Lopez formed his first band in
Wichita Falls, Texas, at the age of 15. Around 1955/56, Lopez and his band worked at The Vegas Club, a nightclub owned by
Jack Ruby, the man who would later assassinate
Lee Harvey Oswald. In 1957, at the recommendation of
Buddy Holly's father, Trini and his group "The Big Beats" went to producer
Norman Petty in
Clovis, New Mexico. Petty secured a contract for them with
Columbia Records, which released the single "Clark's Expedition"/"Big Boy", both instrumental. Lopez left the group and made his first solo recording, his own composition "The Right To Rock", for the Dallas-based Volk Records, and then signed with
King Records in 1959, recording more than a dozen singles for that label, none of which reached any musical hit parade. In late 1962, after the King contract expired, Lopez followed up on an offer by producer
Snuff Garrett to join the post-Holly Crickets as vocalist. After a few weeks of auditions in Los Angeles, that idea did not go through. He landed a steady engagement at the nightclub PJ's, where his audience grew quickly. He was heard there by
Frank Sinatra, who had started his own label,
Reprise Records, and who subsequently signed Lopez. His debut live album, ''
Trini Lopez at PJ's'' (R/RS 6093), was released in 1963. The album included a
version of
Pete Seeger's "
If I Had a Hammer", which reached
No. 1 in 36 countries (No. 3 in the United States), and was a radio favorite for many years. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a
gold disc. He also performed his own version of the traditional Mexican song "
La Bamba" on the album; his
recording of the tune was later reissued as a single in 1966. during a tennis event at Fort Lauderdale, Florida (April 1975) Lopez scored 13
chart singles through 1968, including "
Lemon Tree" (1965), "I'm Comin' Home, Cindy" (1966), and "Sally Was a Good Old Girl" (1968). Later in 2013, Lopez told
Portland Magazine, "People ask about 'Lemon Tree' all the time. It's one of my most favorite requested songs. It's a very catchy tune. I just happen to like the chorus." On the adult contemporary chart, he racked up 15 hits, including the
top-10 singles "Michael" (1964), "Gonna Get Along Without Ya' Now" (1967), and "The Bramble Bush" (1967), which he sang in the movie
The Dirty Dozen. Beyond his success on
record, he became one of the country's top
nightclub performers of that era, regularly headlining in
Las Vegas. In 1968, he recorded an album in Nashville entitled
Welcome to Trini Country (R/RS 6300). Lopez produced a single promoting the Coca-Cola Company's soft drink
Fresca in 1967. In 1969, NBC aired a Trini Lopez variety special featuring the outstanding instrumental group
the Ventures and singer
Nancy Ames as guests. Its soundtrack, released as
The Trini Lopez Show, has him singing his hits with the Ventures as his backing band. Said reviewer Steve Leggett of
AllMusic, "The album has an easygoing feel very similar to Lopez's classic live sets from the 1960s, only it rocks a good deal harder." Thereafter, Lopez focused on
charitable work. Lopez was still recording and appearing live in the years leading up to his death. He took part in a
benefit concert to raise money for the victims of the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and
tsunami, and appeared as a guest performer in a number of shows held in
Maastricht in the
Netherlands with the Dutch violinist and composer
André Rieu. He continued to record;
El Inmortal was released in 2010, and the following year he released his 65th album,
Into The Future. == Gibson Guitars ==