Birth Locations – Page 110 – The Exasperated Historian

293) Selena Quintanilla-Pérez

293: Selena Quintanilla-Perez

Multilingual Singer and Queen of Tejano Music

Born: 16 April 1971, Lake Jackson, Texas, United States of America

Died: 31 March 1995, Corpus Christi, Texas, United States of America

Selena became known as the Queen of Tejano Music and the Mexican Madonna.

She was a Grammy award winning artist who released multiple albums in Spanish and was working on her first English Language album at the time of her death.

Selena was murdered by the woman in charge of her fan club after Selena confronted her about embezzling money. The killer will be eligible for parole in 2025.

The album, Dreaming of You, was eventually released posthumously and was a huge hit to say the least; reaching the top of the Billboard 200 the week of its release. She was the first Latin artist to make the top of the list.

In 1997, Jennifer Lopez starred in a Hollywood biopic based on Selena’s life, the trailer for which can be viewed to the left.

In the 2010’s, Selena’s father and widower have been in the news as they fought over control of Selena’s likeness. Selena’s husband, Chris, eventually won the case and the television series about Selena’s life is going forward and will premiere on Netflix in 2020.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? by Tod Benoit

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/musician/selena

https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2019/03/29/judge-recuses-himself-case-involving-selenas-dad-widower-perez/3276895002/

https://deadline.com/2019/09/ricardo-chavira-gabriel-chavarria-cast-netflix-selena-series-1202731027/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1460/selena-quintanilla_p_rez

292) Sarah Palin

292: Sarah Palin

Former Governor of Alaska

Born: 11 February 1964, Sandpoint, Idaho, United States of America

Sarah is also a politician, commentator, author, and television personality.

She was the first woman to appear on the Republican Presidential Ticket in the United States after being selected by John McCain as his vice-presidential candidate in the 2008 election cycle.

Sarah was the youngest governor in Alaska’s history and the first woman to serve in that capacity.

She has written several memoirs and appeared in two reality television programs about her family.

Unfortunately, news broke in 2019 that after thirty years of marriage, Sarah’s husband has filed for divorce.

Badges Earned:

Located In My Personal Library:

Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin

Whose Who in American History: Leaders, Visionaries, and Icons who Shaped Our Nation by John M Thompson, William R Gray, and KM Kostyal

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/political-figure/sarah-palin

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sarah-Heath-Palin

291) Angelina Jolie

291: Angelina Jolie

Academy Award Winning Actress, Director, and Humanitarian

Born: 4 June 1975, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

Angelina has been named Hollywood’s highest paid actress on multiple occasions.

She is known for starring in films such as Gia, Salt, Changeling, the Lara Croft Franchise, and the Maleficent Franchise.

Her directing credits include a documentary about the Cambodian Genocide entitled First They Killed My Father, as well as the film Unbroken.

Angelina is a mother to six children—three of whom were adopted internationally.

She worked as a Special Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in several countries around the world. Angelina also works as a conservationist and in community development in multiple countries and is a women’s rights and children’s education activist.

Sources:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001401/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

https://www.biography.com/actor/angelina-jolie

290) Antonina Żabiński

290: Antonina Żabiński

The Zookeeper’s Wife

Born: 1908, Warsaw, Present-day Poland

Died: 1971, Most Likely Poland

Antonina was a respected teacher and author of children’s books in her native Poland before the war broke out. Her parents died early in her life during the Bolshevik occupation of Russia (and what is now Poland)

She and her Husband Jan Helped Hide Jews in the Warsaw Zoo during the Holocaust. They were able to do this because Jan was the director of the zoo at the time. It is believed Antonina and Jan saved around 300 people, Gentile and Jew alike, over a three-year period. Of all the people they helped, its believed only two didn’t survive the war.

Because of the bombings of Warsaw, large swaths of the zoo were destroyed, and most of the animals were either killed or shipped off to German zoos. In order to keep the property running, Jan and Antonina turned the property into a pig farm and smuggled some of the meat into the Warsaw Ghetto for the starving Jews, who allowed themselves to eat the meat in order to keep from actually starving to death.

After Jan was taken prison for participating in the Warsaw Uprisings of 1944, Antonina continued to protect the Jews still hiding in the zoo and help her fellow Poles in any way she could around Warsaw.

