Manny Guerra and Abraham Quintanilla: A look at the legacies of two Tejano music titans

Both got their starts as musicians, but it was their work behind the scenes that saw them leave their own separate and lasting marks on the genre. The two died a day apart over the weekend.

By Raul Alonzo & Sean SaldanaDecember 18, 2025 10:00 am, ,

The Tejano music world lost two big names this past weekend.

Producer, engineer and recording artist Manny Guerra died Friday after a battle with cancer.

This was followed by news on Saturday that Abraham Quintanilla – music producer, musician and father to the Queen of Tejano, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez – had also passed away.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that both Guerra and Quintanilla’s work behind the scenes was instrumental in shaping the sound, industry and future of Tejano music.

Hector Saldaña, Texas music curator at the Wittliff Collections at Texas State University, joined Texas Standard to remember and delve into the legacies of both men. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.

This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:

Texas Standard: You were telling me just before we got started here that as much as these names were known in Texas and certainly among fans of Tejano music, they really knew the caricatures, not the people.

Could you say more about that and why that’s so important to you?

Hector Saldaña: You know, both Abraham Quintanilla and Manny Guerra were very strong personalities, and Abraham especially known for that protectiveness. But both men were incredible musicians and loved music from a very young age.

And Manny Guerra in particular, who was known as a producer of all the major Tejano stars, including Selena’s first big hits: “Amor Prohibido,” “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,” “Como La Flor”… I mean, recorded there in San Antonio at Amen Studios.

But Manny was a member and the band leader of The Sunglows. He formed that group. If there is a band in San Antonio or South Texas that is that West Side Sound, it is the record “Talk To Me.” And really, The Sunglows became that sort of foundational band of Tex-Mex and what we know as Tejano music, performing in Spanish and building on what they had started.

Let’s talk about some of the names that are associated. Even if you didn’t know Guerra or Abraham Quintanilla, you knew what they were doing in the music scene. I mean, all of this talent.

Could you maybe list some of their names that these two powerhouses actually, careers that they helped launch?

Well, of course, Abraham Quintanilla, as a young man, formed the Dinos, which would get rebranded and reimagined with Selena y Los Dinos. But he was a Chicano musician, loved Elvis Presley, fell in love with that street corner singing, that doo-wop sound, and they were just these Chicano kids that wanted to get in on that sound. And had a rough time doing it.

Manny Guerra, you know, after the Sunglows, produced people like the Latin Breed and then Shelly Lares, La Tropa F … I mean, these are big, big names in Tejano music. Superstars.

Tejano music does have a very more modern, almost ’80s sort of synth style to it, right?

I mean, Manny often joked he wanted to put every accordion into a giant bonfire because he’s the one that introduced the synth and really, you know, that brought the synthesizer into that music.

But really, Latin music or Tex-Mex music or the Chicano sound was often built on either accordion or horns. You know, Conjunto music is very earthy. It’s the bajo sexto, the Mexican 12-string instrument, and then the button accordion. But Tejano music is that pop, dance element with very sweeping melodies, very romantic, very pop.

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Let’s talk a little bit more about Manny’s roots in San Antonio, your old stomping grounds. 

You know, Manny’s studio was called Amen Studios, it was on the south side, and he built it from scratch. He had a big gas station, gas tank that he used as the reverb chamber that they buried, and they took a microphone, the speakers …

Tejano music and conjunto music, very family-oriented, very tight community. So these studios, especially Manny, was like a gathering point, a hang-out point. You know, a lot of times the musicians would just hang out there at Amen Studios and Manny loved that.

Courtesy of The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University

The Sunglows perform a show at La Villita in San Antonio. Manny Guerra can be seen on the drums.

Let me ask you about Abraham Quintanilla, because when I think of the studio part of what he did, he seemed to be very much, at least earlier in his career, interested in pushing forward with his own musical aspirations, and then making his family into a kind of a supergroup.

But I tend to think in studio terms as that being much more of a platform for Selena. Is that fair to say?

He is almost like a Joe Jackson figure with the Jackson 5, pushing these children, you know, or even Pops Staples with the Staple Singers. He’s the pillar, right?

You know, as tough as he was, and no-nonsense, he was a loving father, and he allowed Selena to want to follow those Janet Jackson dreams.

Abraham Quintanilla. Photo by Ramon Hernandez / Courtesy of The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University

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Having said that, given that it was very much a product of its time and of culture, I think there’s been a lot of concern that perhaps it would disappear, and of course, the death of these two giants of Tejano music …

What’s your sense about what happens to Tejano music going forward?

We preserve its history at the Wittliff Collections, but you know, for any music scene, you have to have the infrastructure. And there was a time there in the 1980s and ’90s when Tejano music was really supported by lots and lots of radio stations.

Tejano music now is, you’ll see it at big festivals, fiestas, dances, even like church festivals. But it’s closer now to sort of Cajun or Zydeco music – it’s very regional. The audience is an aging one, and like any pop music, you have to have it be refreshed.

Now, up until the end of his life, I mean, Abraham Quintanilla was always telling me about his latest discovery, or young people, and he stayed excited. So he was a true believer.

Manny, at the end of his life, he had turned his back on secular music. I mean, he would talk about it, but he had almost a relationship to music in the way that sometimes Little Richard would vacillate between being a preacher and loving it. And Manny was the same way. Abraham always loved music.

So I think one way to think of Tejano, it hasn’t completely gone away as pure Tejano, but really the music, as far as a younger audience, they became more turned on with reggaeton, and electronic music, and banda, and something closer to what maybe Shakira is doing.

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