Pérez was hired as a new guitarist for Selena’s band in 1990. When Selena first met Chris Pérez, she was already a rising star in the Latin music industry. She would earn her title as the “Queen of Tejano” with her stylish flair and popular songs.
Selena’s husband, Chris Pérez, was married to her in 1992. The couple ran away together even though Selena’s father, who was also her manager, disapproved. The two bandmates fell in love and formed a strong bond long before.
Pérez, the former president of her own fan club, was murdered by a private individual shortly after Selena’s death. Their marital bliss lasted only for about three years before it tragically disappeared from the public eye.
Throughout the years, his connection with Selena’s family has allegedly deteriorated. Despite the favorable reception of his book, Chris Pérez candidly revealed his personal challenges in a memoir released years afterwards.
This is the complete tale of Chris Pérez, his existence as Selena’s spouse, and his current whereabouts.
The Journey of Chris Pérez to Becoming Selena’s Spouse
As his involvement in the high school music band developed, Chris Pérez developed a strong interest in playing the guitar. Throughout his childhood, he displayed a evident aptitude for music, being born on August 14, 1969, in San Antonio, Texas.
Selena had already been crowned Female Entertainer of the Year at the Tejano Music Awards. At that time, he hired Selena as a new member of his Tejano band, Los Dinos. Shortly thereafter, Chris Pérez met his future wife Selena in the late 1980s.
When the truth came out, it was reported that Quintanilla Abraham, Selena’s manager and father, was the most supportive member of Selena’s family, except for a couple of young ones. The romance between the two young bandmates started soon after they began seeing each other in secret, during a trip to Acapulco, Mexico.
Within the collective, her father’s disapproval caused a significant amount of drama – presumably because of Pérez’s youthful encounters with the law and his rebellious reputation. Pérez claims that Selena’s father went as far as likening him to a “disease” within their family.
In later years, Selena’s spouse expressed, “I believe the primary factor behind that was it somewhat injured his dignity and his self-importance to discover that he was the final person to be informed, and when the situation became tense and he made certain remarks. It pained me that he uttered those words, but I didn’t allow it to affect me because I had confidence that deep down he recognized the type of individual I was.”
In the history of Billboard magazine, Selena’s album “Mi Mundo Entre” was named the best-selling Tejano album by a female artist, and the second best-selling Mexican regional album. This album marked the beginning of Selena’s skyrocketing stardom. At the time, Selena was 20 years old and Chris was 22. They made the official decision to elope.
He couldn’t have been prouder — Selena’s husband was with her all the way along. Selena, the first Tejano artist to win the Grammy Awards, won a Grammy for her best Mexican-American album Live! At the 36th Grammy Awards in 1994.
“The song ‘Como La Flor’ resonated with ballads that touched the hearts of those grandmothers who loved to dance and dress up, and it appealed to excitable preteen girls and everyone else who admired Selena. In his 2012 memoir, Pérez wrote about how he felt love for Selena and saw her fans’ love for her, as well as their admiration for her generosity and sincerity.”
No one anticipated that her life would come to an end at such an early stage.
The Heartbreaking Killing of Selena
Selena was fatally shot by her fan-turned-business partner, Yolanda Saldívar, on March 31, 1995.
Discrepancies in the company’s finances resulted in Saldívar’s termination by the singer’s family, the ex-president of Selena’s fan club, and the manager of Selena’s boutique enterprise.
Saldívar fired at her when Selena ventured by herself to rendezvous with Saldívar at a motel in order to recover the remaining business papers. Her right shoulder, lung, veins, and a significant artery were severely damaged, which medical professionals later attributed to a gunshot injury inflicted at the rear of her shoulder. Selena endured great pain.
In the year 2025, Yolanda Saldívar, who had the chance of being released on parole, was subsequently convicted of first-degree murder and given a life sentence in jail. Selena, famously, utilized her final words to disclose the identity of her murderer to the employees of the motel.
Just a few weeks before her 24th birthday, she tragically passed away. Selena was already clinically brain dead, so she was taken to the hospital at that time.
