Marcella Samora is the mother of the late international pop sensation Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, who was better known by the mononym, Selena. She is of Mexican and Cherokee descent. Born to a Texan father and a Coloradan mother, Marcella spent a part of her early life in Washington. It was there that she met her future husband, Abraham Quintanilla Jr., who was stationed there during his service in the US military. The couple exchanged wedding vows in June 1963. After the birth of their first child, Abraham "A.B." Quintanilla III, the family moved to Texas, where they had two more children, daughters Suzette and Selena. Abraham, who was a singer-songwriter himself, gave all his children music training. He formed a group named Selena y Los Dinos around his three children. Among them, Selena was the breakout star. After Selena’s murder in 1995, Marcella fought alongside the other members of her family to get justice for her daughter. The murderer, one of Selena’s fans and employees, named Yolanda Saldívar, was ultimately sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.