Born in Dallas of undocumented Mexican immigrants, Trinidad Lopez III fought his way out of the ghetto with a guitar to | dG1fYzNVZktlelhlNmM
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 Hi, everybody. I'm Trini Lopez.
00:03 Ladies and gentlemen, Trini Lopez.
00:06 I didn't think that any of my songs would be hits.
00:10 That's for starters.
00:12 You really were the trailblazer.
00:16 Trini Lopez.
00:19 Trini is probably one of the most exciting young performers today.
00:25 Oh, he was cute as a button.
00:26 Yeah, he was a handsome kid.
00:28 Like a lot of people from my generation,
00:30 I discovered him through thrift store records.
00:33 Gibson came to Trini and said,
00:35 "We want you to design two guitars for us."
00:37 This guitar, I've made every single Foo Fighters record with.
00:41 Because people like my style, I guess, you know.
00:44 My father kept coming in from Mexico to Texas,
00:48 illegal, by the way.
00:49 People today do not realize what he went through,
00:52 because he was a Mexican and proud of it.
00:54 He said, "I'd like to talk to you about maybe recording you."
00:57 The only problem is, we need to change your name.
01:00 Take that Lopez name out.
01:01 At that time, folk music was real in.
01:06 Now he added some Latin rhythm to it and a fusion happened.
01:10 He was doing something that was so different
01:13 than anything else that was being done.
01:14 And so, I get credit for starting Latin rock.
01:18 The moment Trini hit with a power
01:21 that was not too unlike the power of The Beatles, really.
01:24 Trini was, like, more popular than any of us.
01:27 I started hearing about a place in Hollywood called PJ's.
01:31 They were all going to this place.
01:32 Sinatra, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, Natalie Wood.
01:36 Frank Sinatra sent one of his biggest record producers
01:40 and he would like to offer you a six-year recording contract.
01:43 So, ever since then, I never did the Johnny Carson show anymore.
01:50 Princess Grace, she was my biggest fan.
01:54 He said, "I think you should leave the movie."
01:57 There was a falling out.
01:58 My name is Trinidad Lopez.
02:04 Now, everybody calls me Trini for short.
02:07 Thank you!
02:08 (audience applauding)