Chris Pérez had already died by the time he got to the hospital with his wife. Initially, he thought she was spending time with his dad and when she left to meet Saldívar, he had been asleep. Chris first heard that his wife had been shot from Aunt Selena.
She had built a strong following across Latin America and the United States, and the music industry was shaken after one of her trusted confidantes shot her—news of the Latina star’s death.
Following Selena’s demise, Pérez was noticeably missing from public appearances, opting to mourn in seclusion.
“Prior to experiencing emotions, they didn’t perceive things in the same manner. When you considered it, the taste of food didn’t seem identical. The colors they perceived were not as vibrant as the ones you thought. Chris Pérez mentioned his wife’s death in an interview with Selena’s fan, stating that the situation after that was not simply similar, but rather it sounds cliché.”
He commented: “As I think about it now, a large part of my life after her death was spent with a limited concentration.”
On the day she apparently borrowed her husband’s cell phone, Selena had gotten up early to see Saldívar. Before, when she had met Saldívar on previous occasions, Selena had always felt uneasy when her husband accompanied her. This was because Saldívar was the woman who had killed Chris Pérez’s wife, Yolanda.
Chris Pérez, the former guitarist, and Selena, the former keyboardist, formed a band with Garza John, the singer. He released new songs with The Pérez Band, which he formed. Chris Pérez turned to music to help with his grief over the loss of his wife.
The song album “Can I Best” was specifically written by Selena for his late wife, Pérez. The album Resurrection, which won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative or Latin Rock Album in 2000, was their album rock.
Pérez ultimately remarried in 2001 and had two children. However, that union ended in divorce in 2008.
The Falling Out Between Chris Pérez and Selena’s Family and His Current Whereabouts
Since her death, Selena has been remembered as one of the most influential talents in Latin music and has been immortalized in pop culture.
The release of the biopic “Selena” in 1997, starring Jennifer Lopez as the singer, chronicled the rise to fame of the artist fueled by a devoted fanbase, as well as the tragic murder that ultimately led to her superstardom. The film also portrayed her relationship with Chris Pérez, despite her father’s disapproval of their union.
“In my life, I have known her as someone who deserves more than anyone else. Pérez, the late power star’s wife, said, ‘In these days, I believe that she has put herself in a position where everyone knows her. It’s not just about the positivity she spoke about, but also about the way she displayed it on stage, not only offstage. And what she has become, especially for women and Latin culture, is remarkable.'”
Despite the death of his wife, Chris Pérez mostly kept himself after his memoir in 2012, offering fans an intimate look inside his life with Selena and receiving the overall positive response, even receiving his father-in-law’s combative blessing.
It didn’t last forever, but it didn’t last forever. If you feel something, you have the right to do it,” he said. When I talked and done about Abraham, I was talking and done about Abraham.
Chris Pérez, Selena’s father, filed a lawsuit against the production company Blue Mariachi and Endemol Shine Latino for their intention to transform his memoir about Selena into a television series.
Following her demise, Pérez and Selena’s family members entered into an agreement concerning the properties of her estate, which the lawsuit claimed would be violated by a television show.
The conflict wasn’t the conclusion of that, although the legal case was ultimately dropped. Selena’s trademark, which encompasses her identity, vocals, autograph, and appearance, possessed her father’s entertainment assets, as specified by the contract.
Chris Pérez, who has been excluded from projects involving Selena, has recently spoken out about his alleged efforts against him. In regards to the Netflix biopic series “Selena: The Series,” released in December 2020, Pérez revealed that he had been kept in the dark, most recently.
Recently, there was an online dispute involving Suzette, Selena’s sister, over the rumors that the family had taken down photographs at the Selena Museum. Additionally, Suzette also became involved in the drama surrounding the Netflix series about Pérez.
“We haven’t removed any pictures of Chris from our museum. Why would we do that? He is a crucial part of Selena’s heritage,” Selena’s father replied.
While his relationship with Selena’s family has sadly become rocky, Chris Pérez continues to receive support from her fans and seems to remain as strong and ever as the late star Selena’s love speaks out about her legacy.
He said, “She would be happy too, and she would be happy too. If people remembered her in that way, he said. If she gave any message to the younger generation, she would stay in school and work as long as possible.”
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