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WALLINGFORD – Guitarist Hilton Valentine, founding member of legendary British band The Animals, died on Friday morning.
His death was revealed by his wife, according to a statement from the Abkco record company. The cause of death has not been revealed.
Valentine, 77, was an internationally renowned musician who had lived in Wallingford since 1997.
His wife, Germaine Valentine, is from Meriden who worked for the town of Wallingford for many years.
Valentine was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England. He was a founding member of The Animals, one of the groups that led the British invasion of rock music in the 1960s.
He created one of the best-known guitar riffs in rock music history with his intro on “The House of the Rising Sun”, which reached number 1 in 1964 in the UK, US United and Canada, and is recognized among the greatest songs of Rolling Stone. All the time.
Other Valentine’s Day hits with The Animals included “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, “It’s My Life” and “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”, which struck a chord with American soldiers. during the Vietnam War.
Upon their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum described The Animals as “a key link in the evolutionary transition from black R&B to punk rock.”
Biographer John Corcoran’s Rock Hall Induction essay highlights how their working-class experience was key to how their folk and blues renditions would resonate so distinctly compared to the Yardbirds, Beatles, and Rolling Stones.
“At Abkco we have had the privilege of serving as custodians of The Animals catalog and his passing is felt really deeply by the entire Abkco family,” the record company said.
From skiffle to rock and vice versa
After taking up the guitar at the age of 13, Valentine became involved in the skiffle craze and then swept through the British Isles.
He was orphaned at 16 and focused on his skiffle group, The Heppers. They evolved into The Wildcats, a rock and roll band that made a name for themselves in their native north England thanks to the energetic performances of Valentine – he was known to roll around while playing his guitar.
“What attracted me to the guitar was seeing Lonnie Donegan do ‘Rock Island Line’ on television, in a show called ‘The Six Five Special’,” Valentine remembers in 2006 speaking with the journalist. Tom Guerra in Modern Guitars magazine.
“I wanted to play guitar after seeing that, and of course, after hearing Chuck Berry and seeing him duck walking,” he says.
Valentine caught the attention of Chas Chandler, Alan Price and Eric Burdon who recruited him to join a new group they formed in 1963. With the final addition of John Steel, they would become The Animals.
Hilton left The Animals in 1966, although he joined his former bandmates for several reunions. The group in its original formation was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
Burdon, speaking to Guerra for Guitar International magazine, recently commented on Valentine’s role in bringing out the harsh sound of Animals.
“It was really Hilton who made the first Animals into a rock band,” said Burdon, “because I don’t think the rock element was in the band until we found it. Back then, Hilton wasn’t just playing rock ‘n’ roll, he looked rock ‘n’ roll. There was a guy with the greased strand of hair combed back, a cheap leather jacket, picking shoes, black jeans and a smile on his face playing through an echoplex, which was a secret weapon to the time.
Valentine released a solo album in 1969 titled “All in Your Head” for Capitol Records. He then reunited with The Animals three times thereafter and recorded “Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted” with the group in 1977 and joined them in 1983.
In May 2001, he was inducted into the Hollywood Rock Walk of Fame along with the other Animals and had a two-night reunion concert at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles.
In recent years, Valentine has returned to skiffle music and formed the Skiffledog group which toured the United States and released two albums.
In 2011, he recorded a holiday album with Big Boy Pete titled “Merry Skifflemas”, called on the packaging a “festive mix of old-timers and original newbies”.
He joined Burdon, with whom he remained close, on tour in 2007-2008.
[email protected]: @LCTakores
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