Selena DVD Announced

On Monday, November 22, a new DVD titled Selena: Performances will be released. Featuring nine previously unreleased performances in 5.1 and DTS Surround Sound, plus interview clips from appearances "The Queen of Tex Mex" made on "The Johnny Canales Show" in 1993 and 1994, the new DVD spotlights Selena's huge musical talents and superstar charisma.

At the age of 12, Selena made her debut TV appearance on "The Johnny Canales Show." Host Johnny Canales became a close friend and follower of the singer, and she returned to his show many times for performances and interviews. On the new Performances DVD, Canales shares some of his personal recollections of Selena's life and career and her reign as the queen of American Tejano music.

She was an unmistakable figure, a leading voice of Latinos in the United States and around the world, known simply as Selena. This icon of popular music, whose songs and vibrant personality catapulted her to global superstardom, is a beloved idol to millions of fans.

Selena was born April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas. Her story exemplifies an artist's struggle and perseverance. Coming from a family of humble origins, she had to work from an early age, but nothing could have predicted that in time she would be known on a first-name basis worldwide, and that so many of her songs, including "Si Una Vez," "Amor Prohibido," "El Chico del Apartamento 512," and "Como la Flor" would become instant hits.

Selena began performing professionally at the age of 9, backed by a second generation of her father Abraham's band, Los Dinos. The band's members included Selena's sister, Suzette, who played drums, her brother, Abraham, who played bass and wrote or co-wrote many of Selena's songs, and lead guitarist Chris Perez, whom Selena married in 1992.

In 1987, when she was just 16 years old, Selena was honored with two major Tejano Music Awards, for Performer of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. In 1989, she was the first artist to be signed by EMI Latin, and the following year, she released her self-titled debut album. Her next album, Ven Conmigo, released in 1991, was the first Tejano album to be certified gold by the RIAA, with U.S. sales totaling more than 500,000 copies.

Selena's 1993 concert album, Live, won the Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American Album. In 1994, she released the double-platinum certified Amor Prohibido, which held the #1 position on Billboard's Top Latin Albums chart for 20 weeks and was a fixture on the chart for 145 total weeks.

At the start of 1995, Selena was at work in the studio, recording a new album with English and Spanish lyrics. Dreaming Of You was conceived by Selena as a bridge to connect more closely with her many English-speaking fans. Tragically, Selena was killed before the album's release, just three weeks after she set the still-standing attendance record at Houston's Astrodome with her final concert. As people around the world were united in shocked mourning for one of popular music's most promising and brightest young stars, Selena's previously released albums re-entered the charts and she set new, as-yet-unbroken records for the most concurrent titles at the top of the Top Latin Albums chart with the entire Top 4 (April 22, 1995) and Top 5 (May 6, 1995).

Released in July 1995, Dreaming Of You debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums, Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop charts and was certified triple-platinum by the RIAA upon its release. The album reigned at #1 for 44 weeks on the Top Latin Albums chart, and its title track and "I Could Fall In Love" were high-ranking hits across multiple Billboard singles and radio airplay charts.

Had she lived, Selena would celebrate her 40th birthday next April 16.