The tragic passing of Selena Quintanilla over 20 years ago left a hole in her musician widower Chris Perez, who still takes time to remember and honor her publicly. Perez recently took to social media to share a never-before-seen photo of himself and his late wife.
The photo features Selena and Chris sitting at a table in what appears to be a restaurant. The snap shows Selena in a white button-down shirt while Perez matches her look in a white t-shirt and a pair of round eyeglasses.
The photo also features a time stamp that reads March 3, 1994. If the camera had the correct date, at the time of the image, Selena had 22 years and Perez 23.
“So, just found this pic,” Perez wrote on Instagram. “Two kids… trying to find their way. About to turn 23 and 24 years old. Can’t remember who took it…I think this was in Florida??? We were on the road and touring so much that sometimes, things get jumbled up in my mind. Good times were had, for sure!”
Thanks to the Quintanilla family and the love and support of Selena’s OG fandom, her legacy is still alive; however, many people have mixed feelings and have accused the Quintanilla estate of exploiting the late singer’s name.
During a 2022 interview with Good Morning America, Selena’s siblings Suzette and A.B. Quintanilla spoke about Selena’s posthumous album “Moonchild Mixes,” and new single “Como Te Quiero Yo A Ti.”
Referring to the songs in the album, A.B. Quintanilla said it took him “over a year” to produce the new arrangements of all the songs because “there [were] a lot of obstacles to overcome. Everything was recorded on vinyl, so we had to kind of fuse the old school ways with the new school ways.”
Despite de joy of releasing the new materials, critics have shared their points of view. Something the Quintanillas are unbothered by. “What critics? We don’t care about them,” Suzette said during Good Morning America.
“We’re still going to do what we want with our music, with our sister, with our band,” she assured. “I hope people understand that everything that we do, we do with love and care and beauty.”
According to Suzette, she thinks her younger sister “would have loved” the album. A.B even said, “[She would have] said, ‘It’s a wrap, I need to go to the mall.’”
Selena Quintanilla, one of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers, would have been celebrating her 52st birthday on April 16, 2023. Although her life was taken so soon, her family and the Latino community refuse to let her legacy die.
To date, for almost 28 years, the music industry has continued showering the “Queen of Tejano music” with tributes and posthumous awards, her fandom keeps her songs playing, and the Quintanilla family preserving her name and image to the core.
For the Latino community, Selena Quintanilla is beyond her worldwide known song “Como La Flor” or her head-bopping track “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.” Selena is more than her dance moves and her purple jumpsuit. The forever shining star is a representation of Latinidad.