'Cannibal' band member Richard Lopez dies at 65

[August 20, 2010]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Richard Lopez, an original member of the band Cannibal & the Headhunters, which scored a 1965 hit with "Land of 1,000 Dances," has died. He was 65.

Gene Aguilera, the group's manager during a comeback a decade ago, says Lopez died of lung cancer July 30 at a convalescent hospital in Garden Grove, Calif.

Lopez and three other East Los Angeles high school students formed the band in the 1960s. Lopez was nicknamed "Scar," and "Cannibal" was Frank Garcia, who sings the iconic phrase "Naa na na na naa" on "Land of 1,000 Dances." It spent 14 weeks on Billboard's Top 100, reaching No. 30.

The group opened for The Beatles and other groups. Lopez left before the band broke up in 1967. It reunited in 1996.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/

[Associated Press]

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