SAN ANTONIO – Grammy award-winning guitarist, songwriter, and best-selling author, Chris Pérez, is taking on lead vocals for the first time in his musical career.
“To be the lead vocalist on the track for the first time, I’m excited about it,” Pérez said. “It took some growing for me because I’m known for guitar playing and I do sing backup vocals for my group, but this is the first time I’m actually the lead on a song.”
His new single, “pushing ahead,” is out today. It’s described as an alternative-rock romp song that compels all who listen to uplift their spirits. The widower of Tejano superstar Selena signed on with comedian George Lopez and Santana lead vocalist, Arthur Vargas’ record label, Malaspalabras, for this single.
“Everything just happened to mesh really well,” Pérez said.
The song features one of Pérez’s artists from his record label, Blue Mariachi Productions, Zeus.
“Zeus is a character, he keeps me on my toes,” Pérez said.
The song will also be released in a Spanish version, with lyrics by Pete Astudillo, who helped write “Como La Flor” and “Amor Por Vido” for Pérez’s late wife, Selena.
“He wrote a lot of the big hits for Selena,” Pérez said.
The connection with Selena continues 27 years after her death. Pérez tells us he is “proud” to see how her legacy continues from generation to generation.
“Every event I’m at, whether it’s a meet-and-greet or it’s a performance, there’s more than a handful of people that are Selena fans,” Pérez said. “The amazing thing is, I’ll meet someone who is my age and they have their kids and their kids are huge fans.”
Years later, he still finds old photos, some he will post to his Instagram with heartfelt messages.
“It’s funny how things change as time goes on because there was a time early mid-90s where coming across that kind of stuff was painful and now I look at that stuff and I’m like look at what we’ve done, look at what she’s done and what she continues to do and it’s like a 180 turn,” he said. “I couldn’t be prouder.”
The Chris Pérez band will be performing at The State Fair of Texas on October 4th. When asked if he plans to sing another single soon he said he is “taking baby steps.”
Pérez also has a line of hot sauces and he just released a BBQ sauce this month. You can purchase it at ChrisPerezPepperSauce.com.
One thing is for sure, music is not only what Chris Pérez does, it’s therapeutic for him.
“Music has been so many things for me: healing, energy,” he said. “It’s what I love to do and I’m a lucky, lucky guy that I get to do what I do.”
You can watch the full interview below: