Selena Quintanilla

Selena (born Selena Quintanilla, April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995) was a Mexican-American singer of Tejano music whose untimely death launched her to mythical status in the United States and Mexico. She is considered to be one of the most popular and influential Latino musicians.

Early life

Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas and grew up in Corpus Christi, where she began her musical career. Her father, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., was a singer with the original Los Dinos from 1957 to 1972, and nurtured the burgeoning musical talent of his children. Selena, her brother Abe III (bass), and their sister, Suzette (drums), were to be a second generation of Los Dinos. Its other two members who started in the band were Ricky Vela on keyboards and Roger Garcia on guitar. Selena made her first public appearance at her father's Mexican restaurant in Lake Jackson at eight and recorded her first record at nine. Throughout her adolescence Selena was constantly on tour. She finished high school by mail and lived most of her life on the tour bus "Big Bertha". The singer signed with Capitol EMI in 1989, and released several albums with that label, including 1994's wildly popular Amor Prohibido, which knocked the blockbuster Gloria Estefan's Mi Tierra off the number one spot.

Success

Chris Perez replaced Roger Garcia as guitar player. A romance budded between Perez and Selena, and the two married on April 2, 1992. Even as Selena's career skyrocketed she remained very close to her family, choosing to live next door to them in Corpus Christi. In 1994, Selena won a Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album for Live. She holds the record of drawing the largest concert crowd – over 67,000 screaming fans – in the history of the Houston Astrodome, for her 1993 performance at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It is erroneously believed that her largest crowd at the Astrodome was the famed 1995 concert, which she gave a little over a month before her death. The crowd she drew that night, however, was nevertheless enormous: over 64,000 fans. A paradox in Selena's musical career is that she became a star singing in her second language. She grew up speaking English, recording her early Spanish hits phonetically. Aside from her singing, Selena was an avid clothing designer. Boutique shops with the Selena name opened in Corpus Christi and San Antonio in the 1990s. She also dabbled in acting, making a cameo in the Johnny Depp film Don Juan de Marco.

Death

A woman named Yolanda Saldívar worked her way into the singer's inner circle, becoming president of Selena's fan club and manager of the boutiques. In 1995 the Quintanillas found out Saldívar had embezzled money from these ventures and decided to fire her. Selena agreed to meet Saldívar at a Corpus Christi Days Inn on the morning of March 31, 1995 in order to retrieve paperwork for tax purposes. At the motel an argument ensued over the embezzlement and Saldívar shot the singer once in the back. Selena died at a local hospital at 1:05 pm, hours after she was shot. Selena's death shocked and saddened Latinos and non-Latinos alike across the United States. Local television stations in Texas interrupted their regular programming to break the news. The outpouring of grief in the Mexican-American community was without precedent, and was compared by many to reactions to the deaths of John Lennon and U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Numerous vigils and memorials were held in the singer's honor. Her funeral drew 60,000 mourners, many of whom came from outside the United States. That summer her album Dreaming of You, a combination of Spanish language hits and new English language tracks, debuted at #1 on the Billboard music charts in the US, making her the first Hispanic singer to accomplish that feat. On its release date, it sold over 175,000 copies, the most ever by any female singer in pop history. To date, it has sold approximately 4,000,000 copies in the United States. People magazine issued a commemorative edition in her honor – the third such tribute in its history. It sold a record number of copies – over 1 million – and ultimately spurred the creation for People En Español. In October of 1995 a Houston jury convicted Saldívar of murder and sentenced her to life in prison. Under the law in place at the time, Saldívar is eligible for parole, but it is unlikely that it will be granted anytime soon given the public outcry that will almost certainly take place should it be announced that Saldívar is being considered for parole.

Legacy

There is a museum to honor Selena's memory and a bronze life-sized statue of her on Ocean Drive in Corpus Christi. In 1997, Jennifer Lopez played Selena in the movie of the same name. This fact stirred some controversy in the Mexican-American community as Jennifer Lopez was a Hispanic of Puerto Rican descent playing the role of a singer who was of Mexican descent. But Selena's fans embraced the touching biography, and Lopez's role in Selena catapulted her to superstardom. Selena's enduring popularity is evidenced by the fact that she continues to outsell many living artists. In fact, the Guinness Book of World Records, in 2003 (she had previously graced the book's pages as the "most dominating artist"), considered adding her to their pages as being the only deceased celebrity who continues to compete with today's top pop stars. A massive tribute concert, "¡Selena Vive!" (Selena Lives!) – which over 50,000 fans attended – was organized on April 7, 2005, a week after the tenth anniversary of the star's death. Reliant Stadium in Houston hosted the event, which featured many high-profile artists, including Gloria Estefan, Pepe Aguilar, Thalía, Paulina Rubio, Banda El Recodo, Ana Barbara, Alejandra Guzmán, Aleks Syntek, Ana Gabriel, Fey and many others. All of the musicians present performed renditions of her music, including her brother A.B. Quintanilla, who performed along with his band Kumbia Kings, backed with footage of Selena singing "Baila Esta Cumbia". "Selena Vive!" now holds the record for the highest-rated and most-viewed Spanish-language show in American television history. The show, which was over 3 hours long, scored a whopping 35.9 household rating. On April 12, 1995, George W. Bush, then the Governor of Texas, declared April 16 to be "Selena Day". [http://selenaforever.com/Selena/Official_Memorandum_State_of_Texas.html] Many young girls, most of whom were not even born at the time of Selena's death, still visit her grave and sing her songs.

