CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Friends and colleagues of Abraham Quintanilla, the father and manager of late singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, are paying their respects to the Tejano icon.
Abraham, 86, died early Saturday morning, according to an announcement made by his son, A.B. Quintanilla III, on social media.
“He’s a great husband, a good friend to everyone, and he will be missed by millions of people who love Tejano music,” Carlos Lopez, owner of Lopez Broadcasting, told KRIS 6 News.
Since the announcement of Abraham’s death, Lopez’s Tejano stations in San Antonio, Victoria and 104.9 FM in Corpus Christi have played Selena’s music and will continue to do so for the next 24 hours.
After a brief hiatus from the music industry, Abraham formed the band Selena y Los Dinos in the late 1970s, featuring Selena and her siblings, A.B. and Suzette. Under his management, Selena became one of the most celebrated Latin music artists of all time before her murder on March 31, 1995.
“If you’re a daddy, you know that you want the best for your children,” Lopez continued. “And you will do anything and everything in your power to do for your children, and that’s what Abraham did.”
Nora Canales, widow of Tejano musician Johnny Canales, recently worked with Abraham on a documentary about her late husband.
“He was a person who was firm, a person who believed in his word, and if he was going to help you, he would let you know,” Canales told KRIS 6 News. “He was always straightforward.”
She continued, “Once you got to meet him, he was a kind person, a strong person at the same time. And if he was going to help you, he made sure he did.”
Canales said she was in shock after learning of Abraham’s death. “My mind is blank right now,” she said.
“We worked together on so many projects, and we had a really nice relationship,” Canales added. “Every time we went to his office, he was always very happy to see us, welcome us in and say, ‘Hey, have you seen what I recorded? Oh look, this is a new artist.’ He was always very optimistic and always looking to the future.”
“I know the first person who hugged him today was Selena,” Lopez added. “I have no doubt. They were inseparable.”
Abraham is survived by his wife, Marcella, whom he married in 1963; son A.B. Quintanilla III; daughter Suzette Quintanilla; and numerous grandchildren.
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