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Trini Lopez
(born Trinidad López III
, 15 May 1937, Dallas, Texas) is a Chicano singer and guitarist.
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TRINI LOPEZ TICKETS
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Career
Lopez made his name on the club circuit of the
Southwestern United States before being 'discovered' in 1962 playing at the club PJ's in
Hollywood,
California, by
record producer Don Costa. Costa was taken with Lopez's
Latinized versions of contemporary
hits and signed him up to
Frank Sinatra's
record label,
Reprise Records. His debut
album,
Trini Lopez Live at PJ's
, was released in 1963. The album included a
version of "
If I Had a Hammer", which reached
number one in 36 countries (No. 3 in the United States) and was a
radio favorite for many years. He also performed his own version of the traditional
Mexican song "
La Bamba" on the album; his
recording of the tune was later re-issued as a
single in 1966.
His popularity led the
Gibson Guitar Corporation to ask him in 1964 to design a
guitar for them. He ended up designing two: The Trini Lopez Standard, a
rock and roll model based on the
Gibson ES-335 semi-hollow body, and the Lopez Deluxe, a variation of a Gibson jazz guitar designed by
Barney Kessel. Both of these guitars were in production from 1964 until 1971 and are now highly sought after amongst collectors. Some owners of the guitar include
Dave Grohl of
Foo Fighters and
Noel Gallagher of
Oasis.
He scored 13
chart singles through 1968, including "
Lemon Tree" (1965), "I'm Comin' Home, Cindy" (1966) and "Sally Was a Good Old Girl" (1968). On the adult contemporary chart, he ranked up 15 hits, including the
Top 10 singles "Michael" (1964), "Gonna Get Along Without Ya' Now" (1967) and "The Bramble Bush" (1967). Beyond his success on
record, he became one of the country's top
nightclub performers of that era, regularly headlining in
Las Vegas,
Nevada.
During the 1960s and 1970s Lopez moved into
acting, though his
film career was not as successful as his music. His first film role was in
Marriage on the Rocks
(1965), in which he made a
cameo appearance in a nightclub scene; Lopez's
soundtrack song, "Sinner Man", became a hit single (
No. 54 pop/No. 12 adult contemporary). He was one of
The Dirty Dozen
(1967) and starred in
Antonio
(1973). He made two appearances (playing different characters) on the
television program,
Adam 12.
He continued his musical career with extensive
tours of
Europe and
Latin America during this period; an attempt to break out by releasing a
disco album in 1978 proved a flop.
Since then, Lopez has done
charitable work and received honors such as being inducted into the
International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2003. He was still recording and appearing live in the early 2000s. Recently he took part in a
benefit concert to raise money for the victims of the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and
tsunami.
Albums
- 1963: Live at PJ's
- 1963 More Trini Lopez Live at PJ's
- 1964 On the Move
- 1964 Live at Basin St. East
- 1964 The Latin Album
- 1965 The Folk Album
- 1965 The Love Album
- 1965 ''The Rhythm and Blues Album
- 1965 The Sing Along World of Trini Lopez
- 1965 Trini Lopez Live in South Africa
- 1966 Trini
- 1966 The Second Latin Album
- 1967 In London
- 1967 Now!
- 1968 It's a Great Life
- 1968 Welcome to Trini Country
- 1969 The Whole Enchilada
- 1969 The Trini Lopez Show
- 1970 Viva
- 1971 Trini Lopez Live in Tokyo
- 1977 Y Su Alma Latina
- 1978 Transformed By Time
- 1991 The 25th Anniversary Album
- 1998 Dance Party
- 2000 Aylole-Aylola
- 2001 Dance the Night Away
- 2002 Legacy: My Texas Roots
- 2005 Romantic and Sexy Guitars
- 2008 Ramblin' Man
(excluding compilations and re-recordings)
In popular culture
- His cover of "Cielito Lindo" was used in the 1989 film, Born on the Fourth of July
.