Elida Reyna, a Tejano music icon, wraps up a 34-year career with a farewell concert, embracing a new Christian path while cherishing fan connections and family time.
SAN ANTONIO — One of Tejano music’s most acclaimed performers is stepping away from the road after more than three decades in the industry.
Elida Reyna, a two-time Latin Grammy Award winner and one of the genre’s most decorated artists, will perform her final show Friday night at the Majestic Theatre, concluding her farewell tour.
In an interview with KENS 5, Reyna said now is the right time to step away.
“I just recently got baptized. I am now a Christian,” she said. “I am in the season where every good thing must come to an end.”
Reyna, who has spent close to 34 years on stage, said the reality of her final performance is settling in.
“It is really starting to hit me that this is going to be the last performance of my career,” she said.
Throughout 2025, Elida Reyna Y Avante have traveled on their Final Farewell Tour. She said fulfilling her dream of performing Tejano music for a living has been the accomplishment of a lifetime.
“My dream and my goal was to always just do Tejano music and take it as far as I could,” Reyna said.
She did just that. Raised in the Rio Grande Valley, Reyna began singing as a young girl determined to break into the industry.
“It was just something in my heart,” she said. “I was determined to make it.”
Reyna said she went on to earn more than 40 Tejano Music Awards, two Latin Grammys and even performed for former President Barack Obama.
“I am proud of what I was able to accomplish,” she said. “I surpassed my imagination.”
Her breakout hit “Luna Llena” arrived in the early 1990s. But entering the music scene was not so easy, especially after the death of Tejano icon Selena Quintanilla.
“Selena had just passed. There was sadness,” Reyna said. “I came in 1994 and she passed away in 1995. It was a whirlwind. “I just felt like people weren’t going to grasp on to another female,” she said. “But I tried to stay original. I tried to stay myself.”
That authenticity, she said, helped shape her long-running career. Now, Reyna said she is ready to focus on family and a new chapter of life.
“As much as I have given to my career, I feel like I am content with everything I have done,” she said. “It is time to take care of my parents and spend more time with my kids. I have two grandbabies. I don’t want to miss those milestones.”
What she will miss most, she said, are the moments she shared with fans after every show.
“I am going to miss that,” she said through tears. “They love me. I love them.”
To her fans, Reyna offered one final message: “I am just so grateful for giving me so many beautiful years, thirty plus years. I am so grateful that you have embraced me, and that you have loved me. And I have loved you.”
Reyna said she still plans to record music, with a focus on Christian projects, but intends to take time to decide what comes next.
Her full interview, including her conversation about writing her hit “Duele”, is now streaming on KENS 5+.