Discography

Released during her lifetime
- Selena y Los Dinos (1984)
- The New Girl In Town (1985)
- Alpha (1986)
- Muñequito de Trapo (1986)
- And the Winner Is... (1987)
- Preciosa (1988)
- Dulce Amor (1988)
- Selena y Los Dinos (Re-released in 2002 as "Selena") (1989)
- Personal Best (1990)
- 16 Super Exitos Originales (Re-released in 2002 as "Mis Primeros Grabaciones) (1990)
- Ven Conmigo (Re-released in 2002) (1990)
- Entre A Mi Mundo (Re-released in 2002) (1992)
- Baila Esta Cumbia (Mexico release) (1992)
- Selena y Emilio Navaira: Entertainers of the Year (1992)
- Quiero (Mexico release) (1993)
- Selena Live! (Re-released in 2002) (1993)
- Mis Mejores Canciones: 1 Super Exito (1993)
- Amor Prohibido (Re-released in 2002) (1994)
- 12 Super Exitos (Re-released in 2002) (1994)
- Selena (AKA Excelsior) (1994)
- Grandes Exitos (Mexico release) (1994)
- Selena y Graciela Beltran: Las Reinas del Pueblo (1995)
- Dreaming of You (Re-released in 2002) (1995) Released posthumously
- Mis Primeras Grabaciones (Re-release of 1984 album) (1995)
- Exito del Recuerdo (Canada release) (1995)
- Blue in the Face Soundtrack (Song- "God's Child (Baila Conmigo)") (1995)
- Multipistas: 10 Exitos de Selena (1995)
- Fotos Y Ruecuerdos (????)
- Exitos y Recuerdos (Three different versions: pink, orange, and blue covers. Platinum disc re-release in 2001) (1996)
- Siempre Selena (1996)
- Selena Soundtrack (Re-released in 2002) (1997)
- Anthology (1998)
- All My Hits Todos Mis Exitos (1999)
- All My Hits Todos Mis Exitos, Vol. 2 (2000)
- Live! The last concert (Re-released in 2005 as a CD/DVD) (2001)
- Ones (CD/DVD) (2002)
- Greatest Hits (CD/DVD) (2003)
- Y sus Incios (2003)
- Y sus Incios, Vol. 2 (2004)
- Y sus Incios, Vol 3: The Early Years (2004)
- Y sus Incios, Vol. 4 (2004)
- Intimos Momentos (2004)
- Selena Remembered (CD/DVD) (2005)
- Unforgettable (Limited Edition 2 CD Set) (2005)
- Unforgettable: The Studio Album (2005)
- Unforgettable: The Live Album (2005)
- Unforgettable (CD/DVD Set) (2005)
External links

- [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/QQ/fquxg.html The Handbook of Texas Online: Selena Quintanilla Perez]
- [http://www.selenaforever.com Selenaforever.com] - a fan-site
- [http://wendyquotes.com/selena.htm Selena: A History of Tejano Music and the Rise of La Reina de la Música Tejana] - an essay
- [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1460 Find-A-Grave profile for Selena Quintanilla-Perez] Category:1971 births Category:1995 deaths Category:American singers Category:Female singers Category:Mexican American singers Category:Entertainers who died in their 20s Category:Murdered entertainers Category:People from Texas Category:Pop icons Category:Rhythmic Top 40 acts

April 16
April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). There are 259 days remaining.
Events

- 1178 BC - A solar eclipse may mark the return of Odysseus, legendary King of Ithaca, to his kingdom after the Trojan War.
- 1071 - Bari falls to Robert Guiscard, ending Byzantine rule in Italy.
- 1521 - Martin Luther's first appearance before the Diet of Worms to be examined by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the rest of the estates of the empire.
- 1746 - Second Jacobite Rebellion: The Battle of Culloden, the last battle of the Jacobite Uprising is fought, ultimately leading to the destruction of the Highland clans.
- 1780 - The University of Münster in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany is founded
- 1799 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Mount Tabor – Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.
- 1853 - The first passenger rail opens in India, from Bori Bunder, Bombay to Thane.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg – 12 ships led by Union Admiral David Dixon Porter move through heavy Confederate artillery fire on approach to Vicksburg, Mississippi. Only one ship is lost.
- 1881 - In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.
- 1912 - Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.
- 1917 - Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd (present-day Saint Petersburg) from exile in Finland.
- 1919 - Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the British slaughter of Indian protestors in the Amritsar Massacre.
- 1922 - The Treaty of Rapallo, in which Germany and the Soviet Union re-establish diplomatic relations between Berlin and Moscow, is signed.
- 1926 - Lolly Willows by Sylvia Townsend Warner is distributed as the first Book-of-the-Month Club selection.
- 1935 - Radio program Fibber McGee and Molly debuts.
- 1943 - Dr. Albert Hofmann discovers the psychedelic effects of LSD.
- 1945 - WWII: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin.
- 1945 - The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) Prisoner of War camp Oflag IVc (Colditz Castle).
- 1945 - German ship Goya sinks, killing more than 7,000 people.
- 1947 - Texas City Disaster: An explosion on board a freighter in port causes the city of Texas City, Texas, to catch fire, killing almost 600.
- 1947 - Bernard Baruch coins the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
- 1949 - Dave Garroway moves from radio to television to host the musical-variety show Garroway at Large.
- 1963 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pens his famous Letter From a Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.
- 1972 - Apollo program: Apollo 16 launches toward the Moon from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- 1972 - Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – Prompted by the North Vietnamese offensive, the United States resumes bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong.
- 1992 - The Katina P. runs aground off of Maputo, Mozambique. 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.
- 1996 - France Télécom introduces its Wanadoo Internet service.
- 1998 - One of the most serious urban tornadoes in history does significant damage to downtown Nashville, Tennessee (see Nashville Tornado of 1998).
- 2001 - First 3G voice call on Vodafone UK's 3G network.
- 2003 - Makobo Modjadji is crowned the new Rain Queen of Balobedu.
- 2003 - The Accession Treaty is signed in Athens admitting 10 new member states to the European Union.
- 2005 - The BBC announces David Tennant's casting as the Tenth Doctor in the long-running science-fiction television series, Doctor Who.
Births

