title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: The DPR set up its own mobile network operator called Feniks, which was to be fully operational by the end of the summer of 2015. On 5 February 2015, Kyivstar claimed that Feniks illegally used equipment that they officially gave up in territories controlled by pro-Russian separatists. On 18 April 2015, Prime Minister Zakharchenk issued a decree stating that all equipment given up by Kyivstar fell under the control of the separatists in order to "meet the needs of the population in the communication services". The SIM cards of Feniks display the slogan "Connection for the victory".


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: In mid-March 2017, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a temporary ban on the movement of goods to and from territory controlled by DPR and LPR. Ukraine has not bought coal from the Donets Black Coal Basin since then.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: Anthracite mines under DPR control reportedly supply coal to Poland through Russian shell companies to disguise its real origin.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: According to Ukrainian and Russian media, the coal export company Vneshtorgservis, owned by Serhiy Kurchenko, owes massive debts to coal mines located in separatist-controlled territory and other local companies.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: Sergey Zdrilyuk ("Abwehr"), former deputy of DPR militia, stated in an interview in 2020 that large-scale disassembly of mining equipment for scrap metal and other forms of looting took place routinely during Igor Girkin's time as a militia commander, and that Girkin took significant amounts of money with him to Moscow. Militia groups such as "Vostok" and "Oplot" as well as various "Cossack formations", were involved in looting on systematic basis.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: An early March 2016 United Nations OHCHR report stated that people that lived in separatist-controlled areas were experiencing "complete absence of rule of law, reports of arbitrary detention, torture and incommunicado detention, and no access to real redress mechanisms".


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: Freedom House evaluates the eastern Donbas territories controlled by the DPR and LPR as "not free", scoring 4 out of 100 in its 2022 Freedom in the World index, noting issues with severe political and media repression, numerous reports of torture, and arbitrary detention. "The Guardian" noted on 17 February 2022 "Public opposition in the DPR is virtually non-existent."


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: An 18 November 2014 United Nations report on eastern Ukraine stated that the DPR was in a state of "total breakdown of law and order". The report noted "cases of serious human rights abuses by the armed groups continued to be reported, including torture, arbitrary and incommunicado detention, summary executions, forced labour, sexual violence, as well as the destruction and illegal seizure of property may amount to crimes against humanity". The November report also stated "the HRMMU continued to receive allegations of sexual and gender-based violence in the eastern regions. In one reported incident, members of the pro-Russian Vostok Battalion "arrested" a woman for violating a curfew and beat her with metal sticks for three hours. The woman was also raped by several pro-Russian rebels from the battalion. The report also states that the UN mission "continued to receive reports of torture and ill-treatment by the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and volunteer battalions and by the (pro-Russian separatist) armed groups, including beating, death threats, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and lack of access to medical assistance". In a 15 December 2014 press conference in Kyiv, UN Assistant Secretary-General for human rights Ivan Šimonović stated that the majority of human rights violations were committed in areas controlled by pro-Russian rebels.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: The United Nations report also accused the Ukrainian Army and Ukrainian (volunteer) territorial defence battalions, including the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, of human rights abuses such as illegal detention, torture and ill-treatment of DPR and LPR supporters, noting official denials. Amnesty International reported on 24 December 2014 that pro-government volunteer battalions were blocking Ukrainian aid convoys from entering separatist-controlled territory.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: On 24 July, Human Rights Watch accused the pro-Russian fighters of not taking measures to avoid encamping in densely populated civilian areas." It also accused Ukrainian government forces and pro-government volunteer battalions of indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas, stating that "The use of indiscriminate rockets in populated areas violates international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, and may amount to war crimes."


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: A report by the OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that was released on 2 March 2015 described media postings and online videos which indicated that the pro-Russian armed groups of the DPR carried out "summary, extrajudicial or arbitrary executions" of captured Ukrainian soldiers. In one incident, corpses of Ukrainian servicemen were found with "their hands tied with white electrical cable" after the pro-Russian rebel groups captured Donetsk International Airport. In January a DPR leader claimed that the rebel forces were detaining up to five "subversives" between the ages of 18 and 35 per day. A number of captured prisoners of war were forced to march in Donetsk while being assaulted by rebel soldiers and onlookers. The report also said that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies had engaged in a "pattern of enforced disappearances, secret detention and ill-treatment" of people suspected of "separatism" and "terrorism". The report also mentions videos of members of one particular pro-Russian unit talking about running a torture facility in the basement of a Luhansk library. The head of the unit in question was the pro-Russian separatist commander Aleksandr Biednov, known as "Batman" (who was later killed) and the "head" of the torture chamber was a rebel called "Maniac" who "allegedly used a hammer to torture prisoners and surgery kit to scare and extract confessions from prisoners".


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: In September 2015, OSCE published a report on the testimonies of victims held in places of illegal detention in Donbas. In December 2015, a team led by Małgorzata Gosiewska published a comprehensive report on war crimes in Donbas.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: Alleged members of the Donetsk Republic carrying the flag of the Russian Federation, passed out a leaflet to Jews that informed all Jews over the age of 16 that they would have to report to the "Commissioner for Nationalities" in the Donetsk Regional Administration building and register their property and religion. It also claimed that Jews would be charged a $50 'registration fee'. If they did not comply, they would have their citizenship revoked, face 'forceful expulsion' and see their assets confiscated. The leaflet stated the purpose of registration was because "Jewish community of Ukraine supported "Bandera" Junta," and "oppose the pro-Slavic People's Republic of Donetsk". The authenticity of the leaflet could not be independently verified. "The New York Times", "Haaretz", and "The New Republic" said the fliers were "most likely a hoax". France 24 also reported on the questionable authenticity of the leaflets. According to Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the leaflets looked like some sort of provocation, and an attempt to paint the pro-Russian forces as anti-semitic. The chief rabbi of Donetsk Pinchas Vishedski stated that the flyer was a fake meant to discredit the self-proclaimed republic, and saying that anti-Semitic incidents in eastern Ukraine are "rare, unlike in Kiev and western Ukraine" and believes the men were 'trying to use the Jewish community in Donetsk as an instrument in the conflict;' however, he also called the DPR Press Secretary Aleksander Kriakov "the most famous anti-Semite in the region" and questioned DPR's decision to appoint him.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: At first the DPR adopted a constitution which stated that the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate was the official religion of the self-declared state. This was changed with the promulgation of a law "on freedom of conscience and religious organisation" in November 2015, backed by three deputies professing Rodnovery (Slavic native faith), whose members organised the Svarozhich Battalion (of the Vostok Brigade) and the Rusich Company. The new law caused the dissatisfaction of Metropolitan Hilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol of the Moscow Patriarchate church.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: Donetsk separatists consider Christian denominations such as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and wider Roman Catholic Church, and Protestantism, as all being anti-Russian and see them as obstacles in the path of the separatist goal of uniting the region with Russia. To complement this emphasis on Orthodoxy against churches deemed "heretical" and anti-Russian, the separatists have been successful in enlisting the widespread support of many people in Donetsk belonging to the indigenous Greek Orthodox community. These are mainly Pontic Greeks settled in Donetsk and elsewhere in southern Russia and Ukraine since the Middle Ages, and are in the main descendants of refugees from the Pontic Alps, Eastern Anatolia, and the Crimea, dating to the Ottoman conquests of these regions in the late 15th century. There have been widespread media reports of these ethnic Greeks and those with roots in southern Ukraine now living mainly in Northern Greece fighting with Donetsk separatist forces on the justification that their war represents a struggle for Christian Orthodoxy against the forces of what they often describe as "schismatics" and "fascists".


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: Hundreds of Romani families fled Donbas in 2014. The "News of Donbas" reported that members of the Donbas People's Militia engaged in assaults and robbery on the Romani (also known as gypsies) population of Sloviansk. The armed separatists beat women and children, looted homes, and carried off the stolen goods in trucks, according to eyewitnesses. Romani fled en masse to live with relatives in other parts of the country, fearing ethnic cleansing, displacement and murder. Some men who decided to remain formed militia groups to protect their families and homes. DPR Mayor Ponomarev said the attacks were only against gypsies who were involved in drug trafficking, and that he was 'cleaning the city from drugs.' The US mission to the OSCE and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk condemned these actions.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: On 8 June 2014, it was reported that armed militants from the Donetsk Republic attacked a gay club in the capital of Donetsk, injuring several. Witnesses said 20 people forced their way into the club, stealing jewellery and other valuables; the assailants fired shots in the club, and several people were hurt. In July 2015, a DPR Ministry of Information spokesperson stated "there are no gays in Donetsk, as they all went to Kyiv". In 2015, the Deputy Minister of Political Affairs of the Donetsk People's Republic stated: "A culture of homosexuality is spreading... This is why we must kill anyone who is involved in this."


