Chris Perez gained was the husband of Selena Quintanilla, the Queen of Tejano music and frontwoman of the Tejano band, Selena y Los Dinos. In his own right, however, he is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter, and singer. The San Antonio, Texas native served as the lead guitarist of Selena y Los Dinos before later forming his own band, the Chris Pérez Band, through which he received the highest recognition for his talent, a Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album.

Finding someone who connects with you easily, and understands you completely is quite difficult. When you eventually find such a person and end up losing the person to a situation beyond your control, the whole experience can be devastating. This was the unfortunate case of foremost American guitarist, Chris Perez, who found a soul mate in fellow musician, Selena Quintanilla-Perez. However, Chris lost Selena to the cold hands of death, and following her demise, his life never remained the same again.

Chris’s sorrow was also heightened by the fact that Selena did not die a natural death. Rather, she was shot dead on March 31st, 1995 by Yolanda Saldivar, her former friend who also previously served as the manager of her boutiques. Through his subsequent marriage to a woman named Venessa Villanueva and his foray with other music groups, Chris has certainly tried to move on from his late wife but he would be the first to admit that he might never be able to do so.

Chris Perez Began To Play Various Musical Instruments As A Schoolboy

Chris Perez is the son of a computer programmer father named Gilbert Perez and a mother named Carmen Medina. He was born in San Antonio, Texas on August 14, 1969. Chris, who has a younger sister, was not fortunate enough to be raised by both parents as they divorced when he was four years old. While he maintained a relationship with both of them through the years, he was primarily looked after by his mother who remarried in 1978.

With the support of his mother, Chris Perez was able to join his middle school’s concert band. He first thought himself how to play the French Horn before learning the Electric Guitar. Despite not minding him playing music, his mother was skeptical about him playing the electric guitar. This was due to the negative stereotypes that rock and roll musicians, who mainly used the musical instrument, had. Regardless, the young man was still able to learn his craft. He got so good and confident in his ability that he contemplated running away from home at age seventeen to launch a music career. He wanted to relocate to Los Angeles, California where he would be able to start a rock band.

As fate would have it, in the same year that he contemplated leaving home, Chris Perez joined forces with singer, guitarist, and percussionist Shelly Lares. He joined Shelly’s band which performed Tejano music, a genre of music sung in Spanish and English that mixed country music, traditional Mexican folk music, and polkas. While he would later write about his dislike for Tejano music at the time, Chris acknowledged that he was making much more money than he had imagined doing it. It also helped that his guitar playing ability was well received by fans of the group, thus giving him more confidence to pursue the career.

He Achieved Fame with Selena y Los Dinos Before Later Forming The Chris Pérez Band

In 1989, veteran American record producer Abraham Isaac Quintanilla allowed Chris Perez to serve as the lead guitarist for his Selena y Los Dinos music band. This was after the previous guitarist, Roger Garcia, left the music business after getting married. The group’s bassist and songwriter, A.B. Quintanilla III, who was the son of Quintanilla and the elder brother to frontwoman Selena, had recruited Chris after hearing good things about him. The older Quintanilla had had doubts about recruiting Perez due to his rock and roll image and how his presence would affect his daughter’s image. However, he still went ahead to sign him up.

Selena y Los Dinos with Chris as its guitarist achieved fame but their music was overshadowed by events in their personal lives. After Selena passed away, Chris teamed up with a few friends, including former members of Selena y Los Dinos to form the Chris Perez Band in 1998. The band, which was later signed to Hollywood Records, rocked the airwaves from the late 90s to early 2000s. In 2000, they won a Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative Album. This was for their debut album titled Resurrection released on May 18, 1999. However, the music group was disbanded after it released its second and final album on April 16, 2000, titled Una Noche Más.

Perez then went on to join the Kumbia All-Starz band formed by Selena’s brother. However, Chris left the group after a four-year spell to create his own band which he called the Chris Perez Project. The veteran guitarist has also tried his hands in writing and he published the book titled ‘To Selena With Love’ in 2012. The book was centered on his relationship with Selena and the struggles they faced together.