- 778 - King Louis the Pious (d. 840)
- 1319 - King John II of France (d. 1364)
- 1495 - Petrus Apianus, German mathematician (d. 1557)
- 1646 - Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (d. 1708)
- 1660 - Hans Sloane, British collector and physician (d. 1753)
- 1661 - Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and statesman (d. 1715)
- 1682 - John Hadley, inventor (d. 1744)
- 1728 - Joseph Black, Scottish chemist (d. 1799)
- 1730 - Henry Clinton, British general (d. 1795)
- 1755 - Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, French painter (d. 1842)
- 1800 - George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, British soldier (d. 1888)
- 1823 - Ferdinand Eisenstein, German mathematician (d. 1852)
- 1844 - Anatole France, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
- 1865 - Henry George Chauvel, Australian general (d. 1945)
- 1867 - Wilbur Wright, American aviation pioneer (d. 1912)
- 1871 - John Millington Synge, Irish writer (d. 1909)
- 1878 - Tip Foster, English cricketer (d. 1914)
- 1886 - Ernst Thälmann, German politician (d. 1944)
- 1889 - Charles Chaplin, English actor, writer, and film producer (d. 1977)
- 1904 - Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian actress (d. 1983)
- 1905 - Frits Philips, Dutch businessman (d. 2005)
- 1912 - Garth Williams, American illustrator (d. 1996)
- 1915 - Gerard McLarnon, Irish playwright and actor (d. 1997)
- 1918 - Spike Milligan, British comedian (d. 2002)
- 1919 - Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer
- 1921 - Peter Ustinov, English writer, actor, and film director (d. 2004)
- 1922 - Kingsley Amis, English author (d. 1995)
- 1924 - Henry Mancini, American composer (d. 1994)
- 1927 - Edie Adams, American actress
- 1927 - Pope Benedict XVI
- 1927 - Peter Mark Richman, American actor
- 1928 - Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (d. 2002)
- 1930 - Herbie Mann, American jazz flute player (d. 2003)
- 1933 - Joan Bakewell, British broadcaster
- 1935 - Sarah Kirsch, German poet
- 1935 - Bobby Vinton, American singer
- 1937 - Joseph Whipp, American actor
- 1939 - Dusty Springfield, English singer (d. 1999)
- 1940 - Queen Margaret II of Denmark
- 1946 - Margot Adler, American journalist
- 1947 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, American basketball player
- 1947 - Gerry Rafferty, British musician and songwriter
- 1951 - Pierre Toutain-Dorbec, French photographer, painter, sculptor
- 1951 - Ioan Mihai Cochinescu, Romanian writer, musicologist, photographer, essayst
- 1952 - Bill Belichick, American football coach
- 1953 - J. Neil Schulman, American writer and activist
- 1954 - Ellen Barkin, American actress
- 1955 - Bruce Bochy, baseball player and manager
- 1956 - Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier
- 1959 - Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
- 1960 - Rafael Benitez, Spanish football manager
- 1962 - Ian MacKaye, American musician (fugazi and Minor Threat)
- 1965 - Jon Cryer, American actor
- 1965 - Martin Lawrence, American actor, comedian, and producer
- 1971 - Selena, American singer (d. 1995)
- 1975 - Sean Maher, American actor
- 1976 - Lukas Haas, American actor
- 1977 - Fredrik Ljungberg, Swedish footballer
- 1978 - Matthew Lloyd, Australian football player
Deaths