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: On 18 April 2014, Vyacheslav Ponomarev asked local residents of Sloviansk to report all suspicious persons, especially if they were speaking Ukrainian. He also promised that the local media would publish a phone number to report them.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: An 18 November 2014 United Nations report on eastern Ukraine stated that the DPR violated the rights of Ukrainian-speaking children because schools in rebel-controlled areas teach only in Russian and forbid pupils to speak Ukrainian. In its May 2014 constitution, the DPR regime declared Russian and Ukrainian its official languages. However, in March 2020, Russian was declared to be the sole official language of the DPR.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: The Committee to Protect Journalists said that separatists had seized up to ten foreign reporters during the week following the shooting down of the Malaysian aircraft. On 22 July 2014, armed men from the DPR abducted Ukrainian freelance journalist Anton Skiba as he arrived with a CNN crew at a hotel in Donetsk. The DPR often counters such accusations by pointing towards non-governmental organisations, such as Amnesty International's reporting that pro-Ukrainian volunteer paramilitary battalions, such as the Aidar Battalion, Donbas Battalion, Azov Battalion often acted like "renegade gangs", and were implicated in torture, abductions, and summary executions. Amnesty International and the (OHCHR) also raised similar concerns about Radical Party leader and Ukrainian MP Oleh Lyashko and his militia.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: Donetsk has also observed significant rise in violent crime (homicide, rape, including underage victims) under the control of separatist forces. In July 2015 local authorities of Druzhkovka, previously occupied by separatist forces, exposed a previous torture site in one of the town's cellars.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: On 2 June 2017 the freelance journalist Stanislav Aseyev was abducted. Firstly the DPR "government" denied knowing his whereabouts but on 16 July, an agent of the DPR's Ministry of State Security confirmed that Aseyev was in their custody and that he was suspected of espionage. Independent media is not allowed to report from the DPR-controlled territory. Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists, Human Rights Watch, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, PEN International, Reporters Without Borders and the United States Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have called for the immediate release of Aseyev. He was released as part of a prison exchange and handed over to Ukrainian authorities on 29 December 2019.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: Sergey Zdrilyuk ("Abwehr"), former deputy of DPR militia, confirmed in 2020 that Igor Girkin personally executed prisoners of war he considered "traitors" or "spies". This statement was first made in Girkin's interview earlier that year, although Girkin insisted the executions were part of his "military tribunal based on laws of war". Girkin also confessed that he was involved in the murder of Volodymyr Ivanovych Rybak, a representative of Horlivka who was abducted on 17 April 2014 after trying to raise a Ukrainian flag: "Naturally, Rybak, as a person who actively opposed the "militias", was an enemy in my eyes. And his death, probably, is to some extent also under my responsibility".


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: By the start of the 2015–2016 school-year DPR's authorities had overhauled the curriculum. Ukrainian language lessons were decreased from around eight hours a week to two hours; while the time devoted to Russian language and literature lessons were increased. The history classes were changed to give greater emphasis to the history of Donbas. The grading system was changed from (Ukraine's) 12-point scheme to the five-point grading system that is also used in Russia. According to the director of a college in Donetsk "We give students the choice between the two but the Russian one is taken into greater account". School graduates will receive a Russian certificate, allowing them to enter both local universities and institutions in Russia.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: In April 2016 DPR authorities designed "statehood awareness lessons" were introduced in schools (in territory controlled by them).


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: On 25 September 2017 a new law on education was signed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (draft approved by Verkhovna Rada on 5 September 2017) which says that Ukrainian language is the language of education at all levels.


title: Donetsk People's Republic

text: A Donetsk People's Republic national football team has represented the country in international games organised by ConIFA, although as of August 2022, it is not listed as a member on the organization's website.


title: Fellatio

text: Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act involving a person stimulating the penis of another person by using the mouth, throat, or both. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may also be termed "fellatio", or colloquially as "teabagging." If fellatio is performed on oneself, the act is called autofellatio.


title: Fellatio

text: Fellatio can be sexually arousing for both participants, and may lead to orgasm for the partner being fellated. It may be performed by a sexual partner as foreplay before other sexual activities, such as vaginal or anal intercourse, or as an erotic and physically intimate act of its own. Fellatio creates a risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs), but the risk is significantly lower than that of vaginal or anal sex, especially for HIV transmission.


title: Fellatio

text: Most countries do not have laws banning the practice of fellatio, though some cultures may consider it taboo. People may also refrain from engaging in fellatio due to personal preference, negative feelings, or sexual inhibitions. Commonly, people do not view oral sex as affecting the virginity of either partner, though opinions on the matter vary.


title: Fellatio

text: The English noun "fellatio" comes from the Latin ', the past participle of the verb ', meaning to suck. In "fellatio" the "-us" is replaced by the "-io" while the declension stem ends in "-ion-", which gives the suffix the form "-ion" (cf. French "fellation"). The "-io"("n") ending is used in English to create nouns from Latin adjectives and it can indicate a state or action wherein the Latin verb is being, or has been, performed.


title: Fellatio

text: Further English words have been created based on the same Latin root. A person who performs fellatio upon another (i.e. who "fellates",) may be termed a "fellator." Latin's gender based declension means this word may be restricted to describing a male. The equivalent term for a female is "fellatrix".


title: Fellatio

text: Fellatio can be sexually arousing for both participants, and males who receive fellatio commonly experience orgasm and ejaculation of semen during the act. People may use fellatio as foreplay to sexually arouse their sex partner before vaginal or anal intercourse, or other sexual activity, or they may use it as an erotic and physically intimate act in its own right. The sex partner may be of either sex. When the penis is thrust into someone's mouth, it may be called "irrumatio", though the term is rarely used.


title: Fellatio

text: The essential aspect of fellatio is oral stimulation of the penis through some combination of sucking, use of the tongue and lips, and movement of the mouth. One method is the sex partner taking the penis into the mouth and moving smoothly up and down the penis to a rhythm while being careful to avoid contact with the teeth. Fellatio may also include the oral stimulation of the scrotum, whether licking, sucking or taking the entire scrotum into the mouth. During the act, semen may be ejaculated into the partner's mouth.


title: Fellatio

text: It is difficult for some people to perform fellatio due to their sensitivities to the natural gag reflex. Different people have different sensitivities to the reflex, but some people learn to suppress the reflex. How much of the penis a partner can take into their mouth also depends on the size and length of the penis, and they most commonly only take the end of the penis into their mouth.


title: Fellatio

text: It is physically possible for men with sufficient flexibility, penis size, or both, to perform fellatio on themselves as a form of masturbation, in an act called autofellatio. However, few men possess sufficient flexibility and penis length to safely perform the necessary frontbend.


title: Fellatio

text: During fellatio, a partner may ingest semen from the penis. Nancy Friday's book, "Men in Love – Men's Sexual Fantasies: The Triumph of Love over Rage" (1982), suggests that swallowing semen is high on a man's intimacy scale. As late as 1976, some doctors were advising women in the eighth and ninth months of pregnancy not to swallow semen lest it induce premature labor, though it is now known to be safe.


title: Fellatio

text: The male whose penis is being stimulated during fellatio typically receives sexual arousal from the act; once the prerequisite level of sexual stimulation has been achieved, and ejaculation becomes imminent, the semen discharged may be deposited onto his partner. The male may position his penis prior to ejaculation so that semen will be deposited onto his partner's face (known as a "facial"), or other body part such as their neck, chest or breast.


title: Fellatio

text: Deep-throating is a sexual act in which a person takes a partner's entire erect penis into the mouth and throat. The technique and term became popularized by the 1972 pornographic film "Deep Throat". Generally, the person receiving fellatio is in control. For deep-throating, the penis has to be long enough so that it can reach the back of the giver's throat.


title: Fellatio

text: Deep-throating can be difficult, due to the natural gag reflex triggered when the soft palate is touched. People have different sensitivities to this reflex, and with practice, some people learn to suppress it. Deep-throating leads to an entirely different kind of oral stimulation in comparison to regular fellatio: the tongue is immobilized during deep-throating and sucking becomes impossible; the glans penis can be intensely stimulated by the tightness of the pharynx.


title: Fellatio

text: The man receiving fellatio receives direct sexual stimulation, while his partner may derive satisfaction from giving him pleasure. Giving and receiving fellatio may happen simultaneously in sex positions like 69 and daisy chain.


title: Fellatio

text: Fellatio is sometimes practiced when vaginal or anal penetration would create a physical difficulty for a sex partner. For example, it may be practiced during pregnancy instead of vaginal intercourse by couples wishing to engage in intimate sexual activity while avoiding the difficulty of vaginal intercourse during later stages of pregnancy.


title: Fellatio

text: Other reasons why a woman may not wish to have vaginal intercourse include apprehension of losing her virginity or of becoming pregnant, or because she may be menstruating.


title: Fellatio

text: Chlamydia, human papillomavirus (HPV), gonorrhea, herpes, hepatitis (multiple strains), and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs/STDs) can be transmitted through oral sex. Any sexual exchange of bodily fluids with a person infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, poses a risk of infection. Risk of STI infection, however, is generally considered significantly lower for oral sex than for vaginal or anal sex, with HIV transmission considered the lowest risk with regard to oral sex.


title: Fellatio

text: There is an increased risk of STI transmission if the receiving partner has wounds on his genitals, or if the giving partner has wounds or open sores on or in his or her mouth, or bleeding gums. Brushing the teeth, flossing, or undergoing dental work soon before or after giving fellatio can also increase the risk of transmission, because all of these activities can cause small scratches in the lining of the mouth. These wounds, even when they are microscopic, increase the chances of contracting STIs that can be transmitted orally under these conditions. Such contact can also lead to more mundane infections from common bacteria and viruses found in, around and secreted from the genital regions. Because of the aforementioned factors, medical sources advise the use of condoms or other effective barrier methods when performing or receiving fellatio with a partner whose STI status is unknown.


title: Fellatio

text: Links have been reported between oral sex and oral cancer with HPV-infected people. A 2005 research study suggested that performing unprotected oral sex on a person infected with HPV might increase the risk of oral cancer. The study found that 36 percent of the cancer patients had HPV compared to only 1 percent of the healthy control group.


title: Fellatio

text: A 2007 study suggested a correlation between oral sex and throat cancer. It is believed that this is due to the transmission of HPV, a virus that has been implicated in the majority of cervical cancers and which has been detected in throat cancer tissue in numerous studies. The study concludes that people who had one to five oral sex partners in their lifetime had approximately a doubled risk of throat cancer compared with those who never engaged in this activity and those with more than five oral sex partners had a 250 percent increased risk.


title: Fellatio

text: Fellatio cannot result in pregnancy, as there is no way for ingested sperm to reach the uterus and fallopian tubes to fertilize an egg cell. At any rate, acids in the stomach and digestive enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract break down and kill spermatozoa.


