilla-Pérez.