[7] At the 1990 Northern Lights Festival Boréal, Lopez and singer-songwriter James Keelaghan met for the first time and began to explore the fusion of Celtic and Latin music.
[8] At the Juno Awards of 1995, Lopez garnered his first nomination for Best Global Recording, for the album Dancing on the Moon Contigo.
[17] As a result, Spirit of the West recorded a tribute song to Lopez, "Come Back Oscar", on their 2004 album Star Trails.
On July 24 that year, Lopez appeared on stage with Spirit of the West at the Calgary Folk Music Festival to perform the song;[17] the following year, he returned to the stage as the festival's headlining act.
[21] Lopez released his latest recording Apasionado on October 21, 2014 as an independent artist.