songoftheday 12/13/19 - I can only wonder how touching you would make me feel, but if I take that chance right now tomorrow will you want me still?
from the album Dreaming Of You (1995)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #8 (one week)
Weeks in the Hot 100 Airplay Top-40: 21
Today's song of the day comes from Latin music star Selena Quintanilla, who was a Mexican-American singer born in Texas, and originally performed as a child with her siblings. At the prodding of her father, Selena initially recorded Spanish-language music, more specifically the Tejano genre of it that had European and American touches that was popular among Mexican-Americans, even though she wasn't a native speaker of the language and had to teach herself. After a few albums as a family act, Selena was signed to EMI Records as a solo performer, hoping to be able to start to make English-language music. She released her self-titled debut album in 1989, with one English track (her own composition of "My Love"). The album itself climbed to #7 on Billboard magazine's Mexican Albums chart, which tracked American sales of different styles of regional music from that country like tejano, ranchero, and cumbia, which Selena all recorded in. Her next record, Ven Conmigo in 1990, did even better, getting to #3 on the Mexican chart and becoming a hit in Latin America. She also recorded a duet with Salvadoran singer Álvaro Torres, "Buenos Amigos", which landed Selena her first hit and #1 on the Billboard Latin Songs chart in 1991. But during this time, the young singer was secretly dating a member of the band against the wishes of her father/manager, to the point that they eloped and had become estranged from her dad for a little bit before resolving it. With Chris Pérez reinstalled in the band, Selena recorded her third studio effort Entre A Mi Mundo ("Enter My World"), which landed the artist her first #1 album on the Regional Mexican chart. The record also placed her on the main Latin Music Albums chart in the top ten for the first time. Also, her single "Como La Flor" ("Like the Flower") scored the singer her first solo top ten on the Latin Songs chart at #6 in 1992.
The following year, as a stopgap release Selena put out Selena Live!, for which she won a Grammy Award for Best Mexican/American album. From the record two single made the Latin Songs top-5, with "No Debes Jugar" ("You Shouldn't Play Around") making it to #3. In the spring of 1994, she returned with her fourth album Amor Prohibido ("Forbidden Love"). It was a massive success, becoming her third consecutive #1 on the Regional Mexican/American albums chart (and grabbing a Grammy nomination again for Best Mexican Album). All four singles released from the record hit #1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart, with songs like "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" even having a little mainstream pop crossover in the States. As well as those four, she had a fifth #1 in 1994 with her collaboration with the Latino freestyle group Barrio Boyzz "Donde Quiera Que Estés" ("Wherever You Are"), which was co-written by Bon Jovi's song doctor Desmond Child.
With the overwhelming reception of Amor Prohibido and the Barrio Boyzz record, as well as her sold-out concert at Houston's Astrodome, give her the musical capital to finally record an English-language crossover album. Everything was looking great for Selena to finally get that mainstream chance she deserved. But that's when tragedy took its toll. Yolanda Saldívar, her fan club president who had been given the responsibility of handling her fashion line as well, had been found embezzling money from the club and the store. Demanding she get financial documents Saldívar had promised her, Saldívar ended up shooting Selena in the back at a motel, causing her death from loss of blood. The loss of such a promising and popular music star was major - for the Latin community particularly it matched the grief poured for John Lennon's murder.
At the time of her death Selena had recorded four songs so far for that "crossover" record she had dreamed for. One of those songs was the ballad "I Could Fall In Love", which was written and produced by Keith Thomas, who by then was a major player in pop music, having produced Amy Grant's #1 "Baby Baby" and Vanessa Williams' #1 "Save The Best For Last". They finished the song six days before Selena's murder. At the end of June, the song was promoted to radio, but not released as a commercial single fearing it would cannibalize sales of the upcoming album which was put out the following month. The massive response to the song proved they may have had a point, with the album eventually rocketing to #1; while "I Could Fall In Love" raised enough airplay to reach the top ten on the radio portion of the Hot 100, rules at Billboard magazine prevented it from appearing on the "official" pop Hot 100 chart...
"I Could Fall In Love" reached the top ten of the pop airplay chart in Billboard in September of 1995. The song also climbed to #12 on their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio format chart, spending a half year (26 weeks) on the list. Internationally, the song went to #10 in Canada and New Zealand. It would have been a great start to a big pop career. Sad.
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Jennifer Lopez played Selena in the biopic of her life in 1997- it was Lopez's breakout acting role. Here is Jennifer singing "I Could Fall In Love" in concert in 2003...
Up tomorrow: A young lady goes from being slimed on children's TV to giving head at the movies in a song that permanently changed the idea of "rock music for women".
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