Chris Pérez Shares a Fond Memory from the 1994 Grammys with Selena: A Heartwarming Reflection

Selena Quintanilla at the Grammys in 1994; Selena Quintanilla and Chris Perez.
Credit :

Vinnie Zuffante/Getty; Chris Perez/Instagram

NEED TO KNOW

• Chris Pérez, Selena Quintanilla’s husband, recalls attending the Grammys in 1994 with the late singer.
• Pérez humorously remembers accidentally stepping on her dress during the event.
• Selena: From Texas to the World exhibit is now open at the Grammy Museum.

In a poignant reflection, Chris Pérez, husband of the late singer Selena Quintanilla, shared memories of their experience at the 1994 Grammy Awards, where Selena wore her iconic beaded white dress. At a recent press preview for the Grammy Museum exhibit dedicated to Selena, Pérez recounted the event as if it happened just yesterday.

“It’s funny,” Pérez, 56, remarked. “People see the dress and, of course, she looks amazing. But what I remember is being at the event, following her around, and her putting her hand on my stomach, saying, ‘Back up, back up!'”

He added, “I was stepping on the stones [of her dress] on the ground, and I kept hearing crunch, crunch, crunch. If you look at the dress, you’ll see it in the back, though it’s hard to spot because it’s in the very back. But good times, nonetheless.”

The white dress was worn when Selena became the first female Tejano artist to win the Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album for Selena Live!. This piece is among the 15 artifacts featured in the current exhibit.

Selena Quintanilla and Chris Perez.

Chris Perez/Instagram

Pérez shared that a particularly nostalgic piece in the exhibit is the black-and-white jacket worn by Selena on the cover of her album Entre a Mi Mundo. “That was the very early stages of our relationship,” he explained. “When I see that, I remember those special times. That piece probably gives me the most butterflies.”

He reminisced about their journey with their band, Selena y Los Dinos, recalling “the uncertainty of the success of the band” during those early years. “There was a lot of uncertainty, but being a part of the family and part of the band was incredible,” he said.

Pérez first met Quintanilla in 1990 when he joined Selena y Los Dinos. The couple eloped in 1992, just three years before the tragic murder of the “Dreaming of You” singer on March 31, 1995, by Yolanda Saldívar, the former president of her fan club.

The Grammy Museum exhibit, titled Selena: From Texas to the World, marks the first official display of Selena’s personal artifacts outside of the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas. It opened to the public on January 15.

When discussing Selena’s legacy, Pérez expressed his wish that the artifacts convey “the happiness she shared through her songs and performances.”

Suzette Quintanilla and Chris Perez at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles in January 2026.

Courtesy of the Recording Academy/Rebecca Sapp/Getty

He reflected on the joy Selena derived from her performances: “The alegría she had when she was doing what she loved most came across in everything she did. I’m proud to have been part of it all.”

This past November, a documentary titled Selena y Los Dinos premiered on Netflix, where Pérez spoke about his enduring bond with the “Como la Flor” singer. “I think about Selena every day,” he said. “When I’m making a decision, I can hear her, like, ‘Are you sure you want to do that?'”

The Grammy Museum exhibit will remain open until March 16.