Selena Quintanilla, the subject of Netflix’s Selena: The Series, is often remembered as the Queen of Tejano music. But prior to her ascension, it was Laura Canales (played by Catia Ojeda) who paved the way for Quintanilla’s success. In episode 3 of the show, “And the Winner Is…,” the two singers come face-to-face in a bathroom at the 1986 Tejano Music Awards.
Both Canales and Quintanilla were nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year at the ceremony. It was Quintanilla’s first nomination in the category (she would go on to win it for seven consecutive years), while Canales had won three times before. During their fictional interaction, Quintanilla thanks Canales for “going first and making the road easier for a girl singer.” In turn, Canales tells a 15-year-old Selena, “Everyone in this business is going to tell you who you need to be every step of the way. From what I’ve seen of you, you should always do everything possible to be who you are.”
Canales certainly embraced her own identity—she was called “the grand dame of Tejano music…the early Selena,” by Tejano Music Awards spokesperson Wanda Reyes after her 2005 death. Ahead, everything you need to know about the trailblazing artist and her bond with Selena.
Canales was a major force in Tejano music.
Canales’s life began in Kingsville, Texas, an area about 40 miles southwest of Corpus Christi, according to her obituary. After she graduated high school in 1973, when she recorded with Los Unicos and El Conjunto Bernal. Her official introduction to Tejano music arrived with her group Snowball & Company; after regular appearances on the Latin charts, Canales married drummer Balde Munoz in 1981, according to Billboard. They formed Laura Canales & Encanto, and their 1990 album, No Regrets, spent 13 weeks on the Tejano music charts. Between 1983 and 1987, she won female entertainer and female vocalist of the year trophies at the annual Tejano Music Awards. In 2000, Canales was honored as one of the inaugural members of the Tejano Roots Hall of Fame.
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She studied psychology and art at Texas A&M.
According to Texas Monthly, Canales largely stepped away from the spotlight in the 1990s, pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas A&M. “Going to school is about making sure you have options,” she told the outlet in 2001. “Music can be very good to you, but it can be very bad too, because when you stop making money, you have no other options.” Canales graduated in 1997 and was working towards a double master’s degree in clinical psychology and art at the university at the time of her death.
It’s unclear whether Selena and Laura met at the Tejano Awards, but they did know each other.
There’s no proof that two of Tejano music’s most high-profile women ever had a convo in the powder room. But, according to Encyclopedia.com, Canales was a mentor to Quintanilla in the early days of Los Dinos. After Quintanilla’s tragic murder in 1995, The Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported that Canales attended her funeral.
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Canales passed away in 2005.
About a decade after Quintanilla’s sudden death, Canales died in 2005 at age 50 after complications from gallbladder surgery including pneumonia. She received a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Tejano Music Awards. San Antonio songwriter and producer Luis Silva told Billboard following Canales’s death, “Laura was as big as anyone could possibly be in the Tejano market of the ’80s. She was it.”
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