title: Fellatio

text: Clinical research has tentatively linked fellatio with immune modulation, indicating it may reduce the chance of complications during pregnancy. The potentially fatal complication pre-eclampsia was observed to occur less in women who regularly engaged in fellatio, with those who also ingested their partner's semen being at the least risk. The results were consistent with the fact that semen contains TGF-β1, the exchange of which between partners having a causal reduction in risk of pre-eclampsia caused by an immunological reaction. It is worth noting that fellatio is not the only viable mechanism for the transmission of TGF-β1.


title: Fellatio

text: Oral sex is commonly used as a means of preserving virginity, especially among heterosexual pairings; this is sometimes termed "technical virginity" (which additionally includes anal sex, mutual masturbation and other non-penetrative sex acts, but excludes penile-vaginal sex). The concept of "technical virginity" or sexual abstinence through oral sex is particularly popular among teenagers in the United States, including with regard to teenage girls who not only fellate their boyfriends to preserve their virginities, but also to create and maintain intimacy or to avoid pregnancy. Other reasons given for the practice among teenage girls are peer-group pressure and as their introduction to sexual activity. Additionally, gay males may regard fellatio as a way of maintaining their virginities, with penile-anal penetration defined as resulting in virginity loss, while other gay males may define fellatio as their main form of sexual activity.


title: Fellatio

text: Fellatio is legal in most countries. Laws of some jurisdictions regard fellatio as penetrative sex for the purposes of sexual offenses with regard to the act, but most countries do not have laws which ban the practice, in contrast to anal sex or extramarital sex. In Islamic literature, the only forms of sexual activity that are consistently explicitly prohibited within marriage are anal sex and sexual activity during menstruation. However, the exact attitude towards oral sex is a subject of disagreements between modern scholars of Islam. Authorities considering it "objectionable" do so because of the penis's supposedly impure fluids coming in contact with the mouth. Others emphasize that there is no decisive evidence to forbid oral sex.


title: Fellatio

text: In Malaysia, fellatio is illegal, but the law is seldom enforced. Under Malaysia's Section 377A of the Penal Code, the introduction of the penis into the anus or mouth of another person is considered a "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and is punishable with imprisonment of 20 years maximum and whipping.


title: Fellatio

text: Galienus called fellatio "lesbiari" since women of the island of Lesbos were supposed to have introduced the practice of using one's lips to give sexual pleasure.


title: Fellatio

text: The Ancient Indian "Kama Sutra", dating from the first century AD, describes oral sex, discussing fellatio in great detail (the "Kama Sutra" has a chapter on (or ), "mouth congress") and only briefly mentioning cunnilingus. However, according to the "Kama Sutra", fellatio is above all a characteristic of eunuchs (or, according to other translations, of effeminate homosexuals or trans women similar to the modern Hijra of India), who use their mouths as a substitute for female genitalia.


title: Fellatio

text: Vātsyāyana, the author of the "Kama Sutra", states that it is also practiced by "unchaste women", but mentions that there are widespread traditional concerns about this being a degrading or unclean practice, with known practitioners being evaded as love partners in large parts of the country. The author appears to somewhat agree with these attitudes, claiming that "a wise man" should not engage in that form of intercourse while acknowledging that it can be appropriate in some unspecified cases.


title: Fellatio

text: The Moche culture of ancient Peru worshipped daily life including sexual acts. They depicted fellatio in their ceramics.


title: Fellatio

text: In some cultures, such as Cambodia, Chinese in Southeast Asia, northern Manchu tribes along Amur River, Sambians in Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Telugus of India, Hawaii and other Pacific Islanders, briefly taking the penis of a male infant or toddler into one's mouth was considered a nonsexual form of affection or even a form of ritual, greeting, respect, parenting love, or lifesaving. According to some sources, it was an ancient Chinese custom for grandmothers, mothers, and elder sisters to calm their baby boys with fellatio. It has also been reported that some modern Chinese mothers have performed fellatio to their moribund sons as affection and means for lifesaving, because they culturally believe that when the penis is completely retracted into the abdomen, the boy or man will die.


title: Fellatio

text: Flying foxes (a type of bat) have been observed engaging in oral sex. Indian flying fox males will lick a female's vulva both before and after copulation, with the length of pre-copulation cunnilingus positively correlated with length of copulation. The fruit bat "Cynopterus sphinx", has been observed to engage in fellatio during mating. Pairs spend more time copulating if the female licks the male than if she does not. Male Livingstone's fruit bats have been observed engaging in homosexual fellatio, although it is unknown if this is an example of sexual behavior or social grooming. Bonin flying foxes also engage in homosexual fellatio, but the behavior has been observed independently of social grooming.


title: Selena

text: Selena Quintanilla Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known mononymously as Selena, was an American Tejano singer. Called the "Queen of Tejano music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers of the late 20th century. In 2020, "Billboard" magazine put her in third place on their list of "Greatest Latino Artists of All Time", based on both Latin albums and Latin songs chart. Media outlets called her the "Tejano Madonna" for her clothing choices. She also ranks among the most influential Latin artists of all time and is credited for catapulting the Tejano genre into the mainstream market.


title: Selena

text: The youngest child of the Quintanilla family, she debuted on the music scene as a member of the band Selena y Los Dinos, which also included her elder siblings A.B. Quintanilla and Suzette Quintanilla. In the 1980s, she was often criticized and was refused bookings at venues across Texas for performing Tejano musica male-dominated music genre. However, her popularity grew after she won the Tejano Music Award for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1987, which she won nine consecutive times. She signed with EMI Latin in 1989 and released her self-titled debut album the same year, while her brother became her principal music producer and songwriter.


title: Selena

text: Selena released "Entre a Mi Mundo" (1992), which peaked at number one on the US "Billboard" Regional Mexican Albums chart for eight consecutive months. The album's commercial success led music critics to call it the "breakthrough" recording of her musical career. One of its singles, "Como la Flor", became one of her most popular signature songs. "Live!" (1993) won Best Mexican/American Album at the 1994 Grammy Awards, becoming the first recording by a female Tejano artist to do so. In 1994, she released "Amor Prohibido", which became one of the best-selling Latin albums in the United States. It was critically acclaimed as being responsible for Tejano music's first marketable era as it became one of the most popular Latin music subgenres at the time.


title: Selena

text: Selena was shot and killed on March 31, 1995, by Yolanda Saldívar, her friend and the former manager of her Selena Etc. boutiques. Saldívar was cornered by police when she attempted to flee and threatened to kill herself but was convinced to give herself up. She was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison with possible parole after 30 years. Two weeks later, George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas, declared April 16 as Selena Day in Texas. Her posthumous crossover album, "Dreaming of You" (1995), debuted atop the "Billboard" 200, making Selena the first Latin artist to accomplish this feat. In 1997, Warner Bros. released "Selena", a film about her life and career, which starred a then-unknown Jennifer Lopez as Selena, catapulting Lopez into fame. In 2020, Netflix released "" starring Christian Serratos. Selena has sold around 18 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling female artists in Latin music.


title: Selena

text: 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. The obstetrician-gynecologist at her birth was future House of Representatives member Ron Paul. 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 1980 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.


title: Selena

text: As her popularity as a singer grew, the demands of Selena's performance and travel schedule began to interfere with her education. Her father took her out of school when she was in the eighth grade. Her teacher Marilyn Greer disapproved of Selena's musical career. She threatened to report Quintanilla Jr. to the Texas Board of Education, believing the conditions to which Selena was exposed were inappropriate for a girl her age. Quintanilla Jr. told Greer to "mind her business". Other teachers expressed their concerns when they noticed how tired Selena appeared when she arrived at school. At seventeen, Selena earned a high school diploma from the American School of Correspondence in Chicago and was also accepted at Louisiana State University. She enrolled at Pacific Western University, taking up business administration as her major subject.


title: Selena

text: Quintanilla Jr. refurbished an old bus; he named it "Big Bertha" and the family used it as their tour bus. In the first years of touring, the family sang for food and barely had enough money to pay for gasoline. In 1984, Selena recorded her first LP record, "Selena y Los Dinos", for Freddie Records. Despite wanting to record English-language songs, Selena recorded Tejano music compositions; a male-dominated, Spanish-language genre with German influences of polka, jazz, and country music, popularized by Mexicans living in the United States.


title: Selena

text: Quintanilla Jr. believed that Selena should record musical compositions related to her heritage. During the recording sessions for the album, Selena had to learn Spanish phonetically with guidance from her father. In 1985, to promote the album, Selena appeared on the "Johnny Canales Show", a popular Spanish-language radio program, on which she continued to appear for several years. Selena was discovered by musician Rudy Trevino, founder of the Tejano Music Awards, where she won the Female Vocalist of the Year award in 1987 and for nine consecutive years after.


title: Selena

text: The band was often turned down by Texas music venues because of the members' ages and because Selena was their lead singer. Her father was often told by promoters that Selena would never be successful because she was a woman in a genre historically dominated by men. By 1988, Selena had released five more LP records; "Alpha" (1986), "Munequito de Trapo" (1987), "And the Winner Is..." (1987), "Preciosa" (1988), and "Dulce Amor" (1988).


title: Selena

text: José Behar of newly formed label EMI Latin Records, together with the new head of Sony Music Latin, watched Selena perform at the 1989 Tejano Music Awards. Behar was searching for new Latin acts and wanted to sign Selena to EMI's label Capitol Records, while Sony Music Latin offered Quintanilla Jr. twice Capitol's signing fee. Behar thought he had discovered the "next Gloria Estefan" but his superior called Behar illogical because he had been in South Texas less than a week. Quintanilla Jr. chose EMI Latin's offer because of the potential for a crossover album and wanted his children to be the first musicians to sign to the label.