The zoo reopened in 1949, but because the zoo was now located in Communist USSR, it lacked the freedom and ability to be as amazing as it had been before the war, and Jan resigned as director two years later. The zoo would not regain its former glory until 1989, when the USSR collapsed and lost control of Warsaw.

In 1965, Jan and Antonina were recognized as being Righteous Among the Nations. In 1968, Jan was able to plant a tree on the Mount of Remembrance.

A book was written about her incredible story—which was later adopted into a Hollywood film, Jessica Chastain portrays Antonina.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman

Sources:

https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/zabinski.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_and_Antonina_%C5%BBabi%C5%84ski

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/zookeepers-wife/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181200174/antonina-zabinski

289) Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

289: Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

Fashion model and Publicist for Calvin Klein

Born: 7 January 1966, White Plains, New York, United States of America

Died: 16 July 1999, Near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, United States of America

Carolyn is primarily known for being the wife of John F Kennedy Jr.

She reportedly hated the paparazzi continuously hounding her and John both before and during the marriage.

She, John, and her sister Lauren all boarded a private plane that John was piloting on a short trip (Lauren was to be dropped off first at Martha’s Vineyard and then John and Carolyn were to continue on to his cousin Rory’s wedding) when all three were killed when the plane crashed into the water.

Carolyn left behind no will, so her mother was put in charge of her estate and sued the Kennedy family for wrongful death--settling out of court.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed by Maureen Callahan

The House of Kennedy by James Patterson and Cynthia Fagen

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/personality/carolyn-bessette-kennedy

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a28398199/carolyn-bessette-mom-john-kennedy-jr-breakup/

https://www.biography.com/news/john-f-kennedy-jr-plane-crash-final-days

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_Jr.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5948/carolyn-kennedy

288) Whitney Houston

288: Whitney Houston

Singer and Actress

Born: 9 August 1963, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America

Died: 11 February 2012, Beverly Hills, California, United States of America

Whitney’s first four albums alone sold over eighty-six million copies worldwide. As of 2019, she is the only artist to ever have eight consecutive albums to go multi-platinum.

She was a Grammy award winning artist but is sadly more remembered for her career getting off track thanks to her excessive drug use alongside her then-husband Bobby Brown.

Whitney is remembered for her music and for starring alongside Kevin Costner in the smash hit The Bodyguard.

She died three years after making a comeback from an accidental drowning because of a drug overdose.

Sadly, her daughter Bobbi Kristina died three years later in an eerily similar fashion—found face down in a bathtub following a drug overdose like her mother.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? by Tod Benoit

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/musician/whitney-houston

https://www.whitneyhouston.com/biography/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84839013/whitney-houston

287) Gia Carangi

287: Gia Carangi

The World’s First Supermodel

Born: 29 January 1960, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Died: 18 November 1986, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Gia was a classic rags-to-riches story only hers ended once again in rags.

She modeled for the highest fashion companies including Dior, Armani, Yves Saint Lauren, and Calvin Klein.

Gia couldn’t cope with the pressure of it all and turned to heroin, kicking the habit and falling back multiple times.

She is also remembered for being one of the first openly gay models.

Gia died from AIDS related complications when she was only twenty-six years old.

Angelina Jolie portrays Gia in the Hollywood biopic of her life; the trailer for which is linked to the left.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Sources:

https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/41317/1/the-story-of-gia-the-world-s-first-supermodel-who-died-of-aids-at-26

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5311/gia-marie-carangi

286) Madonna Ciccone

286: Madonna Ciccone

The Queen of Pop

Born: 16 August 1958, Bay City, Michigan, United States of America

Singer, songwriter, actress, and liberal activist.

Madonna has had multiple songs hit the top of the pop charts including Vogue, Papa Don’t Preach, and Like a Prayer.

She is also remembered for acting in films like A League of Their Own and Evita.

When Madonna was five, her mother passed away at the age of thirty. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer while pregnant with Madonna’s youngest sibling, a sister, and delayed treatment until the baby was born, but by then it was too late, and she passed away. Madonna’s father remarried later on, to the family’s house keeper, and Madonna did not get along with her new stepmother, who reportedly made Madonna take care of her younger siblings.

