The family of slain singer, Selena, appreciates everyone wanting to honor the star on the 20th anniversary of her death, but they will not be joining you.
While concerts, dances, contests and other “celebrations” have been planned to mark the grim anniversary in an attempt to honor her life, Selena’s father said the family’s religion prohibits them from making it a holiday of their own.
“Of course I’m happy that, today, people remember Selena more than ever,” Abraham Quintanilla, Jr. told the Associated Press. “But, as Jehovah’s Witnesses, we don’t celebrate deaths or birthdays, and we don’t want people to think we’re behind all the festivities.
“It’s crazy. It grows every day with events everywhere, but we’re not organizing them. Our family never got together every year on the day of her murder, because there’s nothing to celebrate, and this year won’t be the exception,” he added. “We remember our daughter every single day. We don’t need a special day to remember her.”
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The Tejano star was poised to jump into crossover success when she was gunned down by the president of her fan club. Yolanda Saldívar is serving a life sentence for the murder.
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Jennifer Lopez, whose career was arguably made by her star turn in the Selena biopic, told Billboard that no one will ever compare to the star.
“It has always bugged me that people would try to think that there’s a ‘next Selena,'” she said. “It’s like saying there’s another James Dean or Marilyn Monroe. People like that don’t come along every day. There is never going to be another Selena. It’s a special thing that Selena had. That’s why we’re still talking about her 20 years later.
“The grace with which she handled the business, the grace with which she handled her life, the humor,” Lopez explained as to why the late artist has made such an impact. “Her spirit of loving what she did. Her sense of family. That’s the tragedy of everything that happened and why she left such an imprint — because she was gone way too soon.”
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