title: Selena

text: Before Selena began recording for her debut album, Behar and Stephen Finfer requested a crossover album for her. She recorded three English-language compositions for the heads of EMI's pop division. Behar and Finfer's request for a crossover album was denied and Selena was told she needed a bigger fan base to sell such an album. Behar thought EMI Records and the public did not believe that a Mexican American woman could have "crossover potential" after Charles Koppelman denied the project.


title: Selena

text: Selena released her self-titled debut album on October 17, 1989. The singer recorded most of the songs at AMEN Studios in San Antonio, Texas; "Sukiyaki" and "My Love" were recorded at Sunrise Studios in Houston. Selena wrote "My Love" and wanted the song to be included on the album. Her brother A.B., became Selena's principal record producer and songwriter for most of her musical career, though did not write the tracks "Sukiyaki", "Contigo Quiero Estar", and "No Te Vayas". "Sukiyaki" was originally recorded in Japanese in the 1960s by Kyu Sakamoto; Selena used a translation into Spanish of an English version of the song by Janice Marie Johnson. "Selena" peaked at number seven on the US "Billboard" Regional Mexican Albums chart, becoming Selena's first recording to debut on a national music chart. The album performed better than other recordings from other contemporaneous female Tejano singers.


title: Selena

text: In the same year, Coca-Cola wanted Selena to become one of their spokespeople in Texas. The jingle used in her first two commercials for the company was composed by A.B. and Chris Pérez—the latter of whom had joined Selena y Los Dinos several months earlier as the band's new guitarist. Pérez began having romantic feelings for Selena, despite having a girlfriend in San Antonio. After a trip down to Mexico with the band, Pérez thought it would be best for them both to distance themselves, but he found that impossible and chose to try to build a relationship with her. They expressed their feelings for each other at a Pizza Hut restaurant and shortly afterward became a couple. Pérez and Selena hid their relationship, fearing Quintanilla Jr. would try to break it up.


title: Selena

text: Selena released her second studio album, "Ven Conmigo", in September 1990. Three tracks from "Ven Conmigo" were released as singles; "Ya Ves", "La Tracalera", and "Baila Esta Cumbia". The latter, a Tejano cumbia song, became one of Selena's most successful single. Its popularity grew in Mexico, where a compilation album bearing the single's name was released there, which was certified platinum by the Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (AMPROFON), denoting sales of 150,000 units.


title: Selena

text: A registered nurse and fan named Yolanda Saldívar asked Quintanilla Jr. to start a fan club in San Antonio. Saldívar had the idea after she had attended one of Selena's concerts. Quintanilla Jr. approved Saldívar's request; he believed the fan club would bring more exposure for the band. Saldívar soon became a close friend to Selena and the family; she was trusted and became the acting president of the fan club in 1991. That same year, Salvadoran singer Álvaro Torres composed a duet he wanted to record with Selena. The song, "Buenos Amigos", was produced by Enrique Elizondo and was released on Torres' tenth studio album "Nada Se Compara Contigo" (1991).


title: Selena

text: "Buenos Amigos" peaked at number one on the US "Billboard" Top Latin Songs chart, giving Selena her first number-one single. The song's music video earned Selena and Torres two nominations at the 1992 "Billboard" Music Awards. The track was also nominated for Duo of the Year at the 1992 Tejano Music Awards. Biographer Deborah Parédez wrote that the track enabled Selena to tour the west and east coasts of the United States. According to John Lannert of "Billboard" magazine, "Buenos Amigos" was helped by increased airplay on regional Mexican and Tejano radio stations, which had previously dismissed Selena's recordings.


title: Selena

text: Selena's sister Suzette claimed to caught Selena and Pérez flirting with each other and immediately informed their father. Quintanilla Jr. took Pérez off the bus and told him his relationship with Selena was over. Selena and Pérez continued their relationship despite Quintanilla Jr's disapproval; Selena's mother Marcella approved of their relationship. Quintanilla Jr. saw Selena and Pérez romantically together on the bus after he informed them of his disapproval; he pulled over and an argument between him and Selena ensued. He called Pérez a "cancer in my family" and threatened to disband the group if they continued their relationship.


title: Selena

text: Selena and Pérez relented; Quintanilla Jr. fired Pérez from the band and prevented Selena from leaving with him. After his dismissal, Pérez and Selena secretly continued their relationship. On the morning of April 2, 1992, Selena and Pérez decided to elope, believing Quintanilla Jr. would never approve of their relationship. Selena thought her father would have to accept them if they were married and would not have to hide their feelings for each other. Within hours of their marriage, the media announced the couple's elopement.


title: Selena

text: Selena's family tried to find her; Quintanilla Jr. did not take the news well and alienated himself for some time. Selena and Pérez moved into an apartment in Corpus Christi. In interviews, Quintanilla Jr. expressed how he feared Pérez could be a "machista" (Spanish for a male chauvinist), who would force Selena to end her career and music goals, a move that prevented Quintanilla Jr. to accept Pérez as being suitable for Selena at the time. Quintanilla Jr. later approached Pérez, apologized, accepted the marriage, and took Pérez back into the band.


title: Selena

text: A month after her elopement, Selena released her third studio album, "Entre a Mi Mundo", in May 1992. The album was critically acclaimed as her "breakthrough album". The recording peaked at number one on the US "Billboard" Regional Mexican Albums chart for eight consecutive months; it was certified 10× platinum by the RIAA for sales of 600,000 album-equivalent units, while in Mexico, the album sold 385,000 units. "Entre a Mi Mundo" became the first Tejano album by a female artist to sell over 300,000 copies.


title: Selena

text: Selena was booked for a high-profile border press tour in Monterrey, Mexico, with music media figures in a meet-and-greet conference. At the time, Tejanos were looked down on as "hayseed pochos" among Mexican citizens. The singer's Spanish was far from fluent; EMI Latin executives were "terrified" about the singer's limited Spanish during the press conference for the album in Mexico. According to Patoski, Selena "played her cards right" during the conference and won over the Mexican media after newspapers hailed her as "an artist of the people". The newspapers found her to be a refreshing change from Mexican telenovela actors "who were fair-skinned, blond-haired, and green-eyed."


title: Selena

text: After her publicity press, Selena was booked to play at several concerts throughout Mexico, including a performance at Festival Acapulco in May 1993, which garnered her critical acclaim. Her performance in Nuevo Leon on September 17, 1993, was attended by 70,000 people, garnering her the title of the biggest Tejano act in Mexico. The album produced four singles; "Como la Flor", "¿Qué Creías?", "La Carcacha", and "Amame". "Como la Flor" became Selena's signature recording; it was critically acclaimed by music critics as a career launcher for Selena.


title: Selena

text: "Como la Flor" helped Selena to dominate the Latin music charts and become immensely popular in Mexico — where Mexican-Americans were generally not liked among citizens — which was well received by critics. The track was nominated for Song of the Year at the 1993 Tejano Music Awards. The single peaked at number six on the US "Billboard" Top Latin Songs chart. In 1994, "Entre a Mi Mundo" ranked as the second best-selling regional Mexican album of all-time.


title: Selena

text: Selena released "Live!" a year after "Entre a Mi Mundo"; it was recorded during a free concert at the Memorial Coliseum in Corpus Christi, on February 7, 1993. The album included previously released tracks that were sung live and three studio recordings; "No Debes Jugar", "La Llamada", and "Tú Robaste Mi Corazón" — a duet with Tejano musician Emilio Navaira. The tracks "No Debes Jugar" and "La Llamada" peaked within the top five on the US "Billboard" Top Latin Songs chart. "Live!" won the Grammy Award for Best Mexican/American Album at the 36th Grammy Awards.


title: Selena

text: In May 1994, "Live!" was named Album of the Year by the "Billboard" Latin Music Awards. At the 1994 Tejano Music Awards, "Live!" won Album of the Year, while at the 1994 Lo Nuestro Awards, it was nominated for Regional Mexican Album of the Year. "Live!" was certified gold by the RIAA for shipments of 500,000 copies, while in Mexico it sold 250,000 units. Selena briefly appeared opposite Erik Estrada in a Mexican telenovela titled "Dos Mujeres, Un Camino". In 1995 she entered negotiations to star in another telenovela produced by Emilio Larrosa. She appeared in two episodes, which garnered record ratings for the series.


title: Selena

text: Aside from music, in 1994 Selena began designing and manufacturing a line of clothing; she opened two boutiques called Selena Etc., one in Corpus Christi and the other in San Antonio. Both were equipped with in-house beauty salons. By the end of 1994, Selena Etc. had held two fashion shows to showcase their clothing line. Selena (alongside her band, Selena y Los Dinos) held a concert after Selena Etc.'s second fashion show on December 3, 1994, at the Hemisfair Arena in San Antonio. She was in negotiations to open more stores in Monterrey, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Saldívar managed both boutiques after the Quintanilla family were impressed with the way she managed the fan club.


title: Selena

text: "Hispanic Business" magazine reported that the singer earned over five million dollars from these boutiques. She was ranked among the twentieth-wealthiest Hispanic musicians who grossed the highest income in 1993 and 1994. Selena released her fourth studio album, "Amor Prohibido", in March 1994. The recording debuted at number three on the US "Billboard" Top Latin Albums chart and number one on the US "Billboard" Regional Mexican Albums charts. After peaking at number one on the Top Latin Albums, the album remained in the top five for the rest of the year and into early 1995.


title: Selena

text: "Amor Prohibido" became the second Tejano album to reach year-end sales of 500,000 copies, which had previously only been accomplished by La Mafia. It became one of the best-selling Latin albums in the United States. "Amor Prohibido" spawned four number-one singles; the title track, "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom", "No Me Queda Más", and "Fotos y Recuerdos". "Amor Prohibido" was among the best selling U.S. albums of 1995, and has been certified 36× platinum by the RIAA for sales of 2.16 million album-equivalent units in the United States. The album was named on Tom Moon's list of the "1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List" (2008).