Madonna excelled in school and earned a full scholarship to study dance at the University of Michigan, and later on in New York City. She dropped out of college after only two years in order to pursue a dance career in New York City. Over the next few years she worked a series of odd jobs before falling in love with the idea of performing onstage as a musician. She worked with a few bands before going solo in 1981.

By 1984 she was appearing on American Bandstand and was starting to gain national attention. Her second album, Like a Virgin, released in 1985 went platinum within a month of its release. During that same year she starred in her first movie, Desperately Seeking Susan. Her star has never faded since, and as of 2019 she has released fourteen albums.

Also, in 1985 she married fellow actor Sean Penn, though they divorced four years later. She has six children, two are biological (from other relationships) and four adopted from Malawi.

Madonna is reported to be the Best-Selling Female Recording Artist of all time by the Guinness Book of World Records. She was also named the wealthiest female musician by Forbes in 2008.

Badges Earned:

Located In My Personal Library:

Bad Days in History by Michael Farquhar

Modowe Rewolucje (Fashion Revolutions) by Karolina Żebrowska

The Book of Awesome Women: Boundary Breakers, Freedom Fighters, Sheroes, and Female Firsts by Becca Anderson

The Rough Guide to Film Musicals by David Parkinson

Time Magazine's 100 Women of the Year (Madonna appears in the 1989 article, "Madonna”)

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/musician/madonna

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_(entertainer)

285) Kathryn Bigelow

285: Kathryn Bigelow

Film Director, Producer, and Screenwriter

Born: 27 November 1951, San Carlos, California, United States of America

Before arriving in Hollywood Kathryn was a painter, studying at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Kathryn has helmed epic films like Zero Dark Thirty, Point Break (the original one) and The Hurt Locker—for which she received the Academy Award for Best Director—the first woman to ever win that award.

Kathryn was married to fellow director James Cameron for three years.

Badges Earned:

Located in My Personal Library:

The Only Woman by Immy Humes

Sources:

https://www.biography.com/filmmaker/kathryn-bigelow

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kathryn-Bigelow

284) Karen Carpenter

284: Karen Carpenter

Singer and Drummer

Born: 2 March 1950, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America

Died: 4 February 1983, Downey, California, United States of America

Karen who performed with her brother in The Carpenters duo, with hits songs including “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Superstar.” In all, they had seventeen top twenty hits and three Grammy Awards.

Today she is sadly most remembered from her tragic and shocking death from anorexia nervosa—one of the first celebrities to ever publicly be known to suffer from an eating disorder.

Her struggles with weight began soon after graduating high school, but Karen was never obese. Things got worse for her when she began touring and couldn’t stick to a healthy diet. After hiring and then firing a personal trainer, she became determined to lose weight on her own. Karen weighed around 110 pounds at the time but was determined to weigh 105. Soon after she developed Anorexia and tried to hide her weight loss by wearing layers of clothes.

In 1975, her battle with anorexia caused the Carpenters to cancel their European tour, and Karen ended up in the hospital. While she claimed to be in recovery, the truth was she never got back in control of her life. Around this time, Karen began wearing much more “revealing” outfits (though by today’s standards she was still very conservative). Family, friends, and fans couldn’t understand her weight loss, and assumed she had cancer. She was sleeping large amounts of the day and was constantly exhausted.

In 1980, Karen married Tom Burris. However, she wasn’t happy about it. Just before the wedding, Tom revealed to Karen he’d had a vasectomy, which devastated Karen, who had always wanted to be a mother. Karen tried to call off the wedding, but Karen’s mother, the overbearing Agnes (who has been largely seen as the source of Karen’s emotional problems that led to her eating disorders) forced her to go through with it.

A year later, Karen filed for divorce. Tom had been plowing through her hard-earned money to fund his extravagant lifestyle, and Karen needed to get away. At the same time, Karen started going to therapy. She revealed to her therapist she’d been abusing both laxatives and thyroid medication to help with her extreme weight loss. However, the therapy did little to nothing, and once again, Karen’s mother also failed to intervene.

At her lowest point, Karen reportedly weighed only seventy-nine pounds. She died at the age of thirty-two, after suffering years from both anorexia and bulimia.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? by Tod Benoit

Sources:

https://groovyhistory.com/karen-carpenter-death-anorexia

https://www.smoothradio.com/artists/carpenters/karen-carpenter-death-story-solo-album-husband/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8241055/karen-carpenter