Trini Lopez

Recently he has announced a new CD and taken part in a benefit concert to raise money for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Frank Sinatra used to privately refer to him as "The African Queen". He was still recording and appearing live in the early 2000s. Mathis has recorded over 100 albums of original music and has sold more than 180 million albums worldwide. Since then, Lopez has done much charity work and has received many honours, such as being inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2003. His hit songs include "Wonderful Wonderful", "A Certain Smile", "Chances Are", "The Twelfth of Never", "Misty", "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late", and "I'm Coming Home", and the original recording of the Thom Bell-Linda Creed composition "Life Is a Song Worth Singing", later made popular by Soul/R&B vocalist Teddy Pendergrass. He continued his musical career with extensive tours of Europe and Latin America during this period, remaining firmly within his Latin music genre; an attempt to break out by releasing a disco album in the United Kingdom in 1978 proved an embarrassing flop. Although frequently described as a "Romantic" singer, his vast discography contains Jazz, Traditional Pop, Brazilian & Spanish music, Soul, Soft Rock, and Broadway Show Tunes.

He co-starred the war movie The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Antonio (1973) . Around the same time, he had his first number one hit with "Chances Are". His first film appearance was in Marriage On The Rocks (1965) where he appeared with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. He sang one of his first hits, "It's Not For Me To Say", in the film, Lizzie, in which he also had a small acting role. During the 1960s and 1970s Lopez moved into acting as well as recording and playing, though his film career was not nearly as successful as his music. While training to become a teacher, he was talent-spotted at a concert and signed by Columbia Records. He also recorded covers of other popular songs of the day, including Lemon Tree (1965), I'm Coming Home Cindy (1966) and Sally Was a Good Old Girl (1968). Mathis grew up in San Francisco, and began singing at school.

He also performed his own version of the traditional Mexican song La Bamba on this album. Johnny Mathis (born September 30, 1935 in Gilmer, Texas) is an American popular singer, and one of the few remaining male vocalists associated with Traditional Pop music. The album included Lopez's most famous song, If I Had A Hammer, which reached number one in 25 countries and was a radio favourite for many years. His debut album, Trini Lopez Live at PJ's, was released in 1963. Costa was greatly taken with Lopez's Latinized versions of contemporary hits and signed him up to Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records.

Born Trinidad Lopez III in Dallas, Texas, he made his name on the club circuit of the American Southwest before being "discovered" in 1962 by the record producer Don Costa while playing at the PJ Club in Hollywood. Trini Lopez (May 15, 1937- ) is a Latin American singer/guitarist. Official site (http://www.trinilopez.com/) (A detailed biography is available at this site.).