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Trini Lopez III pictured in October 2004 at the Palm Springs Film Festival.
Trini Lopez III, the legendary singer and star of The Dirty Dozen, has died at the age of 83. Lopez’s personal assistant confirmed to Heavy that Lopez died around 5:30 a.m. on August 11 in Palm Springs after suffering from coronavirus. Lopez’s assistant said that the singer had not been sick for very long.
Lopez is best known for his hits, “If I Had a Hammer,” “Lemon Tree” and “Sally Was a Good Old Girl.” “If I Was a Hammer” was a number one hit in 36 countries. Lopez was a native of Dallas, Texas, and had lived in Palm Springs for many years.
A message on the singer’s Facebook page appeared briefly on August 11. The message read, “Today Trini passed to the other side from Covid-19. He loves his God, family and all of you. He was such a gentle and loving man and will be deeply missed.” At the time of writing, the message was removed. This led to rumors that reports about his death were a hoax.
On August 9, one of Lopez’s friends wrote in a Facebook post, “Today is a sad day for one of our dear friends Trini Trinidad Lopez III please say a prayer for him he has Covid and is very sick.”
A Documentary on Lopez’s Life Is Due Out in 2021
On August 10, Palm Springs Life reported that documentary filmmakers Todd Hughes and P. David Ebersole were working on a documentary on Lopez’s life titled, My Name Is Lopez, is due to be released in 2021. Hughes told the website, “[Lopez’s} story is so important right now. He was born in Dallas, Texas as a full-fledged American – the son of illegal Mexican immigrants.”
During the same interview, Ebersole spoke about the hardships faced by Mexican immigrants in the 1950s and 60s including “Operation Wetback.” Hughes added, “Trini triumphed over all of that, and had this incredible life, and became kind of an American icon in his own way. It’s just a great story.”
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