Still “Dreaming of You” 25 Years Later: Remembering Selena Quintanilla
Chris Pérez doesn’t need a Netflix show to honor the legacy of Selena Quintanilla. He got to experience her greatness firsthand.
The 51-year-old guitarist, who was married to the late singer and a part of her band, shared a few memories while weighing in on Selena: The Series.
“Alright so, here is my take on this,” he wrote on Instagram Thursday, Dec. 3. “I loved her music even before I joined the band. I was intrigued by the fact that her brother [A.B. Quintanilla] had his name on everything as producer. Keyboard player Ricky Vela was my hero as far as musicianship goes. Her dad [Abraham Quintanilla Jr.] ran some amazing sound when I went to see them at an event in San Antonio.”
Chris also remembered learning “so much” by taking on the parts of guitar player Roger Garcia, one of the early members of Selena y Los Dinos, and doing his best to “stretch it even further.”
“They had a girl drummer that laid it DOWN (Suzette really is a badass),” he added, referencing Selena’s sister Suzette Quintanilla. “Joe [Ojeda] and Pete [Astudillo] brought the ‘extra’ and added a whole other dimension. PLUS Pete wrote amazing lyrics….and they sounded HEAVY.”
In the end, Chris noted he “will forever respect the band and the people involved in it.” He also expressed his hope that “you guys enjoy this series.”
In the series, which told the story of Selena’s rise to fame, Chris was portrayed by Jesse Posey. But in an April Instagram post, Chris suggested he wasn’t involved in the making of the show.
“For the record, never met him, haven’t seen the script, and I have NO idea what is going on,” he wrote, “but, I’d love to find out.”
In fact, during an interview with Austin 360, the musician suggested he was unsure if he’d even watch the series. “I’m not trying to not be a part of anything. … At the end of the day, we all have our perspective on certain things and how things happened,” he said. “I’ve put out everything I wanted to put out already. There’s not much more I want to say, and that’s the God-honest truth.”
Chris had previously attempted to produce his own television series about his relationship with Selena. But in 2016, her father filed a lawsuit claiming he didn’t have the rights to do so based on a legal agreement regarding her estate. It was dismissed in 2019.
Christian Serratos played Selena in the new Netflix show, which was produced by Abraham and Suzette. During an interview with The BingE! Club‘s Erin Lim, the actress said getting to play the icon “feels like a dream.”
“I see myself in Selena and grew up watching and admiring her,” she said. “And I’m just really excited for everybody to see the hard work and perseverance that it took her to gain the success that she gained. It wasn’t always easy, but she did it with such strength and such grace and found a place for her where there wasn’t always a place and I think that’s very relatable for our community and people of color and I’m just really happy to be telling this story again.”
Selena: The Series is now streaming on Netflix.
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