José Behar is a

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cubans, Cuban desc ...

music executive. Behar has headed

EMI Latin Capitol Latin (formerly EMI Latin) is a brand of Universal Music Latin Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Group. Previously, it was a subsidiary of EMI. History In 1989, José Behar, the former head of CBS Discos, signed Selena to ...

and

Univision Music Group Univision Music Group is a Latin music company in the United States. Founded in April 2001 by Univision Communications , the Univision Music Group included three record labels: Univision Records, Fonovisa Records and Disa Records. In June 2 ...

. He is known to have signed

Selena 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 Mex ...

. José Behar was appointed to run the new Latin division in EMI Records.

in 2001.

History with Selena

He watched

perform at the 1989 Tejano Music Awards. Behar was searching for new Latin acts and wanted to sign Selena to EMI's label. Behar thought he had discovered the "next

Gloria Estefan Gloria Estefan (; born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García; born 1 September 1957) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been ...

chose EMI Latin's offer because of the potential for a

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

album, and becoming the first artist to sign to the label. Before Selena began recording for her debut album, ''

'', Behar and

Stephen Finfer Stephen Finfer is a music publisher, manager, attorney, television producer, and business executive whose clients have included Kara DioGuardi, Scott Storch, Selena Quintanilla, Emanuel Kiriakou, David Hodges, Greg Wells, Mitch Allan, and Kasia Li ...

requested a crossover album for her. In 1995, Selena was

murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

. Behar said after her passing: "She would have been up there with the Janets and the Madonnas." In July 1995,

's 'Dreaming of You' Album premiered in No. 1 Spot. Behar said: "This is what the dream was about in 1989. Seeing it all come to fruition is tremendous."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Behar, Jose American music industry executives Selena Living people 1954 births