T Lopez

Singer/Actress T Lopez remembers her parents changing their lives to provide a better life for their children. According to T, life as a child was a little rough. Her parents met at age 12 and according to T, “they were little hoodlums, and made some bad decisions. They were running the streets, into gangs and drug dealing.” When they were 14 years of age, T was born, and although her parents were still kids, they had to make some mature decisions how they were going to provide for T.

They had a lot of street smarts, but they were both in and out of school. T spent a lot of time with her mother’s parents because her parents did not want her around to see what they were involved with. Her grandparents only spoke Spanish, so Spanish became T’s first language. According to T, even as a child living in Ontario, Ca, she recalls weekly drive-bys and always knew exactly what was going on but was never angry at her parents or scared of the circumstances. She always knew her parents loved her and the circumstances she grew up with was all she ever knew, so it was never unfamiliar to her. After a few years her parents started having more kids and according to her “My parents decided one day that they were either going to end up dead or in jail if they didn’t change their lives.”

When her parents were in their early 20’s, she recalls her father’s older brother inviting them to church and notes that her parents are really extreme people, so it’s all in or nothing. So when they decided to change their life, it was literally one day to the next. She recalls having cars, clothes, toys and anything you could ask for. Her parents had to switch up everything about themselves and rid themselves and the family of everything drug money had bought. She recalls the family going plenty of money to no money, but at the same time she remembers it was for good and she did not have to fear her parents going out at night and not returning. At that point in life T’s parents never really had actual jobs and went from having a lot of money to working for minimum wage while the family of 6 lived in a one bedroom apartment across the street from their church. T recalls going to school and helping out with her younger siblings, walking them to school and making their meals because her parents had to work. She recalls times were tough and her family would sometimes go without electricity for weeks at a time. Her parents were struggling to make it but she admits there was never a lack of love. The focus for all of them each day was family life.

T remembers her mother joined the choir at church. T at first never really put two and two together that her love for singing and music came from her surroundings. She recalls seeing her mother sing in church and having the desire to do so herself but she claims she was just too shy and a school nerd. Her grandparents would always sing mariachi music, and her father would listen to oldies, rock, and Michael Jackson. Music was all around her. “It’s funny; now, I am a singer and actress, but in high school I wasn’t in chorus, or drama,” T amusingly recalls. “I was in dance, and I liked to perform. I knew I wanted to sing with all of my heart, but I was too shy.” She did not want to put herself up on a stage and be over anybody and that is something she knew she had to overcome. She states ”I think with a lot of Latino’s, it’s kind of like you are just happy to be there, you’re content with just existing and I just had to get over that. Your talent and gifts come from above, they come from God and he intends for you to use them. At first I did not want to because I felt I didn’t want people to think I’m too good, but it’s not that, it’s confidence, not cockiness” She then realized she could do something more than just average. She goes on to say “I think part of that is being Latino in the U.S. and growing up in the hood, you’re almost put down if you are trying to do something better because people are like “oh, you’re too good now” Now that T has been able to establish herself and go back to the community to talk with kids, she claims “it is so awesome to hear kids say “wait a minute, you came from here and like you lived on this street” “It’s such a change and their minds change instantly” she explains. “The mindset of the kids change from “I can’t really do that because I come from here”, to “maybe I can do that.”

At fifteen years old, T received her first job to pay for her way into acting school. She felt her parents were already under enough pressure with their own financial problems, so she never asked them for financial help. She credits the school for helping her to break out of her shell and use her talents as a good and inspiring thing. At the same time, she started auditioning and her mother and father would do everything they could to help her, because that’s what they had always wanted for her, was for T to do something with her life. T states “my parents would support me no matter what” Her mother would take her to Hollywood for auditions and often say “If this is what you really want to do, then we have to go for it” She didn’t want T to have any regrets in life. To this day, T acknowledges she could not have done it without the support and love of her family. One day, she explains, a man had a broken brake light and came into her father’s auto body shop to have it repaired. The gentleman’s name was Nick Martinez. Martinez saw the family picture on her father’s desk, and her father told Martinez that his older daughter could sing very well. T called Martinez later in the day and sang to him over the phone. She sang “Amazing Grace,” because that was the one song she remembered fully. A month later, Martinez came back to the auto body shop, because he had lost T’s phone number. He stated he met a female group and they were looking for a fourth member. The band was called Soluna.

When she joined Soluna, she was the youngest, still in high school and didn’t know what to expect. They eventually secured DreamWorks as their record label and started recording. She recalls, “ I had never been in a professional recording studio, I had never sang on a mic like that before and I had never done anything like that” She was just thrown into it she recalls. The girls in the group were all Latina’s and all seemed to get along great. They cut their album, toured and then became an opening act for Marc Anthony and Enrique Iglesias. She claims it was an amazing experience but knew she had to keep her feet on the ground because her parents were good at doing that for her. She claims “I couldn’t come home and act like a diva because it would not fly in my family” T claims, Soluna even had the attempt of a promising sitcom based on their band. They had writers quickly writing up episodes based on their adventures and Mario Lopez was cast to play the part of their brother in the series. The pilot received honorable reviews, but sadly, the network did not to pick up the show. The girls soon split up after the disappointment of their pilot. Each member wanted to pursue their own careers after five years of touring. T pursued acting and received parts in the series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

T’s hard work and dedication has enabled her to act in several TV shows, perform music all over the world and has currently signed with Cash Money Records. She claims, loyalty and closeness is important to her and she found that with Cash Money Records. Even with all of her success, she remembers where she comes from, the love and support she received from her family and how her parents changed their lives in order to give their kids a future. T has a heart for her community and you can always find her helping and inspiring other kids to work towards their goals and never give up. Helping them to believe that they can reach their dreams even if in the most difficult of circumstances. She is proof, that it can happen!