PALM SPRINGS, CA (CelebrityAccess) — Trini Lopez, a singer and musician who scored a series of folk hits in the 1960s including renditons of \u201cIf I Had a Hammer\u201d and \u201cThis Land Is Your Land,\u201d died on Tuesday from complications related to COVID-19. He was 83.<\/p>\n

Lopez’s songwriting partner Joe Chavira said Lopez had been in and out of a hospital setting for about six weeks before dying on Tuesday morning in Palm Springs, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n

Born in Texas in 1937 to Mexican immigrants, Lopez formed his first band by the age of 15 while working in Wichita Falls at the Vegas Club, a nightclub owned Jack Ruby, who later assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald.<\/p>\n

Lopez and his group The Big Beats, signed with Columbia Records and released one single before Lopez exited the group to puruse a career as a solo artist.<\/p>\n

Signed with King Records, Lopez released a series of singles, none of which gained traction and was eventually dropped by the label.<\/p>\n

After relocating to Los Angeles, he secured a steady engagement at the nightclub PJ and began developing a local audience. While performing at the club, he was heard by Frank Sinatra, who signed him to his own label Reprise Records.<\/p>\n

Lopez debut on Reprise, “Trini Lopez at PJ’s” included a version of the Pete Seeger and Lee Hays classic “If I had a hammer” which was a smash hit for Lopez, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 in 36 countries around the world.<\/p>\n

During his years on Reprise, Lopez released 13 charting singles, included “Lemon Tree,” “Kansas City,” “Are you sincere,” and “Michael.”<\/p>\n

During the 1960s and 1970s, Lopez attempted to transition into acting but did not find the same measure of success has he had as a musician.<\/p>\n

However, he continued to tour successfully in the U.S. and Europe as a musician but his attempts to reinvent himself musically to stay relevant with new sounds failed after a disco album he released in 1978 landed with a thud.<\/p>\n

In 2003, he was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Las Vegas Walk of Stars in 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALM SPRINGS, CA (CelebrityAccess) — Trini Lopez, a singer and musician who scored a series of folk hits in the 1960s including renditons of \u201cIf I Had a Hammer\u201d and \u201cThis Land Is Your Land,\u201d died on Tuesday from complications related to COVID-19. He was 83. Lopez’s songwriting partner Joe Chavira said Lopez had been<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":96077,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stc_notifier_status":"sent","_stc_notifier_sent_time":"2020-08-12 16:45:31","_stc_notifier_request":false,"_stc_notifier_prevent":false,"_stc_subscriber_keywords":"","_stc_subscriber_search_areas":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51,75,22],"tags":[12203],"class_list":["post-96076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-business-news","category-industry_news","tag-trinilopez"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n