A.B. Quintanilla Says Selena’s Family Should Accept Posthumous Grammy
It was recently announced that legendary Tejana singer/songwriter Selena Quintanilla will receive a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the upcoming Grammy Awards and her older brother A
Photo: Instagram/abquintanilla3
It was recently announced that legendary Tejana singer/songwriter Selena Quintanilla will receive a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the upcoming Grammy Awards and her older brother A.B. Quintanilla says her family would be happy to accept the award on her behalf at the January 31 ceremony. Selena won a Grammy for Best Mexican-American album in 1993 while she was still relatively unknown in the United States. However, her fame has only skyrocketed in the wake of her tragic murder at the hands of an obsessed fan 25 years ago.
“The persons that I would like to see accept her award, obviously would be, it would be great to see like the whole family. You know what I’m saying? As people are seeing in the series, this was a family effort,” A.B. told TMZ in a video posted over the weekend.
Her family — particularly A.B. and their father Abraham — have long been criticized for taking too much credit for her work and success, and even accused of capitalizing on her death. The family still manages a Twitter account in her name, was involved in the making of the breakout 1997 eponymous biopic about the singing sensation starring Jennifer Lopez and most recently in the Netflix original Selena: The Series, which has been met with a lukewarm and sometimes even scathing response from fans of the music icon due to casting choices as well as the perception that the show lessened Selena’s role in favor of heightening that of her father and siblings.
Of particular issue, has been the family’s exclusion of Selena’s husband of three years fellow musician Chris Perez, who was not consulted in any way for the 2020 series which includes depictions of him and his relationship with Selena, and has been boxed out from any involvement in future projects since the family has claimed full rights to her story.
A.B. though has essentially claimed that the whole family deserves the Grammy, not just his famous sister Selena. “A lot of people are in shock going, ‘whoa A.B. we didn’t know you were the guy that wrote the hits and you wrote the music and you had so much pressure on you,’ I’m very grateful for the series and for people learning from the series,” he said. “If anything it would either be Suzette or myself or both of us. To me we’re all a team and so, whoever is able to go…you know what I’m saying? We’re a family and it’s a good thing. We’ll do anything for Selena,” he said noting that the family would even be happy to take part in a virtual ceremony.
“It’s kind of bittersweet because she’s breaking these records and she’s doing wonderful things and unfortunately she’s not here ,” A.B. said.
