Selena Quintanilla was born on April 16, 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas. She was the youngest child of Marcella Ofelia Quintanilla (née Samora) who had Cherokee ancestry and Abraham Quintanilla Jr., a Mexican American former musician. Selena was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. Quintanilla, Jr. noticed her musical abilities when she was six years old. He told "People" magazine, "Her timing, her pitch were perfect, I could see it from day one". In 1981 in Lake Jackson, Quintanilla, Jr. opened his first Tex-Mex restaurant, Papa Gayo's, where Selena and her siblings Abraham III (on bass guitar) and Suzette Quintanilla (on drums) would often perform. The following year, the restaurant was forced to close after a recession caused by the 1980s oil glut. The family declared bankruptcy and were evicted from their home. They settled in Corpus Christi, Texas; Quintanilla, Jr. became manager of the newly formed band Selena y Los Dinos and began promoting it. They needed the money and played on street corners, weddings, quinceañeras, and fairs.