title: Selena

text: "Amor Prohibido" popularized Tejano music among a younger and wider audience than at any other time in the genre's history. The two singles, "Amor Prohibido" and "No Me Queda Más", were the most successful US Latin singles of 1994 and 1995, respectively. The album's commercial success led to a Grammy nomination for Best Mexican/American Album at the 37th Grammy Awards in 1995. It won Record of the Year at the 1995 Tejano Music Awards and Regional/Mexican Album of the Year at the 1995 Lo Nuestro Awards. Selena was named "one of Latin music's most successful touring acts" during her "Amor Prohibido" tour.


title: Selena

text: After "Amor Prohibido"s release, Selena was considered "bigger than Tejano itself", and broke barriers in the Latin music world. She was called the "Queen of Tejano music" by many media outlets. "Billboard" magazine ranked "Amor Prohibido" among the most essential Latin recordings of the past 50 years and included it on its list of the top 100 albums of all-time. In 2017, NPR ranked "Amor Prohibido" at number 19 on their list of the 150 greatest albums made by women. Sales of the album and its titular single represented Tejano music's first commercial success in Puerto Rico. Selena recorded a duet titled "Donde Quiera Que Estés" with the Barrio Boyzz, which was released on their album of the same name in 1994. The song reached number one on the Top Latin Songs chart, which enabled Selena to tour in New York City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Central America, where she was not well known.


title: Selena

text: In late 1994, EMI chairman Charles Koppelman decided Selena had achieved her goals in the Spanish-speaking market. He wanted to promote her as an English-language solo pop artist. Selena continued touring while EMI began preparing the crossover album, engaging Grammy Award-winning composers. By the time Selena performed to a record-breaking, sold-out concert at the Houston Astrodome in February 1995, work had already begun on her crossover album. In 1995, she made a cameo appearance in "Don Juan DeMarco", which starred Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, and Faye Dunaway.


title: Selena

text: The Quintanilla family appointed Yolanda Saldívar as manager of Selena's boutiques in early 1994. Eight months later, Selena signed Saldívar as her registered agent in San Antonio, Texas. After the agreement, Saldívar moved from San Antonio to Corpus Christi to be closer to Selena. In December 1994, the boutiques began to suffer after the number of staff for both stores had decreased. According to staff members, Saldívar often dismissed employees she disliked. Employees at the stores regularly complained about Saldívar's behavior to Selena, who dismissed the claims, believing Saldívar would not negatively impose erratic decisions on Selena's fashion venture. According to Quintanilla Jr., the staff later turned their attention to him and began informing him about Saldívar's behavior. Quintanilla Jr. took the claims seriously; he told Selena to "be careful" and said Saldívar might not be a good influence. Selena dismissed her father's inquiries because he had often distrusted people in the past. By January 1995, Selena's fashion designer Martin Gomez, her cousin Debra Ramirez, and clients had expressed their concerns over Saldívar's behavior and management skills. During an interview with Saldívar in 1995, reporters from "The Dallas Morning News" said her devotion to Selena bordered on obsession.


title: Selena

text: According to Quintanilla Jr., in January 1995, he began receiving telephone calls from fans who said they had paid for membership in the Selena fan club and had received nothing in return for it, and he began an investigation. Quintanilla Jr. discovered that Saldívar had embezzled more than $30,000 via forged checks from both the fan club and the boutiques. Quintanilla Jr. held a meeting with Selena and Suzette on the night of March 9 at Q-Productions to confront Saldívar. Quintanilla Jr. presented Saldívar with the inconsistencies about the disappeared funds. Quintanilla Jr. told her that if she did not provide evidence that disproved his accusations, he would involve the local police. Quintanilla Jr. banned Saldívar from having any contact with Selena. However, Selena did not want to dissolve their friendship; she thought Saldívar was essential to the success of the clothing line in Mexico. Selena also wanted to keep her close because she had bank records, statements, and financial records necessary for tax preparation.


title: Selena

text: In the days before Selena's death, Saldívar delayed handing over the bank statements and financial records by saying she had been physically and sexually assaulted in Mexico. Saldívar, along with Selena, appeared at a medical clinic on March 31, 1995, ostensibly to have Saldívar examined for an assault which she claimed happened to her in Monterrey. During that visit, Saldívar was given a brief physical examination by the clinic's doctor, but this did not include a gynecological exam specifically done in cases of sexual assault. It was suggested by nurse Carla Anthony that Saldívar needed to have the rape exam in San Antonio for three reasons: Saldívar was a resident of San Antonio, the clinic they were currently at was in Corpus Christi, and the assault occurred in Mexico. Afterward, Selena again met with Saldívar in her motel room at the Days Inn in Corpus Christi. At the motel, Selena demanded the financial papers. At 11:48 a.m. (CST), Saldívar got a gun from her purse and pointed it at Selena. As Selena attempted to flee, Saldívar shot her once on the right lower shoulder, severing the subclavian artery and causing a severe loss of blood. Critically wounded, Selena ran towards the lobby, leaving a -long trail of blood. She collapsed on the floor as the clerk called the emergency services, with Saldívar still chasing after her and calling her a "bitch". Before collapsing, Selena named Saldívar as her assailant and gave the number of the room where she had been shot. Meanwhile, Saldívar attempted to leave in her pickup truck. She was, however, spotted by a responding police cruiser. She surrendered after a nearly nine-and-a-half-hour standoff with police and the FBI. By that time, hundreds of fans had gathered at the scene; many wept as police took Saldívar away.


title: Selena

text: Selena was taken to the Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital at 12:00 p.m. (CST), her pupils were fixed and dilated, there was no evidence of neurological function, she had no vital signs, and was declared clinically brain dead. Dr. Louis Elkins, cardiac surgeon, arrived at Memorial Hospital and said he saw doctors making "heroic efforts" to revive Selena. They were able to establish an "erratic heartbeat" long enough to transfer her to the trauma room, and also began blood transfusions in an attempt to re-establish blood circulation after opening Selena's chest and finding massive internal bleeding. By the time Elkins arrived, an emergency doctor began "massaging her heart" after it had stopped beating. Elkins reported how all efforts were futile and said had he been the receiving doctor, he would not have made any treatments on Selena. He felt "obligated to continue" after the emergency room doctor made the decision to reanimate the singer. After 50 minutes of surgery, she was pronounced dead from blood loss and cardiac arrest at 1:05 p.m. (CST). An autopsy was performed on the same day due to the overwhelming media response. It revealed that the bullet had entered Selena's upper right back, near her shoulder blade, passed through her chest cavity, severed the right subclavian artery, and exited her right upper chest. Additionally, her official cause of death was described as "exsanguinaiting internal and external hemorrhage due to perforating gunshot wound" resulting in "massive bleeding", and with the internal examination revealing that she had not ingested any type of drug, nor was she pregnant, which was a rumor that began spreading after her death.


title: Selena

text: On April 1, Bayfront Plaza in Corpus Christi held a vigil which drew 3,000 fans. During the event, it was announced that a public viewing of the casket would be held at the Bayfront Auditorium the following day. Fans lined up for almost a . An hour before the doors opened, rumors that the casket was empty began circulating, which prompted the Quintanilla family to have an open-casket viewing. About 30,000 to 40,000 fans passed by Selena's casket. More than 78,000 signed a book of condolence. Flowers for the casket viewing were imported from The Netherlands. At the request of Selena's family, video and flash photography was banned.


title: Selena

text: On April 3, 1995, six hundred guests—mostly family members—attended Selena's burial at Seaside Memorial Park in Corpus Christi, Texas, which was broadcast live by a Corpus Christi and San Antonio radio station without the consent of her family. A Jehovah's Witness minister from Lake Jackson preached in English, quoting Paul the Apostle's words in 1 Corinthians 15. Hundreds of people began circling the area in their vehicles. Among the celebrities who attended Selena's funeral were Roberto Pulido, Bobby Pulido, David Lee Garza, Navaira, Laura Canales, Elsa Garcia, La Mafia, Ram Herrera, Imagen Latina, and Pete Astudillo. A special mass held the same day at Los Angeles Sports Arena drew a crowd of 4,000.


title: Selena

text: Selena's murder had a widespread impact. Reactions to her death were compared to those following the deaths of musicians John Lennon and Elvis Presley and that of U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Major television networks interrupted their regular programming to break the news; Tom Brokaw referred to Selena as "The Mexican Madonna". Her death was front-page news in "The New York Times" for two days. Many vigils and memorials were held in her honor, and radio stations in Texas played her music non-stop. Her funeral drew 60,000 mourners, many of whom traveled from outside the United States. The news struck the Hispanic community extremely hard; many fans traveled thousands of miles to see Selena's house and boutiques, and the crime scene. By mid-afternoon, police were asked to form a detour because a line of cars began backing up traffic from the Quintanillas' houses. Among the celebrities who were reported to have contacted the Quintanilla family to express their condolences were Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz, Julio Iglesias, and Madonna. Other celebrities—including Stefani Montiel, Jaime DeAnda (of Los Chamacos), and Shelly Lares—appeared on radio stations to express their thoughts about Selena's death. An issue of "People" magazine was released several days after her murder. Its publishers believed interest would soon wane; they released a commemorative issue within a week when it became clear it was growing. The issue sold nearly a million copies, selling the entire first and second print runs within two weeks. It became a collector's item, a first in the history of "People". Betty Cortina, an editor of "People", told "Biography" they never had an issue that was completely sold out; "it was unheard of". In the following months, the company released "People en Español" aimed at the Hispanic market, due to the success of the Selena issue. This was followed by "Newsweek en Espanol" and "Latina" magazine.