- 69 - Otho, Roman Emperor (b. 32)
- 744 - al-Walid II, Umayyad caliph
- 924 - Berengar of Friuli, King of Italy
- 1113 - Sviatopolk II of Kiev, Russian prince (b. 1050)
- 1118 - Adelaide del Vasto, queen of Roger II of Sicily
- 1198 - Duke Frederick I of Austria
- 1645 - Tobias Hume, English composer
- 1687 - George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (b. 1628)
- 1689 - Aphra Behn, English dramatist
- 1783 - Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer (b. 1719)
- 1788 - Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, French naturalist (b. 1707)
- 1828 - Francisco de Goya, Spanish painter (b. 1746)
- 1846 - Domenico Dragonetti, Italian composer (b. 1763)
- 1859 - Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian (b. 1805)
- 1904 - Samuel Smiles, Scottish writer and reformer (b. 1812)
- 1914 - George William Hill, American astronomer (b. 1838)
- 1915 - Nelson W. Aldrich, U.S. Senator from Rhode Island (b. 1841)
- 1938 - Steve Bloomer, English footballer (b. 1874)
- 1946 - Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and automobile designer (b. 1884)
- 1958 - Rosalind Franklin, British chemist (b. 1920)
- 1968 - Edna Ferber, American author (b. 1885)
- 1972 - Kawabata Yasunari, Japanese writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
- 1978 - Lucius Clay, American general (b. 1897)
- 1985 - Scott Brady, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1991 - David Lean, British film director (b. 1908)
- 1992 - Neville Brand, American actor (b. 1920)
- 1994 - Ralph Ellison, American writer (b. 1914)
- 1997 - Doris Angleton, American socialite (b. 1951)
- 1998 - Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913)
- 2001 - Michael Ritchie, American film director (b. 1920)
- 2002 - Ruth Fertel, American restaurateur (b. 1927)
- 2002 - Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946)
- 2003 - Graham Stuart Thomas, English author and garden designer (b. 1909)
- 2005 - Kay Walsh, British actress (b. 1911)
Holidays and observances

- Feast days:
- Benedict Joseph Labre in the Roman Catholic Church
- Saint Bernadette
- Saint Paternus
- Saint Fructuosus
- Saint Turibius
- Saints Martial, Urban, Eventius, Caecilian, Julia, and their companions martyrs of 304
- Saint Drogo
- Birthday of the Queen celebrated in Greenland
External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/16 BBC: On This Day] ---- April 15 - April 17 - March 16 - May 16 – listing of all days ko:4월 16일 ms:16 April ja:4月16日 simple:April 16 th:16 เมษายน

March 31
March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining, as the final day of March.
Events

- 307 - After divorcing his wife Minerva, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Maximian.
- 1717 - A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provoked the Bangorian Controversy.
- 1774 - American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed in the Boston Port Act.
- 1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.
- 1866 - The Spanish Navy bombs the harbour of Valparaíso, Chile
- 1885 - The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
- 1889 - The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated.
- 1903 - Richard Pearse reportedly flies a heavier-than-air machine in powered flight near Pleasant Point, South Canterbury, New Zealand; some claim 1902
- 1906 - The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later National Collegiate Athletic Association) is established to set rules for amateur sports in the United States.
- 1909 - Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
- 1917 - The United States takes possession of the U.S. Virgin Islands after paying $25 million to Denmark.
- 1918 - Daylight Savings Time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.
- 1930 - The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in motion pictures for the next forty years.
- 1931 - An earthquake destroys Managua Nicaragua, killing 2,000.
- 1933 - The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission to relieve rampant unemployment.
- 1949 - Newfoundland and Labrador joins Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada.
- 1957 - Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta. After the elctions PDU and MDV form a government.
- 1959 - The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.
- 1964 - The Dictatorship in Brazil, under the aegis of general Castello Branco, begins.
- 1966 - The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first spaceprobe to enter orbit around the Moon.
- 1967 - Jimi Hendrix burns his guitar for the first time at London's Astoria Theatre. He is sent to the hospital afterwards for burns on his hands.
- 1968 - President Lyndon Johnson announces he will not run for re-election.
- 1970 - Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere (after 12 years in orbit).
- 1970- Eight terrorists from the Japanese Red Army hijacked a Japan Airlines Boeing 727 at Tokyo International Airport, wielding samurai swords and carrying a bomb.
- 1979 - In Jerusalem, Israel, Gali Atari & Milk and Honey win the twenth-fourth Eurovision Song Contest for Israel singing "Hallelujah".
- 1979 - The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta is no longer a military base.
- 1985 - The first ever WrestleMania is held in New York City's Madison Square Garden.
- 1986 - A Mexicana Boeing 727 en route to Puerto Vallarta erupts in flames and crashes in the mountains northwest of Mexico City, killing 166
- 1986 - Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England
- 1990 - Boxer Julio César Chávez defeats Meldrick Taylor to unify the boxing's world junior welterweight title in a very controversial fight known as "Thunder Meets Lightning".
- 1991 - The Warsaw Pact comes to an end.
- 1992 - The television news program Dateline NBC premieres.
- 1993 - Actor Brandon Lee is accidentally killed during the filming of The Crow.
- 1994 - The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull (see Human evolution).
- 1995 - Popular Tex-Mex singer Selena Quintanilla is murdered by her assistant Yolanda Saldívar in a Corpus Christi, Texas motel after a heated discussion where the latter was accused of ripping off the artist's fan club.
- 1996 - Valentino Rossi takes part in his first 125cc Motorcycle Grand Prix race, at Shah Alam, Malaysia.
- 1998 - Netscape gives the code base of its browser under an open-source license agreement, thus creating Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit corporation to oversee the development of Mozilla.
- 2004 - Google announces Gmail, the first web-based mail service to offer 1 gigabyte of storage.
- 2004 - In Fallujah, Iraq, 4 American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed and their bodies mutilated after being ambushed.
- 2004 - Sandton Square in Johannesburg, South Africa, is renamed Nelson Mandela Square.
- 2005- Terri Schiavo dies at the age of 41 after national controversy.
Births

