Musician Trini Lopez dies from COVID-19 complications
Musician, actor, and longtime valley resident Trinidad "Trini" Lopez was pronounced dead at the age of 83 on Tuesday due to complications with pneumonia and COVID-19.
Filmmaker P. David Ebersole, who just finished shooting a documentary on Lopez with Todd Hughes, confirmed to the Associated Press that Lopez died from complications of COVID-19 at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, California.
Lopez was a resident of the Coachella Valley since the 1960s and was honored with a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in 1993.
According to his website, Lopez got his first guitar when was 11 and he started his first band at the age of 15. Lopez's big break would come a little later courtesy of Frank Sinatra.
(Courtesy of Trini's website)
Lopez would go on to have 16 Top 40 songs on the charts from 1963 through 1968. Two of his biggest hits were "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree."
In addition, Lopez starred in a few movies, including the 1967 "The Dirty Dozen" alongside Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, Lee Marvin, and George Kennedy.
According to Palm Springs Life, local filmmakers P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes have been working on a documentary on Lopez's life and career titled "My Name is Lopez." Ebersole and Hughes hope to release the film at film festivals in 2021, but that may be up in the air due to the pandemic.