title: Selena

text: A few days later, Howard Stern mocked Selena's murder and burial, poked fun at her mourners, and criticized her music. Stern said, "This music does absolutely nothing for me. Alvin and the Chipmunks have more soul ... Spanish people have the worst taste in music. They have no depth." Stern's comments outraged and infuriated the Hispanic community in Texas. Stern played Selena's songs with gunshots in the background on his show. After a disorderly conduct arrest warrant was issued in his name, Stern made an on-air statement, in Spanish, saying his comments were not made to cause "more anguish to her family, friends and those who loved her". Stern was not formally charged. The League of United Latin American Citizens boycotted Stern's show, finding his apology unacceptable. Texas retailers removed any products that were related to Stern, while Sears and McDonald's sent a letter stating their disapproval of Stern's comments to the media because some fans believed the companies sponsored Stern's show. Within a week, on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", Stern and Robin Quivers (his co-host) were asked whether Stern's remarks about Selena were acceptable. Quivers decided not to talk about the situation to avoid arguing with Stern. When Linda Ronstadt—a pop singer of Mexican-American heritage—appeared on the show, she and Quivers argued when Ronstadt defended Selena.


title: Selena

text: On April 12, 1995, two weeks after Selena's death, George W. Bush, governor of Texas at the time, declared her birthday, April 16, Selena Day in the state. He said Selena represented "the essence of south Texas culture." Some European Americans in Texas wrote to the editor of the "Brazosport Facts" during April and May, asking what the big deal was; some were offended that Selena Day fell on Easter. Others said, "Easter is "more" important than Selena Day", and that they believed people should let Selena rest in peace and continue with their lives. Mexican Americans in Texas wrote vociferously to the newspaper. Some said others were too critical of Selena Day, and should not have responded so rudely.


title: Selena

text: In October 1995, a Houston jury convicted Saldívar of first-degree murder and she was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years in 2025. Life with the possibility of parole was the maximum prison term allowed in Texas that could be imposed at the time. In 2002, under a judge's order, the gun used to kill Selena was destroyed and the pieces were thrown into Corpus Christi Bay. Fans and historians disapproved of the decision to destroy the gun, saying the event was historical and the gun should have been in a museum.


title: Selena

text: Selena possessed a soprano vocal range. In an April 1995 interview with "Billboard" magazine, Behar said he saw Selena as a "cross between Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston in style, feel, and vocal range". Although Selena did not write most of her songs, she incorporated R&B, Latin pop, technopop, country and western, and disco into her Tejano music repertoire. Mario Tarradell of "The Dallas Morning News" said that during her music career, Selena "merges Tejano's infectious cumbia rhythm with street-savvy R&B, old-school soul, dancehall reggae, sizzling salsa, and trippy, loopy funk". Selena's recordings expressed "love and pain, as well as strength and passion", according to Charles Tatum.


title: Selena

text: She also recorded independently driven, female-empowerment-themed compositions; "Si La Quieres", "¿Qué Creías?", "Ya Ves" and "Ya No", which centered around inappropriate relationships and recovery from domestic violence. Peter Watrous of "The New York Times" said Selena's voice "sometimes quivered", and that she "roughed it up a bit". He continued, "[a]t its best, it had a coolness, a type of unadorned passion". Ilan Stavans called her music "cursi-melodramatic, cheesy, overemotional, not too far from Juan Gabriel and a relative of Iglesias". Richard Corliss of "Time" magazine said her songs "are perky, cheerful rather than soulful", and that earlier recordings, "with their tinny, Tijuana Brass charts, and keyboards that evoke calliopes are ideal for the fairground or merry-go-round". Corliss calls Selena's singing an "expert mimicry of everything from Édith Piaf's melodramatic contralto to the coloratura riffs of Mariah Carey. But the sounds are still lightly Hispanic."


title: Selena

text: "Newsweek" magazine called Selena's English-language recordings "a blend of urban pop and Latin warmth". According to "Texas Monthly", Selena's brother modernized her music into a more "funk and hip hop" sound. Selena's use of emotive range during her musical career has been praised by critics as being her trademark. A.B. wrote increasingly cumbia-influenced songs for "Ven Conmigo" (1990); Ramiro Burr of "Billboard" said Selena and her band had "evolved a rhythmic style that demonstrated its increasing prowess for catchy cumbias such as 'Baila Esta Cumbia' and the title track". Italian essayist Gaetano Prampolini wrote that "Selena's voice projected a sonorous warmth and joyfulness" during his review of Selena's cumbia recordings. In his review of the remix album "Enamorada de Ti" (2012), Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that Selena's songs were "rooted in the '90s and sound that way".


title: Selena

text: Quintanilla Jr. sought to maintain Selena's image clean and family-oriented. In 1989, she was offered sponsorship from beer companies but her father turned them down. Selena was often refused gigs at Tejano venues because she was a female singer in a male-dominated music scene. Manuel Peña wrote that after 1989, Selena's popularity increased and she became a sex icon following the release of her debut album. Charles Tatum said Selena drew most attention from her "beauty, sexuality, and youthful impact on the Tejano music scene". Selena said she never wanted to record explicit songs because of her upbringing and because her fan base consisted largely of young children, who regarded her as a role model. She further commented on the question of her sexual appeal to men during her crossover attempt, asserting that she will "stay the same" and that her English-language recordings will refrain from foul language and sexual themes. In 1997, María Celeste Arrarás wrote in her book about Selena's death that the singer was a "sweet and charismatic girl". According to Arrarás, Selena "trusted everyone"; she often went shopping alone, despite her father's concerns over her safety.


title: Selena

text: Betty Cortina of "People" magazine said Selena's provocative choice of clothing was an acceptable emulation of Janet Jackson and Madonna, and that she wore "sexy outfits that [accentuated] a body of a Latina woman". Cortina also stated that Selena had a "flamboyant style, an unbelievable body, curves and booty". Arrarás wrote that Selena "began wearing clothes designed to emphasize her curvaceous figure" and that she "never came across as cheap—simply sexy". She also said Selena's makeup regimen was not being "painted up or vulgar". Arrarás also noted Selena's "fun-loving stage manner" and said she was "playful onstage and off".


title: Selena

text: Matt S. Meier wrote in his book "The Mexican American Experience: An Encyclopedia" (2010) that Selena exhibited "contagious energy" during her concerts and said she displayed "warmth, passion, and sexuality" while exuding a "down-to-earth persona of the wholesome young girl next door". Selena wore outfits that accented her physical attributes and was not afraid to wear outfits she liked, despite criticism from parents who thought Selena's choice of outfits were inappropriate for young girls, who began emulating Selena. Her views on public image in the fashion industry were bothersome; she said she was opposed to the image that all woman should be "rail-thin" and the notion that they must wear certain outfits and be "super-young to be beautiful".


title: Selena

text: In the early 1990s, Selena began wearing decorative bustiers, spandex or tight pants, and attractive, unbuttoned jackets during her concerts. She was inspired by Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, and Madonna. During a 1992 interview, Selena said her choice of clothing does not reflect her personality. NBC News called Selena's outfit "provocative". Because of her choices of outfits and dance moves, she was named by her fans as the "Mexican Madonna". According to Suzette, Selena often designed and sewed her outfits backstage with her designers, moments before she was due on stage. Quintanilla Jr. disapproved of Selena's outfits, but he later accepted it when Selena discussed it being a fashion trend.


title: Selena

text: Selena became an inactive member of the Jehovah's Witnesses due to her exotic clothing. During the photo shoot for "Entre a Mi Mundo" (1992), a photographer remarked on the ways Selena's choice of clothing affected Quintanilla Jr. tremendously; he often left sessions when Selena appeared in revealing outfits. Selena was credited as the first woman to change public perceptions of feminine beauty in the Tejano market; a feminist, she blazed a trail for other female artists during her career.


title: Selena

text: Following Selena's death, some celebrities questioned her status as a role model among Hispanic women. In her about the singer, filmmaker Lourdes Portillo expressed concerns whether Selena was a great role model for young women. Portillo believed Selena was sending the wrong message to young girls by dancing in clothing that suggested hypersexualization. American author Sandra Cisneros agreed with Portillo's assessment that Selena was "not a good role model to Latina women". Media outlets also shared Portillo's views; they said the "fairy tale story" of Selena was one that her family would want to preserve, questioning Quintanilla Jr.'s role for pushing an image that Selena had "never made mistakes" into the media, calling it "lies" and "not the real story".


title: Selena

text: During her childhood, Selena helped organizations such as Toys for Tots. She was active in the U.S. Latino community, visiting local schools to talk to students about the importance of education. At Fulmore Junior High School in Austin, she educated two hundred high school students about positive attitudes and setting life-goals in their adult lives. Selena urged children to stay in school, and that alcohol and drugs will lead them nowhere in life. She spent her free time helping her community. Selena performed in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the forming of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Following the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, Selena helped victims in Florida by performing at a Houston benefit concert.


title: Selena

text: In August 1994, Selena hosted a charity baseball game to raise money for unspecified charities. She also donated her time to civic organizations such as D.A.R.E. and planned a fundraising concert to help AIDS patients. Selena participated with the Texas Prevention Partnership which was sponsored by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Dep Corporation), which released an educational video that was sent to students for free. Her pro-education videos included "My Music" and "Selena Agrees". She was in the works for a Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas Boys & Girls Clubs of America benefit concert.


title: Selena

text: In January 1995, Selena headlined the Teach the Children festival in San Antonio. The concert funded a non-profit program to provide school supplies to needy children. Selena was a spokesperson for women in abusive relationships. She also helped out at homeless shelters. According to the A&E television series "Biography", Selena's fans were often minorities; she encouraged them to make the most of their lives.


title: Selena

text: Selena has been credited for helping redefine Latin music and its subgenres of Tejano, cumbia, and Latin pop. Selena broke barriers in the Latin music world. She is considered "one of the most significant Mexican-American singers of the end of the twentieth century". "People" magazine named Selena one of the most intriguing people of the 20th century. US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison named Selena one of "the spirited women who shaped [the United States]." Selena also became one of the "most celebrated cultural products" of the United States-Mexico borderlands. Selena was called the "Queen of Tejano music", and was described as "the most important and popular Tejano star of all time". Her death was "the most devastating loss" in Tejano music history, according to Zach Quaintance of "The Monitor". At the time of her death, Selena became one of the most widely known Mexican-American vocal artists and the most popular Latin artist in the United States. She had a "cult-like" following among Hispanics.


