The Queen of Tejano Music. Mexican Madonna. Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, or maybe just Selena. However you remember her, the legendary Corpus Christi-raised singer would have turned 54 in 2025, but she died 30 years ago, on March 31, 1995.

The Isabel Castro-directed documentary “Selena y Los Dinos” recently had its Texas premier at South by Southwest 2025 and explored the personal history behind the music icon through never before seen family videos and photos. We did some digging of our own and here are some little-known facts about the late great Selena Quintanilla.

1. Selena had an affinity for eggs, especially Fabergé

Selena kept collection of more than 500 replica designer Fabergé eggs in big glass cabinets in her living room. From gold to diamonds, Selena’s older sister Suzette said that each egg had its own story, including one that her husband Chris Pérez bought her a week before she died. All of the eggs are on display in their original cases and arranged exactly the way they were set up in Selena’s living room at the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi.An “Egg Ring” was even specially made for Selena’s 1995 birthday at the request of Yolanda Saldivar and other employees working at one of her boutiques. The ring was made of 14 karat yellow gold and topped with a 14 karat white gold egg encrusted with 52 three-point diamonds. The letter “S” was also incorporated in the band design three times on each side.

Selena Quintanilla Pérez performs at the 14th annual Tejano Music Awards on March 14, 1994.

The ring was almost lost after Selena’s murder on March 31, 1995, but was found by paramedic Richard Fredrickson while cleaning the ambulance that was used to transport the singer. He wrapped the bloody ring in gauze and handed it to a security guard at the hospital who turned it into police. Frederickson later identified the ring during Yolanda Saldivar’s trial.

Shortly after Selena’s death, her father Abraham said the original “Egg Ring” was thrown into the Gulf of Mexico.

Related: Selena Quintanilla’s killer, Yolanda Saldivar, up for parole 30 years after legend’s death

2. Selena wasn’t born on Easter Sunday and likely didn’t celebrate the holiday

Contrary to the belief of many fans, Selena wasn’t born on Easter Sunday. Her birthday, April 16, 1971, was a Friday. Online sources attribute her egg collecting hobby to the fact that she was born on Easter Sunday, but this is false. Easter Sunday fell on April 11th in 1971, five days before Selena was born to Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcella Ofelia Quintanilla in Lake Jackson, Texas.

The Quintanilla family were Jehovah’s Witnesses, who generally do not celebrate holidays like Christmas or Easter, and do not exchange gifts. However, according to Chris Pérez’s memoir “To Selena, with Love,” he once brought the singer to his parent’s house on Christmas. The Pérez family bought her presents, but hid them in a separate room out of respect for Selena after Chris told them she didn’t observe the holiday.

Chris did eventually show Selena the bed covered in brightly wrapped gifts. He said she began “ripping into those presents and enjoying herself like any excited kid on Christmas.”

3. Some say Selena’s favorite flower, a white rose, appeared in a premonition dream

Selena’s favorite flower was a white rose. Her song 1992 hit “Como La Flor” was inspired by a family selling illuminated plastic flowers that A.B. Quintanilla saw at one of their concert in Sacramento, California in 1982.

Before her death, Selena reportedly told friends about a frightening recurring dream she was experiencing. In the dream, a white rose, Selena’s favorite flower, was thrown at her but she couldn’t catch it or see who threw it. Friends said the dream ended with the appearance of a white light.At the end of the 1997 movie “Selena” starring Jennifer Lopez, a white rose is thrown to the stage. The singer reaches for it, but doesn’t catch before it lands at her feet. Some fans theorized this dream was a premonition of her death and the film employed purposeful symbolism.

However, Selena’s father Abraham Quintanilla has since dismissed the story as “hogwash” and said that they ended the Selena movie that way because she “loved white roses.” He asked fans attending Selena’s April 3rd funeral to bring a single white rose to place on her coffin.

“By the time Selena was buried, a two-foot pile of roses was piled on top of the coffin,” Chris Pérez wrote in his memoir.

4. Selena was not a KISS fan

In Chris Pérez’s 2012 memoir “To Selena, With Love,” he recalls an argument over a CD that broke out one month after they got married. She had found his copy of “Revenge” by KISS and told him that she didn’t want it in their house because the album cover looked “wicked.”

5. Selena’s hit “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” started out as “itty bitty bubbles”

The first inklings of Selena’s 1994 smash hit “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” came about spontaneously during an afternoon soundcheck when her band was on tour for her album “Entre a Mi Mundo” in 1992. When Selena’s older brother and bassist A.B. Quintanilla was jamming with her husband Chris Pérez she began singing made-up phrases, including “itty bitty bubbles.”Selena’s backup singer Pete Astudillo recalls her singing, “If I were a fish user the sea, I would swim, swim, swim to you.” She eventually asked Astudillo to write actual lyrics for the melody and he penned “bidi bidi bom bom,” the sound a young woman’s heart makes when her crush is nearby.

“Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” went on to win Song of the Year at the 1995 Tejano Music Awards, one of seven awards Selena received roughly a month and a half before her passing. The song was included on “Dreaming of You,” her posthumous fifth album released in July 1995.

Celebrate Selena’s Bidi Bidi Birthday Party at Ani’s Day and Night

Las Ofrendas’ Frida Friday ATX is ringing in their 8th anniversary with an “Anything for Selena’s” party at Ani’s Day and Night on April 13th. The festivities will include Selena-themed drag performances, four DJ sets, over 50 market vendors, food and drinks, loteria and karaoke. Mariachi Classico and Chicas de 512 are the special musical guests and attendees are encouraged to come dance in Selena-inspired outfits.

At press time, $8 early bird tickets were available on eventbrite.com. Organizers are also offering a Gold VIP ticket package that comes with an exclusive tote bag, Selena stickers, a free card for loteria, Selena impersonator photo-ops and a skip the line fast pass for $25. There is also a Platinum VIP ticket that comes with the aforementioned swag and reserved seating for $40.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 5 obscure facts about Selena Quintanilla, the Queen of Tejano Music