- 250 - Constantius Chlorus, Roman Emperor (d. 306)
- 1499 - Pope Pius IV (d. 1565)
- 1504 - Guru Angad Dev, second Sikh guru (d. 1552)
- 1519 - King Henry II of France (d. 1559)
- 1536 - Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese shogun (d. 1565)
- 1596 - René Descartes, French mathematician (d. 1650)
- 1621 - Andrew Marvell, English poet (d. 1678)
- 1651 - Karl II, Elector Palatine (d. 1685)
- 1675 - Pope Benedict XIV (d. 1758)
- 1718 - Marianne Victoria of Borbón, queen regent of Portugal (d. 1781)
- 1723 - King Frederick V of Denmark (d. 1766)
- 1732 - Franz Josef Haydn, Austrian composer (d. 1809)
- 1778 - Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist (d. 1858)
- 1806 - Benito Juarez, Mexican statesman (d. 1872)
- 1809 - Edward FitzGerald, English poet (d. 1883)
- 1809 - Nikolai Gogol, Russian writer (d. 1852)
- 1811 - Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, German chemist and inventor (d. 1899)
- 1871 - Arthur Griffith, President of Ireland (d. 1922)
- 1878 - Jack Johnson, American boxer (d. 1946)
- 1885 - Pascin, Bulgarian painter (d. 1930)
- 1890 - William Lawrence Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
- 1891 - Victor Varconi, Hungarian film actor (d. 1976)
- 1906 - Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
- 1911 - Elisabeth Grümmer, Alsatian soprano (d. 1986)
- 1914 - Octavio Paz, Mexican diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
- 1915 - Albert Hourani, English historian (d. 1993)
- 1922 - Richard Kiley, American actor and singer (d. 1999)
- 1924 - Leo Buscaglia, American author (d. 1998)
- 1926 - John Fowles, English author (d. 2005)
- 1927 - César Chávez, American labor activist (d. 1993)
- 1927 - William Daniels, American actor
- 1928 - Lefty Frizzell, American singer and songwriter (d. 1975)
- 1928 - Gordie Howe, Canadian hockey player
- 1929 - Lucille Bliss, American voice actress
- 1929 - Liz Claiborne, Belgian fashion designer
- 1934 - Richard Chamberlain, American actor
- 1934 - Shirley Jones, American singer and actress
- 1934 - Carlo Rubbia, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1935 - Herb Alpert, American trumpeter and band leader
- 1935 - Judith Rossner, American author
- 1938 - Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi
- 1939 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, first President of Georgia (d. 1993)
- 1939 - Volker Schlöndorff, German film director
- 1940 - Patrick Leahy, U.S. Senator from Vermont
- 1943 - Christopher Walken, American actor
- 1945 - Valerie Curtin, American actress, writer, and producer
- 1945 - Gabe Kaplan, American actor and comedian
- 1946 - Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 1984)
- 1947 - Cesar Gaviria Trujillo, President of Colombia
- 1948 - Al Gore, Vice President of the United States
- 1948 - Rhea Perlman, American actress
- 1950 - Ed Marinaro, American football player and actor
- 1955 - Angus Young, Scottish-born musician (AC/DC)
- 1957 - Marc McClure, American actor
- 1966 - Roger Black, British athlete
- 1971 - Pavel Bure, Russian hockey player
- 1971 - Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor
- 1973 - Bold Forbes, Puerto Rican racehorse (d. 2000)
- 1976 - Josh Saviano, American actor
- 1978 - Stephen Clemence, English footballer
- 1980 - Chien-Ming Wang, Taiwanese Major League Baseball player
- 1982 - Tal Ben Haim, Israeli footballer
- 1990 - Burak Ceylan, Canine actor
Deaths

- 1204 - Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France and England (b. 1121)
- 1340 - Ivan I of Russia, Prince of Moscow (b. 1288)
- 1567 - Philipp I of Hesse (b. 1504)
- 1621 - Philip III of Spain (b. 1578)
- 1631 - John Donne, English writer and prelate (b. 1572)
- 1671 - Anne Hyde, queen of James II of England (b. 1637)
- 1703 - Johann Christoph Bach, German composer (b. 1642)
- 1723 - Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, British Governor of New York and New Jersey (b. 1661)
- 1727 - Sir Isaac Newton, mathematician and physicist (b. 1643)
- 1741 - Pieter Burmann the Elder, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1668)
- 1783 - Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Russian statesman (b. 1718)
- 1837 - John Constable, English painter (b. 1776)
- 1855 - Charlotte Brontë, English author (b. 1816)
- 1880 - Henryk Wieniawski, Polish composer (b. 1835)
- 1885 - Franz Wilhelm Abt, German composer (b. 1819)
- 1913 - John Pierpont Morgan, American financier and banker (b. 1837)
- 1917 - Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1854)
- 1915 - Wyndham Halswelle, British runner (b. 1882)
- 1931 - Knute Rockne, American football coach (b. 1888)
- 1945 - Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
- 1945 - Anne Frank, German-born diarist (b. 1929)
- 1952 - Wallace H. White, Jr., U.S. Senator from Maine (b. 1877)
- 1954 - Edwin Armstrong, American electrical engineer and inventor (b. 1890)
- 1956 - Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (b. 1884)
- 1978 - Charles Best, Canadian medical scientist (b. 1899)
- 1980 - Vladimír Holan, Czech poet (b. 1905)
- 1980 - Jesse Owens, American athlete (b. 1913)
- 1981 - Enid Bagnold, British author and playwright (b. 1889)
- 1984 - Ronald Clark O'Bryan, American murderer (executed) (b. 1944)
- 1985 - The Singing Nun, Belgian nun and singer (b. 1933)
- 1988 - William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)
- 1993 - Brandon Lee, American actor (b. 1965)
- 1995 - Selena, American singer (b. 1971)
- 1998 - Bella Abzug, American politician (b. 1920)
- 1999 - Yuri Knorosov, Russian linguist and epigrapher (b. 1922)
- 2001 - Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
- 2002 - Barry Took, British comedian and writer (b. 1928)
- 2003 - H.S.M. Coxeter, English-born geometer and author (b. 1907)
- 2005 - Stanley J. Korsmeyer, American oncologist (b. 1951)
- 2005 - Frank Perdue, American poultry farmer (b. 1920)
- 2005 - Terri Schiavo, American right-to-die cause célèbre (b. 1963)
Holidays and observances

