Abraham Quintanilla

Abraham Isaac Quintanilla Jr. (born February 20, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer.

He is the father of Tejano singer Selena and was her manager throughout her life.

Quintanilla was born to a Mexican-American family in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Quintanilla was born on February 20, 1939, in Corpus Christi, Texas, the middle child of six siblings, to Abraham Gonzalez Quintanilla Sr. and Maria Tereza Calderon.

Quintanilla's parents worked along the Rio Grande in Texas, gleaning vegetables, cotton and fruits.

When he was fourteen, his parents left the Catholic Church and converted to Jehovah's Witnesses.

Quintanilla's father later worked as an autobody repairman.

Quintanilla attended Roy Miller High School and soon joined with two of his friends to form a high school choir called the Gumdrops.

Abraham dropped out of Roy Miller High School when he was a senior to pursue his career.

Maria strongly disapproved of her son's desire to become a professional singer.

He began his music career as a member of the singing group the "Dinos" in 1956.

In 1956, Quintanilla encountered his alumni classmates performing at a high school dance.

He immediately recognized their voices and was hooked.

While learning that one of their lead vocalists was quitting the band: Abraham immediately approached the "Dinos" and asked if he could be part of their singing group.

The group decided to give Abraham a chance by inviting him to practice with them.

Quintanilla's request was granted when the Dinos crowned him as the "third voice".

During the beginning stages of the group, the Dinos were paid thirty US dollars in booked venues.

Los Dinos cited their musical inspirations as having originated from the musical ensembles The Four Aces and Mills Brothers.

In 1959, Los Dinos released their first single "So Hard to Tell" on the J.W. Fox label that was owned by Johnny Herrera.

The single became a classic hit on KEYS and helped the band to obtain bookings at sock hops in Corpus, Kingsville and Woodsboro, Texas.

The Dinos' second single "Give Me One Chance", which was composed by Teddy Randazzo who had written songs for Little Anthony and the Imperials, sold 150,000 copies.

The single began getting extensive airplay throughout south Texas and on KILT-FM.

Los Dinos' popularity prospered after the record sales of "Give Me One Chance".

The band recorded ten English-language revolutions per minutes and covered songs of The Beatles, Ray Stevens, Johnny Tillotson, Tommy Roe, Sam & Dave and the Five Americans.

The band's next singles "Twistin' Irene", "Ride Your Pony", and "Lover's Holiday" sold poorly.

He left the group in the late 1960s and initially retired from music to raise a family.

After discovering Selena's singing talent, he created the band Selena y Los Dinos composed of Selena and her two older siblings to develop her talent.

In October 1961, Quintanilla joined the United States Air Force.

After boot camp, he was stationed at McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Washington.

While there, he met the half-Mexican American and half-Cherokee Native American Marcella Samora.

Samora's father originated from Amarillo, while her mother was from Colorado.

Quintanilla and Samora married on June 8, 1963.

After Quintanilla's discharge from active duty in November 1963, his wife gave birth to their first child, Abraham "A.B." Quintanilla III on December 13 of the same year.

Within a month after their son's birth, the family moved out of Washington to Corpus Christi, Texas.

Following the return to his hometown, Quintanilla re-joined Los Dinos and began singing American pop and rock and roll music.

While performing to a crowd of concertgoers of Mexican descent, Los Dinos were chided to play Spanish-language Mexican music.

When they continued playing their planned pop and rock music lineup, they were heckled and called "queers" by their fellow Mexican-Americans.

The people at the club were refunded their money after the band confessed to not knowing any Mexican music.

Under his management, the group became a major success in Tejano music by the late 1980s, allowing Selena to begin a solo career and become one of the most celebrated Latin music artists of all time.

Following Selena's murder in 1995, Quintanilla became an executive producer of a biographical film about her life, in which he was portrayed by actor Edward James Olmos.