- - Selena's Husband Chris Pérez Looks Back on a 'Funny' Memory from the 1994 Grammys: 'Good Times' (Exclusive)

Daniela AvilaJanuary 16, 2026 at 6:45 AM

0

Vinnie Zuffante/Getty; Chris Perez/Instagram

Selena Quintanilla at the Grammys in 1994; Selena Quintanilla and Chris Perez -

Chris Pérez, Selena Quintanilla's husband, shares a memory about attending the Grammys in 1994 with the late singer

"I was stepping on the stones on the ground and I kept hearing crunch, crunch, crunch," he says of accidentally stepping on her dress

Selena: From Texas to the World is now open at the Grammy Museum

When Selena Quintanilla wore the iconic beaded white dress to the Grammys in 1994, her husband Chris Pérez was by her side — and he remembers that night like it was yesterday.

"It's funny," Pérez, 56, tells PEOPLE exclusively at a press preview for the late singer's Grammy Museum exhibit in Los Angeles. "People see the dress and of course she looks amazing, beautiful... But what I remember is being at the actual event and I'm following her — and I just remember her putting her hand on my stomach behind her like, 'Back up, back up!'"

He continues, "I was stepping on the stones [of her dress] on the ground and I kept hearing crunch, crunch, crunch. So if you look at the dress you'll see it in the back. I mean it's kind of hard to see because it's in the very back but good times nonetheless."

The white dress, which she wore when she became the first female Tejano artist to win the Grammy for Best Mexican-American Album for Selena Live!, is one of 15 artifacts displayed at the exhibit.

Chris Perez/Instagram

Selena Quintanilla and Chris Perez.

Reflecting on the items chosen for the exhibit, Pérez says the most nostalgic piece for him personally is the black-and-white jacket she wore for the Entre a Mi Mundo album cover.

"The reason for that is because that was the very early stages of our relationship," he explains. "So when I see that, I remember those times and it was just a really special time. That one probably gives me the most butterflies when I see it."

Pérez remembers that time with Quintanilla fondly, including the uncertainty of the success of their band Selena y Los Dinos.

"Just the success that the band was starting to see and not really knowing where it was going to go... There's a lot of uncertainty but on the other sense of being a part of the family, part of the band. It was just an incredible time."

Pérez met Quintanilla in 1990 when he joined Selena y Los Dinos as a guitarist. In 1992, the couple eloped just three years before the "Dreaming of You" singer was murdered by Yolanda Saldívar, the former president of her fan club, on March 31, 1995.

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

When asked about her legacy, Pérez says he hopes the artifacts emulate "the happiness she would put across through her songs and her performances."

Courtesy of the Recording Academy/Rebecca Sapp/Getty

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

"The allegria (Spanish for joy) that she had when she was doing the thing that she loved to do the most, I think all that came across, and I'm very proud to say I've been a part of all that stuff with her," he says.

In November, a documentary titled Selena y Los Dinos premiered on Netflix — and Pérez opened up to PEOPLE about his relationship with the "Como la Flor" singer.

“I think about Selena every day,” Pérez said at the time. “When I’m making a decision, I can hear her in my head, like, ‘I don’t know — are you sure you wanna do that?’ ”

The Grammy Museum exhibit will remain open through March 16.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”