- Easter Sunday observed in 1991, 2002, 2013, and 2024
- New Jersey - Thomas Mundy Peterson Day
- César Chávez Day - official holiday in five states and many cities across the US
- Freedom Day in Malta
External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31 BBC: On This Day] ---- March 30 - April 1 - February 28 (February 29) - April 30 -- listing of all days ko:3월 31일 ms:31 Mac ja:3月31日 simple:March 31 th:31 มีนาคม

1995

1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. It was the first year of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995-2005): http://www.unesco.org/culture/indigenous/

Events

January

- January 1 - Austria, Finland and Sweden enter the European Union
- January 1 - Fred West, accused of mass murder, hangs himself in Winson Green Prison, Birmingham
- January 1 - World Trade Organization is established to replace GATT
- January 2 - Former President of Somalia, Siyad Barre died. He had been ousted in 1991.
- January 6-January 7 - A chemical fire occurs in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines. Policemen led by watch commander Aida Fariscal and investigators find a bomb factory and a laptop computer and disks that contain plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack. The mastermind, Ramzi Yousef, is arrested one month later
- January 9 - Valeri Polyakov completes 366 days in space while aboard the Mir space station breaking a duration record
- January 17 - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake called "the Great Hanshin earthquake" occurs near Kōbe, Japan, causing great property damage and killing 6,433 people
- January 24 - The prosecution delivers its opening statement in the O. J. Simpson murder trial
- January 25 - The Norwegian Rocket Incident - A rocket launched from the space exploration centre at Andøya, Norway to study the Northern Lights, is mistaken by the Russians as a nuclear attack and the russian missile command is put into combat mode before realizing the misunderstanding.
- January 31 - United States President Bill Clinton invokes emergency powers to extend a $20 trillion loan to help Mexico avert financial collapse.

February

- February 9 - Dr. Bernard A. Harris, Jr. makes history as the first African American astronaut to walk in space.
- February 13 - United Nations tribunal on human rights violation in the Balkans charges 21 Bosnian Serb commanders with genocide and crimes against humanity
- February 15 - Hacking: Kevin Mitnick is arrested by the FBI and charged with breaking into some of the United States' most "secure" computers systems.
- February 17 - Colin Ferguson is convicted of six counts of murder for the December 1993 Long Island Rail Road shootings and later receives a 200+ year sentence
- February 21 - Serkadji prison mutiny in Algeria; 4 guards and 96 prisoners killed in a day and a half.
- February 21 - Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon
- February 23 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 30.28 to close at 4,003.33 -- The Dow's first ever close above 4,000.
- February 26 - The United Kingdom's oldest investment banking firm, Barings Bank collapses after a securities broker Nick Leeson has lost $1.4 billion by speculating on the Tokyo Stock Exchange
- February 27 - In Denver, Colorado, the old Stapleton Airport closes: it is replaced by a new Denver International Airport, the largest airport in the United States.
- February 28 - Members of the Group Patriot's Council are convicted in Minnesota for manufacturing ricin

March

- March 1 - Attack Submarine USS-Seahorse (now ex-Seahorse SSN-669) starts to be deactivated
- March 1 - Polish Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak resigns from parliament and is replaced by ex-communist Jozef Oleksy
- March 1 - Daniel Sleator announces his intentions to commercialize the Internet Chess Server (ICS) himself, renames it the Internet Chess Club, or ICC, and charges a yearly membership fee of $49 to howls of protest
- March 1 - Muntinlupa City, Philippines officially becomes a city.
- March 1 - In Moscow, Russian anti-corruption journalist Vladislav Listyev is killed by a gunman.
- March 2 - Nick Leeson is arrested for his role in the collapse of Barings Bank.
- March 3 - In Somalia, the United Nations peacekeeping mission ends.
- March 6 - Adrianus Jacobs, chairman of Internationale Nederlanden Groep NV announces that his company would buy bankrupt Barings PLC bank for a nominal prize
- March 14 - Astronaut Norman Thagard becomes the first American to ride to space on-board a Russian launch vehicle.
- March 20 - Terrorist incident: Members of the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult release sarin gas on five separate railway trains in Tokyo, killing 12 and injuring hundreds.
- March 22 - Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns after setting a record for 438 days in space. Also, the Schengen treaty comes into force.
- March 24 - For the first time in twenty six years, no British soldiers patrol the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
- March 30 - Police officer tries to assassinate Takaji Kunimatsu, chief of the National Police Agency of Japan
- March 31 - The president of Selena fan club, Yolanda Aldivar, kills the star in Corpus Christi, Texas

