Selena Quotes

“I have done some very serious thinking and I am gonna try to line up my life with God. Not fanatically, but with the knowledge, understanding . . . I believe in the Resurrection, and I want to be there when Selena’s resurrected to receive her back.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Selena’s death and legacy galvanized the Hispanic community in Texas in a way that no movement, including La Raza Unida, nor any person, including César Chávez, had ever accomplished.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“The mystery would not be solved. She would have plenty of time to contemplate when to reveal it.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“didn’t have a lawyer, just like Selena didn’t have a lawyer. We didn’t need a lawyer because this is family. And why should I worry about losing something? I have already lost what I always wanted. I would trade everything I had if I could have her back.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“For that reason alone, she continued to give many people hope who had no reason to hope before. Her star shone brighter than ever.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“For that reason alone, she continued to give many people hope who had no reason to hope before.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“He’d made his point, managing to get both gun-shop employees to admit that guns do misfire, judging from the bullet holes on the walls and ceilings of the gun range.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“This has never happened in the history of the recording industry, especially by a Hispanic.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“She was much better than Madonna or Gloria Estefan, the singers she was compared to, or Paula Abdul. This girl could bury them. She was a very good singer. Like Elvis Presley, Selena had the talent to transcend subpar material.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“The result is that Selena sounds almost indistinguishable from so many other generic female voices.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Since 1979 when I began selling records, I have not seen this happen,” he said.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“I’m getting a lot of the English-only listening audience calling up and asking for it. I think it’s going to go platinum the first day.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“There’s still times that I think she’s alive and I can call her or I’m going to have to pick her up from the airport,” he told newspaper reporter Karen Lister”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Selena was posthumously given awards at the Univisión network’s Premio Lo Nuestro Awards. She won four Billboard Latin Music Awards and was inducted into the Latin Music Hall of Fame in Miami, where she had built a respectable following.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“This is someone who was among us for a short time, but who touched us through her music,” Father Reggie said. “She was gifted by God with an ability to love a great many people. That love continues in her music and in your hearts. Give thanks to God for the time we had with her.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Celia Cruz called Q Productions to offer condolences. Madonna sent a fax.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“The lead item on national network evening news programs was the end of the major league baseball strike. Thirty minutes later, the death of Selena was the lead item on all the television stations in Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Houston, and the Rio Grande Valley.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“This day will go down as Black Friday,”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Selena told Celia Solís that she was going to fire Yolanda as soon as she got some missing financial records from her.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Selena told Marcie about a previous visit to the same place. She’d seen a little old lady eating by herself and felt sorry for her. Selena paid for the woman’s meal but told the waiter not to let the lady know. “I want you to give her one of those little cakes you give people on their birthdays. Put it in a bag so she can take it home.” Marcella felt so proud of her daughter; she was so giving, so generous with her love, as well as with her material wealth.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Meanwhile, recording for her English-language pop crossover was under way, using a scattershot method of pairing her with several different producers.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Predictions abounded that 1995 was the year that Tejano would break into the mainstream. Billboards end of the year tally ranked “Amor Prohibido” as the number one on the Hot Latin Track chart for 1994, Amor Prohibido as top Mexican-regional album, and Selena as top Mexican-regional Latin artist.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“For the year, Selena y los Dinos had grossed more than five million dollars. Tejano music sales in general for 1994 exceeded twenty million. Spanish radio gross expenditures for 1994 were $226.7 million in the United States.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Two weeks later, when the ring was ready, Yolanda returned in the Cadillac. Her passenger, Selena, waited in the car while her assistant finished business inside. Again Yolanda paid the bill, this time with an American Express card with her name embossed above SELENA’S DESIGN HOUSE. “She sort of made that a point, not to let Selena know how much it cost and how it was paid for,” Randolph said.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“That isn’t the problem,” Abraham replied. “There’s certain words in there that are against her beliefs.” He cited the word adore. There was also a problem with the phrase — roughly translated — “If he doesn’t come back, kill me, sky, eat me, dirt, take me, Jesus.” “She can’t do it. José, you gotta understand.” Hernández removed adore and replaced “take me, Jesus” with the line, “I want to die.” That led to hours of deep discussion with Abraham about God, Jesus, and religion. “Hey, compadre, bring me the Bible,” he shouted out. With the Good Book in hand, Abraham began to talk theology. “He was trying to convince me there was no Holy Spirit, that Jesus is just a teacher,” said Hernández, himself a born-again Christian. “He said, ‘Before you get out of here, I’m gonna convert you.’ He was trying to explain his beliefs and what he thinks about life after death, who he thinks Jesus was. It was really deep. A lot of people see him as a hard business guy, but I know how strong his beliefs are — so strong he tried to convince me.” Hernández left Corpus believing the same things he had when he arrived. But he also realized that both Abraham and Selena shared a deep spirituality he’d rarely seen before. Neither was a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. As long as Selena pranced around the stage in clothes that were provocative and revealing, she couldn’t be accepted into the faith. Bustiers and bare midriffs did not qualify as the sort of modest dress required of women of the church. But that didn’t stop them from believing God’s kingdom was an actual government ruling in heaven that would soon return to earth to bring”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“the bottler kept her signed and working even after 1992, when Coke strategists dropped celebrities from the ad campaigns, keeping only Selena, Elton John for Diet Coke, and Christopher Cross for Sprite.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Coca-Cola honored her with a limited-edition eight-ounce commemorative contour bottle of Coca-Cola with Selena’s signature and a label stating 5 AÑOS CONTIGO . . . SIEMPRE SELENA, SIEMPRE COCA-COLA (Five Years with You . . . Always Selena, Always Coca-Cola).”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Afterward, a friend that Barrios had brought along said the writing was on the wall. “I don’t see this marriage lasting more than one year.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“Her concert was so upbeat — old people, young people, everybody was dancing. It’s so easy to like her music because it makes you feel so good. She really put on a show.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor

“But for thirteen-year-old Maricela García, it was more than that. The blind girl knew many of Selena’s songs by heart and competed in talent contests singing her music. Before the show, Maricela said, ‘“I can’t see her, but I want to touch her.” Selena got the message and came out to meet the girl, taking her hand and letting her feel the texture of the black leather motorcycle jacket she was wearing.”
― Joe Nick Patoski, Selena: Como la Flor