Selena Quintanilla's Family: All About the Late Singer's Parents and Siblings

Selena Quintanilla’s family have dedicated their lives to honoring her memory

Although Selena Quintanilla is gone, her legacy is still alive, thanks to her family, including her father, Abraham Quintanilla; her mother, Marcella Quintanilla; and her siblings, A.B. Quintanilla III and Suzette Quintanilla.

After she was fatally shot at the hands of her former fan club president, Yolanda Saldívar, on March 31, 1995, Selena’s loved ones have honored her memory in numerous ways. They’ve worked on several film and TV projects, including the 1997 movie Selena starring Jennifer Lopez, which Abraham executive produced, the 2020 Netflix show Selena: The Series, which A.B. and Suzette produced, her posthumous Moonchild Mixes album, which A.B. produced in 2022, and a memoir by Abraham.

“In my mind, she’s still alive, because you get involved with all her things and doing things for her every day that sometimes I forget that she’s not here with us anymore,” Abraham told Entertainment Tonight in March 2017. “So in a sort of way, it’s hard to explain, in my mind, she’s alive."

Related: Selena's Life and Career in Photos

At the height of her fame, Selena, known as the "Queen of Tejano Music," racked up seven No. 1 hits, according to Billboard, and became the first female Tejano artist to win a Grammy. Her fifth album, Dreaming of You, which was released three months after her death, was the first mostly Spanish album to top the U.S. Billboard 200 and was ranked as the top-selling Latin album of the last 25 years in 2017.

So who are Selena Quintanilla’s family members? Here’s everything to know about the people who knew her best and their relationships with the late singer.

Her parents have been married since 1963

Abraham and Marcella Quintanilla (née Samora) reportedly met in Tacoma, Washington, while he was stationed at McChord Air Force Base. They tied the knot on June 8, 1963.

The couple welcomed their first child, Abraham Isaac “A.B.” Quintanilla III, six months later on Dec. 13, 1963. He was followed by Suzette, who was born on June 29, 1967, and Selena, who rounded out the family on April 16, 1971.

Together, they raised their family in the coastal city of Corpus Christi, Texas, near the U.S.-Mexico border.

A.B. celebrated his parents' wedding anniversary on Instagram in 2023. “I would love to congratulate my parents on their 60th anniversary!!!” he wrote. “6 decades of marriage…Wow!!! I love y’all 💜💜💜."

Abraham was the first family musician

Abraham managed Selena and her band, Selena y Los Dinos, which featured A.B. on bass, Suzette on drums and her husband Chris Pérez on the guitar. Before Selena’s career, Abraham sang in a band of his own called Los Dinos.

Abraham joined the group, which was made up of his high school classmates, in 1957, and together they released several records.

Following the buzz of their 1959 single “So Hard to Tell,” Los Dinos played in venues around the Lone Star State, including Abraham’s home of Corpus Christi. Per biographer Joe Nick Patoski’s book Selena: Como La Flor, the group got a fair amount of radio play, but Selena’s father, who was also an active member of the Air Force from 1961 to 1963, left the group in 1969. Los Dinos continued to play and record music until 1974, when it disbanded.

According to A.B., Abraham’s early experiences in the music industry enabled him to recognize Selena’s tremendous talent. "There are a lot of families who think, 'My kids are talented, they sing, they're awesome,' but my dad, as a musician, saw something that we didn't," he told PEOPLE in March 2020.

Abraham said of his younger daughter in 1995, "Her timing, her pitch were perfect. I could see it from day one.”

Suzette inspired Selena’s song “No Me Queda Más”

Abraham revealed that his favorite Selena song, “No Me Queda Más,” was inspired by his older daughter, Suzette.

“That song was written by [keyboard player] Ricky Vela,” he once said in an interview. “At the time, Ricky Vela has a crush on my daughter Suzette. But Suzette never knew anything about it. Suzette met her now husband, Bill, and they got married. That’s how Ricky wrote that song.”

Abraham recalled that Selena had tears in her eyes when she recorded the song. “Her eyes were watering because she knew how Ricky felt,” he added.

Related: Who Is Selena Quintanilla’s Husband? All About Chris Pérez

Suzette opened up her home to Jennifer Lopez while she was filming Selena

To learn more about the woman she was cast to play, Lopez moved in with Suzette at her home in Corpus Christi while filming Selena, per E! Online.

Lopez opened up about the experience on the Apple Music Beats 1 radio in 2019: “It was a beautiful time in my life and it taught me so much about life. I slept in [Selena’s] bed at home. I talked to the whole family. I spent time with them. It can be melancholy and beautiful at the same time."

Suzette and Lopez reunited in September 2017 during one of the actress’s Planet Hollywood Las Vegas residency shows. “[It] always feels good to see Jennifer and seems like old times when we hung out during the making of the Selena movie,” Suzette told ET. “[I] don't get to see her much.”

She added that she appreciated Lopez’s respect for her late sibling. “It always makes me feel good inside when I hear her speak of what my sister means to her,” she told the outlet. “How Jennifer looks up to her not only as an artist but as a person.”

Selena would have had nine nieces and nephews

Selena would have been an aunt of nine.

Her older brother A.B. has eight kids. His sons Svani and Gianni appeared with him on the cover of People en Español in 2008. In 2020, A.B. posted a photo of his daughter, Martika, with Svani and Lopez during the filming of Selena.

Suzette and her husband, Bill Arriaga, have one son, Jovan Arriaga. "[He] carries my sister's smile,” Suzette once wrote on Facebook.

The Quintanillas helped to create the Netflix show based on Selena’s life

On Dec. 4, 2020, Netflix released the first part of Selena: The Series, a biographical drama based on Selena’s life. The second part dropped in May 2021.

As PEOPLE reported at the time, Selena’s family worked with the show’s creator and executive producer, Moisés Zamora, to bring the project to life. In addition, both of Selena’s siblings were credited as executive producers on the series.

“We feel great responsibility to do justice to her memory,” Suzette told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2018 when the project was first announced. “With this series, viewers will finally get the full history of Selena, our family and the impact she has had on all of our lives.”

In December 2020, Suzette thanked fans for the series’ success, captioning a photo on Instagram of the show ranked at No. 1 in the U.S. that day. “GUYS!!! OMG!!! Waking up and seeing this is insane and Beautiful!" she wrote. "THANK YOU THANK YOU for this love you have always given to our family. 🙏💜."

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