title: Selena

text: Selena has been named one of the most influential Latin artists of all-time and has been credited for elevating a music genre into the mainstream market. "Latin Post" called the singer "one of the most iconic artists in Latin American music history", while "The New York Times" called her "arguably the most important Latina musician in the country, on her way to becoming one of the most important, period." Selena became a household name in the United States and Mexico following her death and became part of the American pop culture. She became more popular in death than when she was alive. After her death, her popularity among the Hispanic population was compared to those of Marilyn Monroe and Madonna in Anglo-American culture. According to author Carlota Caulfield, Selena was "one of the most popular Latina singers of the 1990s". Selena's popularity was drawn in by the LGBT community and minority groups in the United States. The popularity of Tejano music waned after her death and has not recovered. John Lannert of "Billboard" said in an interview with "Biography" in 2007 that when Selena died the "Tejano market died with her".


title: Selena

text: "Dreaming of You", the crossover album Selena had been working on at the time of her death, was released in July 1995. It sold 175,000 copies on the day of its release in the U.S. — a then-record for a female vocalist — and sold 331,000 copies its first week. Selena became the third female artist to sell over 300,000 units in one week, after Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey. It debuted at number one on the U.S. "Billboard" 200 chart, becoming the first album by a Hispanic artist to do so. "Dreaming of You" helped Selena to become the first solo artist to debut a posthumous album at number one. "Dreaming of You" joined five of Selena's studio albums on the "Billboard" 200 chart simultaneously, making Selena the first female artist in "Billboard" history to do so. The album was certified 59× platinum (Latin field), for sales of 3.54 million album-equivalent units in the U.S. alone.


title: Selena

text: In 1995, the United States Social Security Administration ranked the name Selena one of the 100 most popular names for newborn girls, and namesake Selena Gomez acknowledged Quintanilla's influence. In December 1999, Selena was named the "top Latin artist of the '90s" and "Best selling Latin artist of the decade" by "Billboard" for her fourteen top-ten singles in the Top Latin Songs chart, including seven number-one hits. She was the best-selling Latin female singer of the 1990s in the U.S. and Mexico. Selena was named "Best Female Vocalist of the '80s" and "Best Female Vocalist of the '90s" at the 2010 Tejano Music Awards.


title: Selena

text: In the months following her death, several honors and tributes were erected. Several proposals were made, such as renaming streets, public parks, food products, and auditoriums. Two months later, a tribute was held at the 1995 Lo Nuestro Awards. The Spirit of Hope Award was created in Selena's honor in 1996; it was awarded to Latin artists who participated in humanitarian and civic causes. On March 16, 2011, the United States Postal Service released a "Latin Legends" memorial stamp to honor Selena, Carlos Gardel, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, and Carmen Miranda. In February 2014, the Albany, New York "Times Union" named her one of "100 Coolest Americans in History". In 1998 Selena was commemorated with a museum.


title: Selena

text: In 1995, Selena was inducted into the "Billboard" Latin Music Hall of Fame, the Hard Rock Cafe's Hall of Fame, and the South Texas Music Hall of Fame. In 2001 she was inducted into the Tejano Music Hall of Fame. In 2017, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The unveiling ceremony of her star was attended by around 4,500 fans, which was the largest-ever crowd for an unveiling ceremony at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was named one of the 20 most influential Texans of all time by author Laurie Jasinski. She was ranked fifth of the "100 most influential Latin musicians of the 20th century" according to the "Orange County Register". The singer has been given many epithets by media outlets, including the "Queen of Cumbia", the "Chicana Elvis", the "Queen of hybrid pop culture", the "Hispanic Marilyn Monroe", the "Tupac Shakur of Latin music", the "Corpus Christi queen", and the "people's princess". Media have compared Selena's fashion sense to that of Madonna more times than any other celebrity.


title: Selena

text: In 1995, Mexican actress Salma Hayek was chosen to portray Selena in a biopic produced by the Quintanilla family and Warner Bros. However, Hayek turned down the role as she felt it was "too early" to base a film on Selena, and that it would be emotional since Selena's death was still being covered on American television. Over 21,000 people auditioned for the title role, becoming the second largest audition since the search for Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" (1939). Puerto Rican-American actress Jennifer Lopez replaced Hayek, which initially drew criticism because of Lopez's Puerto Rican ancestry, but after seeing her performance, fans changed their views. Gregory Nava directed the film, which was released on March 21, 1997. "Selena" opened in 1,850 theaters worldwide and grossed $11,615,722, making it the second-highest-grossing film debut that week. With a production budget of $20 million, the film grossed $35 million in the U.S. The film was a commercial and critical success and is often cited by critics as Lopez's breakthrough role. Lopez rose into pop culture, for which the film's success was credited.


title: Selena

text: In 1999, a Broadway-bound musical titled "Selena" was scheduled to premiere in San Antonio in March 2000 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of her murder. Broadway producers Tom Quinn, Jerry Frankel, Peter Fitzgerald, and Michael Vega staged the musical, and Edward Gallardo wrote the show's book and lyrics. Fernando Rivas composed the show's songs. In 2000, "Selena Forever" was first produced; the show embarked on a 30-city U.S. tour with a budget of over US$2 million. After a national casting call, producers chose Veronica Vasquez to portray Selena; Vasquez alternated in the role with Rebecca Valdez. The musical previewed on March 21, and opened on March 23 at the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium.


title: Selena

text: Selena's family and her former band, Los Dinos, held a tribute concert on April 7, 2005, a week after the 10th anniversary of her murder. The concert, titled "Selena ¡VIVE!", was broadcast live on Univision and achieved a 35.9 household rating. It was the highest-rated and most-viewed Spanish-language television special in the history of American television. The special was also the number-one program in any language among adults ages 18 to 34 in Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco; it tied for first in New York, beating that night's episode of Fox's reality show "American Idol". Among Hispanic viewers, "Selena ¡VIVE!" outperformed Super Bowl XLV and the telenovela "Soy tu dueña" during the "most-watched NFL season ever among Hispanics".


title: Selena

text: In January 2015, it was announced that a two-day annual event called Fiesta de la Flor would be held in Corpus Christi for Selena by the Corpus Christi Visitors Bureau. Musical acts for the first annual event included Kumbia All-Starz, Chris Pérez, Los Lobos, Jay Perez, Little Joe y la Familia, Los Palominos, Stefani Montiel of Las 3 Divas, Girl in a Coma's Nina Diaz, Las Fenix, and "The Voice" contestant Clarissa Serna. The event raised $13 million with an attendance of 52,000 people, 72% of whom lived outside of Corpus Christi. The event sparked interest from people in 35 states and five different countries including Mexico, Brazil, and Ecuador.


title: Selena

text: On August 30, 2016, a wax statue of Selena was unveiled at Madame Tussauds Hollywood. In October 2016, MAC Cosmetics released a limited edition Selena makeup line after "On Air with Ryan Seacrest" senior producer Patty Rodriguez started a petition for the company to do so and it garnering over 37,000 signatures. It became the best-selling celebrity line in cosmetic history. She was inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame at Texas Woman's University in October 2016. An exhibit at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. that ran in 2017, focused on Selena's influence in marketing. "Due to her massive appeal to both general and Latino markets, advertisers began targeting specific demographics for the first time."


title: Selena

text: Google honored Selena on October 17, 2017, with a musical doodle of her life. On December 11, 2018, it was announced that a biographical television series based on Selena's life titled "" would be released on Netflix in December 2020. Actress Christian Serratos plays the leading role as Selena, which was shown in a teaser trailer in late 2019. The two-part series is being done with the participation of the Quintanilla family. "" is an American biographical drama streaming television series created by Moisés Zamora and starring Christian Serratos. The first part of the series was released on Netflix on December 4, 2020. The second and final part premiered on May 4, 2021.


title: Selena

text: Forever 21 announced the launch of a clothing line celebrating her legacy named "Selena: The White Rose Collection", was released in 2019.


title: Selena

text: In a 10-part podcast miniseries, "Anything for Selena," broadcast in 2021 by WBUR and Futuro Media, Latina journalist Maria Garcia "goes on an intimate, revelatory quest to understand how Selena has become a potent symbol for tensions around race, class and body politics in the United States". In the same year, Selena was posthumously presented with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award which her family received on the artist's behalf.


