Selena Quintanilla was honored during the 2021 GRAMMY Awards.
The Queen of Tejano music was among the artists who were celebrated with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award during Sunday night's telecast. Other honorees recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award include Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Lionel Hampton, Marilyn Horne, Salt-N-Pepa and Talking Heads.
Selena was only 23 years old when she was shot and killed in 1995, but her legacy continues with her devoted fans and hits songs like “Como la Flor" and “Amor Prohibido."
Selena won her first GRAMMY for Best Mexican-American Album for Selena Live! at the 36th GRAMMY Awards in 1994, marking the first time a female Tejano artist won the category. She attended the ceremony in a stunning Lillie Rubin white sequin dress.
During her acceptance speech, Selena thanked her entire team and family. Her album, Amor Prohibido, was also nominated for Best Mexican-American Performance the following year.
ET spoke with Selena's sister, Suzette Quintanilla, before the awards show, where she expressed how happy the late singer would be about receiving the honor.
"I think she would be over the moon. I think she would be very giddy about it. I think that she would probably have her social media handles and she would probably be posting tons of photos with it, I'm sure," Suzette expressed. "I go back to the other part of Selena, of her being a role model. And I think that it shines a huge light on that. That with hard work and dedication and with your family behind you and everything, that you can do so much. [It] doesn't matter where you come from as long as you have that drive and that passion and you can succeed."
Meanwhile at the end of last year, Netflix released Part One of Selena: The Series, which chronicled the late singer's childhood and rise to fame, with Christian Serratos in the lead role. The actress opened up to ET about the "pressure" of portraying the iconic Latina and taking over Jennifer Lopez's breakout role in the 1997 film Selena.
“I felt so much pressure to be and bring Selena back to the screen," Serratos confessed to ET during a set visit. “I know what an important role this is and I know how important it is for all her fans and her family, so I definitely worked really hard to try and be as honestly Selena as I could."
Suzette also told ET that the first part of the show would be filled with more intimate moments between their family, while the second part, debuting later this year, would take a look at Selena's career.
Get the complete GRAMMYs winners list, plus GRAMMY Awards live updates at ETonline.com
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