▍ LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. JUNE 07, 1976 — FLASHBACK!
• TW : contains mentions of sexual assault.
since her father's death, reyna began pursuing music seriously. with the guidance of her mother, she became her manager. she wanted to make her father proud and keep her promise of becoming one of the best among her idols'.
reyna started with performing at local talent shows, eventually earning first place in every one of them. following the success of talent shows, it was performing for people at birthday parties, get-togethers, and even random strangers on the side of the road.
there was no doubt that reyna was driven, but her mother? she took this very seriously, even quitting her well-paying job at the bank to oversee reyna's growing career. elvira became controlling as a mother and a manager.
she would make reyna run for miles while singing to improve her endurance for performances, she even taught her how to speak, dress, walk, and even the way she chewed her food. when reyna would ask her mother about it, she would excuse it by stating, 'you need to be ready for whenever the time comes.' this made reyna stop thinking about it, but throughout it all, she longed that her once loving and caring mother would reappear. however, she never did.
reyna's hard work and dedication didn't seem to pay off until 1974, when she was offered to open for labelle and the bluebelles. following the concert, word spread about a very gifted twelve-year-old singer, and a few record labels were lining up at the solace family home in hopes of signing the young girl.
many of the offers were turned down by her mother claiming 'they didn't have her best interests at heart,' to which reyna believed; she didn't know much about the industry since she was so young, so she had to trust her mother. it wasn't until the record label, elite records, come knocking in late-1974 that a deal was made. a record deal of exactly 2.1 million dollars.
it had been two years since she had signed with the record label, and things were going quite well, if you asked reyna herself. she sold over 350,000 records as a rookie and began to build a stable fan base. she thought she had accomplished a lot in two years, but of course, it wasn't enough.