April

Corpus Christi, Texas
- April 19 - Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma city was bombed. 168 people, including 8 Federal Marshals and 19 children, were killed. Timothy McVeigh and one of his accomplices, Terry Nichols set off the bomb.
- April 24 - Unabomber bomb kills lobbyist Gilbert Murray in Sacramento, California

May

- May 7 - Jacques Chirac elected president of France.
- May 11 - In New York City, more than 170 countries decide to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty indefinitely and without conditions.
- May 14 - The Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama.
- May 16 - Japanese police besieges the headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo near Mount Fuji and arrest cult leader Shoko Asahara.
- May 16 - Jacques Chirac assumes the presidency of France.
- May 23 - Oklahoma City bombing: In Oklahoma City, the remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building are imploded.
- May 24 - AFC Ajax beat AC Milan 1-0 to win the Champions League.
- May 25 - Egan v. Canada - Supreme Court of Canada rules that sexual orientation is a prohibited grounds of discrimination under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
- May 27 - In Charlottesville, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition, ending his career.
- May 28 - Neftegorsk, Russia is hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killing at least 2000 people (2/3rd of the towns population).

June

- June 1 - The busiest hurricane season in 62 years begins. (see 1995 Atlantic hurricane season).
-
- EarthBound is released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the U.S.
- June 2 - United States Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady's F-16 is shot down over Bosnia while patrolling the NATO no-fly zone. O'Grady survives on bugs and grass until he is rescued.
- June 2 - SS captain Erich Priebke extradited from Argentina to Italy
- June 5 - Bose-Einstein condensate created.
- June 6 - U.S. astronuat Norman Thagard broke NASA's space endurance record of 14 days, one hour and 16 minutes, aboard the Russian space station Mir.
- June 8 - Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O'Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.
- June 13 - French president Jacques Chirac announces the resumption of nuclear tests in French Polynesia.
- June 15 - While on trial for murder, O.J. Simpson put on a pair of gloves that were found soaked with blood at the murder scene. The gloves appear not to fit.
- June 20 - Oil multinational Shell caves in to international pressure and abandons plans to dump the Brent Spar oil rig at sea.
- June 22 - Japanese police rescues 365 hostages from a hijacked Nippon Airlines 747 at Hakodae airport. The hijacker was armed by a knife and demanded release of Shoko Asahara
- June 24 - The New Jersey Devils sweep the Detroit Red Wings in 4 games in the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals.
- June 29 - Lisa Clayton completes her 10-month solo circumnavigation from the northern hemisphere.
- June 29 - The Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with the Russian Mir space station for the first time.
- June 29 - The Sampoong Department Store collapses in the Seocho-gu district of Seoul, South Korea, killing 501 and injuring 937.
- Summer - Iraq disarmament crisis: According to UNSCOM, the unity of the UN Security Council begins to fray, as a few countries, particularly France and Russia, are starting to become increasingly more interested in making financial deals with Iraq than disarming the country.

July

Iraq
- Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq threatens to end all cooperation with UNSCOM and IAEA, if sanctions against the country are not lifted by Thursday, August 31, 1995
- Midwestern United States heat wave: An unprecedented heat wave strikes the Midwestern United States for most of the month. Temperatures exceed 104°F (40°C) in the afternoon in numerous cities for 5 straight days. At least 3000 people die, 750 in Chicago, Illinois alone.
- July 1 - Iraq disarmament crisis: In response to UNSCOM's evidence, Iraq admits for first time the existence of an offensive biological weapons program, but denies weaponization.
- July 4 - The UK Prime Minister, John Major, has won his battle to remain leader of the Conservative Party.
- July 8 - Volcanic eruption begins in the island of Montserrat
- July 11 - Bosnian Serbs march into Srebrenica while UN Dutch peacekeepers leave. Large numbers of Bosniak men and boys are killed in the Srebrenica massacre.
- July 13 - Dozens of cities, most notably Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, set all-time record high temperatures. Hundreds in these and other cities die as the July 1995 heat wave reaches its peak.
- July 17 - The Nasdaq Composite index closes above the 1,000 mark for the first time.
- July 18 - Fabio Casartelli, an Italian cyclist, dies in a crash during the Tour de France.
- July 21 - to July 26 - Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People's Liberation Army fires missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.
- July 27 - In Washington, DC, the Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated
- July 28 - Network Solutions announces a new policy to help companies protect their trademarks on the Internet.
- Iraq disarmament crisis: Following the defection of his son-in-law, Hussein Kamel al Majid, minister of industry and military industrialisation, Saddam Hussein makes new revelations about the full extent of Iraq's biological and nuclear weapons programs. Iraq also withdraws its last UN declaration of prohibited biological weapons and turns over a large amount of new documents on its WMD programs.

