TRINI
Trini
Lopez: Mexican-American singer and guitarist Common clue:
“Lemon
Tree” singer Lopez; Singer Lopez; “If I Had a Hammer”
singer Lopez; Lopez of pop; Lopez of “The Dirty
Dozen” Crossword
puzzle frequency:
2 times a year Video: If
I Had a Hammer – Trini Lopez
Trini
Lopez (born Trinidad López III, 15 May 1937, Dallas,
Texas) is a Mexican-American singer and guitarist.
Lopez
made his name on the club circuit of the Southwestern United
States before being "discovered" in 1962 by the record
producer Don Costa, while playing at the PJ Club in Hollywood,
California. Costa was greatly 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 25 countries and was a radio favourite for many years. He
also performed his own version of the traditional Mexican song
"La Bamba" on this album.
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.
He
later recorded covers of other popular songs of the day,
including "Lemon Tree" (1965), "I'm Coming Home
Cindy" (1966) and "Sally Was a Good Old Girl"
(1968).
During
the 1960s and 1970s Lopez moved into acting as well as recording
and playing, though his film career was not as successful as his
music. His first film appearance was in Marriage On The Rocks
(1965) where he appeared with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. He
was one of The Dirty Dozen (1967) and starred in Antonio (1973).
He continued his musical career with extensive tours of Europe
and Latin America during this period, remaining firmly within his
Latin music genre; an attempt to break out by releasing a disco
album in the United Kingdom in 1978 proved an embarrassing 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 announced a new CD album, and took part in a
benefit concert to raise money for the victims of the 2004 Indian
Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
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It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Trini Lopez".
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