This month Mark Guerrero brings us the music of Trini López on the Chicano radio Network (CRN). Every night in May, from 7Pm to 9PM listen to Mark’s interview with music legend Trini López interspersed with some of his most famous hits.

As a young man, Trini Lopez came to music honestly. His father, Trinidad López II, was a singer/musician and dancer in Mexico. Trini was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Dallas’ Little Mexico neighborhood of Dallas. Trini formed his first band, “the Big Beats” in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1958 at the age of fifteen. From 1958 to 1963, Trini made numerous recordings, first for Norman Petty then for King Recods (1959) and then for Frank Sinatra’s Reprise Records (1963). He recorded his first album Trini Lopez at PJS in 1963 which brought Trini his first number one hit with “If I had a Hammer.” Other hits like “La Bamba,” and “Green, Green” soon followed.

By 1968, Trini had garnered thirteen hits that charted including “Kansas City” (1963), ” Lemon Tree” (1965), “I’m Comin’ Home, Cindy” (1966), and “Sally Was a Good Old Girl” (1968) as well as “Michael” (1964), “Gonna Get Along Without Ya’ Now” (1967), and “The Bramble Bush” (1967). By 1968 Trini had become  a top Vegas nightclub performer. In 1968, he recorded an album in Nashville entitled Welcome to Trini Country.

In 1965 Trini began his film career acting in the movie Marriage on the Rocks.  Later he starred in The Dirty Dozen (1967) , The Phynx (1970) as well as in the TV series Adam 12 and The Hardy Boys/ Nancy Drew Mysteries.

In 1993, Trini received a Golden Palm Star on the Palms Springs Walk of Stars. In 2002  Trini released his album Legacy: My Texas Roots. In 2003 he was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame and in 2008 he was inducted into the Las Vegas Walks of Stars.  In later years Trini has continued to record prodigiously:  in 2008, he released his 63rd album, “Ramblin Man,” followed by  “El Immortal” (2010) and “Into The Future” (2011).

Enjoy Mark Guerrero’s interview with Trini López and his music on the Chicano Radio Network!