August

- Chrono Trigger is released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
- August 4 - Croatians launch Operation Storm against Serbian forces in Krajina and force them to withdraw to Bosnia
- August 5 - Croatian forces take Knin and continue to advance
- August 6 - Hundreds in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Washington, and Tokyo mark the 50th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb.
- August 7 - Operation Storm over, UN-brokered ceasefire, remaining Serbian forces start a surrender
- August 9 - Netscape launches IPO. http://www.fortune.com/fortune/print/0,15935,1081456,00.html
- August 14 - Avalanche buries Alison Hargreaves, the first woman to climb Mt. Everest without oxygen - reported dead
- August 17 - 50th Indonesia Independence.
- August 24 - Microsoft releases Windows 95.
- August 28 - Serbian Mortar bomb near Sarajevo market square kills 37 civilians
- August 30 - NATO bombing campaign against Serb artillery positions begins in Bosnia - continues into October

September

- September - DVD, optical disc storage media format, is announced.
- September 2 - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland, Ohio
- September 4 - The Fourth World Conference on Women opens in Beijing with over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.
- September 6 - With the jury absent, Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman invokes his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the murder trial of O. J. Simpson
- September 6 - NATO air strikes continue after repeated attempts at a solution with the Serbs fail
- September 26 - Trial against former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, accused of Mafia connections, begins.
- September 27-September 28 - night - Bob Denard's mercenaries capture president Said Mohammed Djohor of the Comoros. Local army does not resist

October

- October 1 - 10 people are found guilty for bombing the World Trade Center in 1993
- October 3 - O. J. Simpson is found not guilty of double murder for the deaths of former wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. (He would be found liable in a second civil trial in 1996)
- October 4 - France launches a counter-coup in the Comoros with 600 soldiers. They arrest Bob Denard and his mercenaries and take Denard to France. Caabi el-Yachroutu becomes new interim president
- October 9 - An Amtrak Sunset Limited train is derailed by saboteurs near Palo Verde, Arizona.
- October 12 - black motorist Johnny Gammage dies of asphxyation after being stopped by police in the nearly all-white Pittsburgh suburb of Brentwood
- October 16 - The Million Man March is held in Washington D.C.. The event was conceived by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
- October 21 - Shannon Hoon, lead singer of Blind Melon, dies of a cocaine overdose while on tour.
- October 25 - A Metra commuter train slammed into a school bus in Fox River Grove, Illinois, killing seven students.
- October 30 - Quebec separatists narrowly lose a referendum for a mandate to negotiate independence from Canada

November

- November 1 - Participants of the Yugoslav War begin negotiations in Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, USA
- November 1 - the House voted to ban "partial birth" abortions by a vote of 288-139.
- November 2 - Supreme Court of Argentina orders extradition of Erich Priebke, ex-SS captain
- November 3 - At Arlington National Cemetery, US President Bill Clinton dedicates a memorial to the victims of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing
- November 4 - After attending a peace rally in Tel Aviv's Kings of Israel Square, Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is mortally wounded by a right-wing Israeli gunman. (He later died on the operating table at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv)
- November 10 - Iraq disarmament crisis: With help from Israel and Jordan, UN inspector Ritter intercepts 240 Russian gyroscopes and accelerometers on their way to Iraq from Russia
- November 10 - In Nigeria, playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa along with eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop) are hanged by government forces
- November 14 - A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress forces the federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums and run most government offices with skeleton staff
- November 16 - UN tribunal charges Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić with genocide during the Bosnian War
- November 17 - Public Radio International's radio program This American Life broadcasts its first episode, "New Beginnings"
- November 21 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 40.46 to close at 5,023.55, its first close above 5,000. This makes the 1995 the first year where the Dow surpasses two millennium marks in a single year. It would do it again in 1997 and 1999.
- November 21 - Peace agreement about Bosnia
- November 22 - Rosemary West is sentenced for life of killing 10 women and girls, including her daughter and stepdaughter
- November 22 - Eilat, Israel, Egypt, and much of the North African Mediterranean is struck by the strongest earthquake in Israel's history - 7.2 mw. Curiously, within a week there is attempted historical revisionism downwards to 6.2 with Gulf of Aqaba architects and engineers holding the bag for alleged 'shoddy construction'. A 6.2 mw earthquake is only 1/100th the magnitude of a 7.2 quake.
- November 28 - Barcelona Treaty signed by 27 attending nations
- November 28 - US President Bill Clinton signs a highway bill that ends the federal 55 mph speed limit.
- November 30 - Javier Solana is made new NATO general secretary

December

- December 14 - The Dayton Peace Agreement signed in Paris.
- December 15 - The European Court of Justice rules that all EU football players have the right to a free transfer between European Union member states at the end of their contracts (see Bosman ruling)
- December 15 - Because of "quadruple-witching" option expiration, volume on the New York Stock Exchange hits 638 million shares, the highest single-day volume since October 20, 1987 when the Dow staged a stunning recovery a day after Black Monday.
- December 16 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi scuba divers, under the direction of UNSCOM, dredge the Tigris River near Baghdad. The divers find over 200 prohibited Russian made missile instruments and components.
- December 30 - The lowest ever UK temperature of -27.2°C was recorded at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands. This equalled the record set at Braemar, Aberdeenshire in 1895 and 1982.
- December 31 - The publication of the last new Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip.
- Republic of Texas (group) claim to form a provisional government in Texas.

Unknown dates

- The oldest flute, made by Neanderthal, was found by Dr. Ivan Turk in the cave Divje babe I in Slovenia. See: prehistoric music.
- The Ebola virus kills 244 Africans in Kikwit, Zaire in Central Africa.
- Creed (band) formed.
- Audi A4 automobile goes on sale as a 1996 model.
- Katherine Prescott elected president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Births

- May 12 - Jean Carlos Chera, Brazilian football prodigy
- May 12 - Sawyer Sweeten, American actor
- May 12 - Sullivan Sweeten, American actor

Deaths

January-February

- Jan