title: Selena

text: Mirador de la Flor () is Selena's own life-size bronze statue monument in Corpus Christi, Texas, sculpted by H. W. "Buddy" Tatum and unveiled in 1997. About 30,000 people from around the world visit this monument every year. While the monument has remained a popular tourist attraction, the construction of the statue met some resistance from the local community. Dusty Durrill, a local philanthropist, financed the construction of the monument with support from local community leaders.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since its formation in 1989. Known for his controversial stage personality and public image, his stage name (like the other founding members of the band) was formed by combining the names of two opposing American cultural icons: actress Marilyn Monroe and cult leader Charles Manson.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: Manson is best known for music released in the 1990s, including the albums "Portrait of an American Family" (1994), "Antichrist Superstar" (1996) and "Mechanical Animals" (1998), which earned him a reputation in mainstream media as a controversial figure and negative influence on young people when combined with his public image. In the U.S. alone, three of the band's albums have been awarded platinum status and three more went gold, and the band has had eight releases debut in the top 10, including two No. 1 albums. Manson has been ranked at No. 44 on the list of the "Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists" by "Hit Parader" and, along with his band, has been nominated for four Grammy Awards–Manson himself earned an additional Grammy nomination for his work on Kanye West's "Donda". Manson made his film debut as an actor in David Lynch's "Lost Highway" (1997), and has since appeared in a variety of minor roles and cameos. In 2002, his first art show, "The Golden Age of Grotesque", was held at the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions center.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: He is widely considered one of the most controversial figures in heavy metal music, and has been involved in numerous controversies throughout his career. His lyrics were criticized by American politicians and were examined in congressional hearings. Several U.S. states enacted legislation specifically banning the group from performing in state-operated venues. In 1999, news media falsely blamed Manson for influencing the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre. His work has been cited in several other violent events; his paintings and films appeared as evidence in a murder trial, and he has been accused of inspiring several other murders and school shootings. In 2021, multiple women accused Manson of psychologically and sexually abusing them, allegations he denied.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: Brian Hugh Warner was born in Canton, Ohio, on January 5, 1969, the son of Barbara Warner Wyer (died May 13, 2014) and Hugh Angus Warner (died July 7, 2017). He is of English, German, Irish, and Polish descent, and has also claimed that his mother's family (who hailed from the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia) had Sioux heritage. As a child, he attended his mother's Episcopal church, though his father was a Roman Catholic. He attended Heritage Christian School from first to tenth grade. In that school, his instructors tried to show children what music they were not supposed to listen to; Warner then fell in love with what he "wasn't supposed to." Warner later transferred to GlenOak High School and graduated from there in 1987. After relocating with his parents, he became a student at Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1990. He was working towards a degree in journalism, gaining experience in the field by writing articles for the music magazine "25th Parallel". He also interviewed musicians and soon met several of the musicians to whom his own work was later compared, including Groovie Mann from My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, with the latter later becoming his mentor and producing his debut album.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: The band was formed in 1989 by Warner and guitarist Scott Putesky, with Warner writing lyrics and Putesky composing the majority of music. Warner adopted the stage name Marilyn Manson and, alongside a revolving lineup of musicians, recorded the band's first demo tape as Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids in 1990. The group quickly developed a loyal fanbase within the South Florida punk and hardcore music scene, primarily as a result of their intentionally shocking concerts; band members often performed in women's clothing or bizarre costumes, and live shows routinely featured amateur pyrotechnics, naked women nailed to crucifixes, children locked in cages, as well as experiments in reverse psychology and butchered animals remains. Within six months of forming, they were playing sold-out shows in 300-capacity nightclubs throughout Florida. They signed a record deal with Sony Music in early 1991, although this deal was rescinded before any material was recorded for the label. The band instead used the proceeds of this deal to fund the recording of subsequent demo tapes, which were released independently.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: The name of the group was shortened to Marilyn Manson in 1992, and they continued to perform and release cassettes until the summer of 1993, when Reznor signed the act to his vanity label Nothing Records. Their debut studio album, "Portrait of an American Family", was released in July 1994. Manson later criticized Nothing Records and its parent label Interscope for a perceived lack of promotion. While recording b-sides and remixes for the album's proposed third single, "Dope Hat", the band decided to issue the resultant material as a standalone release titled "Smells Like Children". The record included their cover version of the Eurythmics's "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", which established the band as a mainstream act. The song's music video was placed on heavy rotation on MTV, and earned the band their first nomination for Best Rock Video at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards. Their second studio album, 1996's "Antichrist Superstar", sparked a fierce backlash among Christian fundamentalists. The album was an immediate commercial success, debuting at number three on the "Billboard" 200 and selling almost 2 million copies in the United States alone, and 7 million copies worldwide. Lead single "The Beautiful People" received three nominations at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, where the band also performed.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: For 1998's "Mechanical Animals", Manson said he took inspiration from 1970s glam rock, and adopted a wardrobe and hairstyle similar to David Bowie. He said he did this to avoid being portrayed as a "bogeyman", a role which had been ascribed to him by mainstream media following the band's commercial breakthrough. Interscope's promotion of the album was massive, with the label erecting enormous billboards of Manson as an androgynous extraterrestrial in Times Square and the Sunset Strip. Lead single "The Dope Show" was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards. The album debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200, but was the lowest-selling number-one album of 1998 in the United States, with sales of 1.4 million copies in the country as of 2017. The album was not well received by longtime fans, who complained about its radio-friendly sound and accused the vocalist of "selling out", and Interscope were reportedly disappointed with its commercial performance.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: "Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)" was a return to the band's industrial metal roots after the glam-influenced "Mechanical Animals", and was the vocalist's response to media coverage blaming him for influencing the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre. The album was a critical success, with numerous publications praising it as the band's finest work. Despite being certified gold in the United States for shipments in excess of half a million units, mainstream media openly questioned the band's commercial appeal, noting the dominance of nu metal and controversial hip hop artists such as Eminem. A cover of "Tainted Love" was an international hit in 2002, peaking at number one in several territories.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: "The Golden Age of Grotesque" was released the following year, an album primarily inspired by the swing and burlesque movements of 1920s Berlin. In an extended metaphor found throughout the record, Manson compared his own often-criticized work to the "Entartete Kunst" banned by the Nazi regime. Like "Mechanical Animals" in 1998, "The Golden Age of Grotesque" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200, but was the lowest-selling studio album to debut at number one that year, selling 527,000 copies in the United States as of 2008. The album was more successful in Europe, where it sold over 400,000 on its first week of release to debut at number one on "Billboard"s European Top 100 Albums. Manson began his collaboration with French fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier during this period, who designed much of the elaborate attire worn by the band on the supporting "Grotesk Burlesk Tour". The greatest hits compilation "" was released in 2004.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: After a three-year hiatus, in which the vocalist pursued other interests, the band returned with 2007's "Eat Me, Drink Me". The album's lyrical content largely related to the dissolution of Manson's marriage to Dita Von Teese and his affair with 19-year-old actress Evan Rachel Wood. Seventh studio album "The High End of Low" was released in 2009, and was their final album issued by Interscope. While promoting the record, Manson made a series of disparaging comments about the label and its artistic censorship, as well as its president Jimmy Iovine. Manson signed a lucrative recording contract with British independent record label Cooking Vinyl in 2011, with the band and label sharing profits equally after the label recouped costs associated with marketing, promotion and distribution. The first album released under the deal was 2012's "Born Villain". Lead single "No Reflection" earned the band their fourth Grammy nomination. Subsequent albums were released in the United States by Loma Vista Recordings, beginning with 2015's "The Pale Emperor", which was widely seen as a return to form and was a commercial success upon release.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: "Heaven Upside Down" followed in 2017, with its single "Kill4Me" becoming the band's highest-peaking single ever on "Billboard" Mainstream Rock. While touring in support of the record, Manson was injured by two large falling stage props as he performed on stage at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, breaking his fibula in two places, requiring a plate and ten screws to be inserted in the bone, as well as another screw in his ankle, which he had sprained during a show in Pittsburgh. "God's Gonna Cut You Down" was released as a non-album single in 2019, and is the band's highest-peaking single on "Billboard" Hot Rock Songs and Rock Digital Songs. Their most recent studio album, 2020's "We Are Chaos", was the band's tenth top ten release on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: According to Nielsen SoundScan, the band sold 8.7 million albums alone in the United States as of 2011. Three of their albums received platinum awards from the Recording Industry Association of America, and a further three received gold certifications. Ten of their releases debuted in the top ten of the "Billboard" 200, including two number-one albums. In the United Kingdom, the band are certified for sales of almost 1.75 million units. Marilyn Manson has sold over 50 million records worldwide.


title: Marilyn Manson

text: In addition to his work with the band, Manson has collaborated extensively with other musicians. Cello rock act Rasputina opened for the band throughout the "Dead to the World Tour", the controversial tour supporting "Antichrist Superstar". Lead vocalist Melora Creager performed cello and backing vocals for the band, most notably for renditions of "Apple of Sodom", a live version of which appeared as a b-side on Manson's 1998 single "The Dope Show". Manson also created three remixes of the song "Transylvanian Concubine", two of which appeared on their 1997 EP "Transylvanian Regurgitations". Manson befriended The Smashing Pumpkins vocalist Billy Corgan in 1997, and performed renditions of "Eye" and "The Beautiful People" alongside that band at the 1997 edition of Bridge School Benefit concert. Manson frequently consulted Corgan during the early stages of recording "Mechanical Animals". Referring to its inclusion of glam rock influences, Corgan advised Manson that "This is definitely the right direction" but to "go all the way with it. Don't just hint at it". In 2015, Marilyn Manson and the Smashing Pumpkins embarked on a co-healining tour titled "The End Times Tour".


title: Marilyn Manson

text: To promote "Mechanical Animals" in 1998, the band embarked on their first co-headlining concert tour: the "Beautiful Monsters Tour" with Hole. The tour was problematic, with Manson and Hole vocalist Courtney Love frequently insulting one another both on-stage and during interviews. Private disputes also arose over finances, as Hole were unwittingly financing most of Manson's production costs, which were disproportionately high relative to Hole's. The tour was to consist of thirty-seven dates, although Hole left after nine. When Hole departed from the tour, it was renamed the "Rock Is Dead Tour", with Jack Off Jill announced as one of the support acts. Manson had produced many of Jack Off Jill's demo recordings in the early 90s, and later wrote the liner notes to their 2006 compilation "Humid Teenage Mediocrity 1992–1996".


title: Marilyn Manson

text: Manson launched his own vanity label in 2000, Posthuman Records. The label released two albums – the 2000 soundtrack to "" and Godhead's 2001 album "2000 Years of Human Error" – before being dissolved in 2003. The latter album sold over 100,000 copies in the United States, and featured him performing vocals on the track "Break You Down". He performed vocals on "Redeemer", a song written by Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis that featured on the 2002 album "". Davis had been prevented from singing the song due to contractual issues with his record label. Manson also contributed a remix of the Linkin Park song "By Myself" to that band's remix album "Reanimation", and collaborated with Marco Beltrami to create the score for the 2002 film "Resident Evil.