LONDON (AP) – Hilton Valentine, the founding guitarist for the English rock and roll band The Animals, who is credited with one of the most famous opening riffs of the 1960s, has died. He was 77 years old.
The band’s record label, ABKCO Music, confirmed that Valentine died on Friday, saying he was informed of his death by his wife, Germaine Valentine. The cause of death was not reported.
“Valentine was a pioneering guitarist who influenced the sound of rock and roll in the coming decades,” the label said in a statement.
Valentine started playing guitar at age 13 in his hometown, North Shields, in northeastern England, later becoming involved in the skiffle craze – a kind of fusion of American folk, country, jazz and blues – that was sweeping the UK. His skiffle band The Heppers evolved into The Wildcats, a rock and roll band that became popular throughout northern England, in part due to Valentine’s habit of rolling on the floor while playing his guitar.
Having learned his trade, Valentine formed The Animals in 1963 alongside singer Eric Burdon, bassist Chas Chandler, organist Alan Price and drummer John Steel.
The band’s most famous hit came in 1964, when their rock-inspired version of the folk song “The House of the Rising Sun” topped the charts in the UK and the United States.
The song, whose opening riff has been a rite of passage for beginning guitarists around the world ever since, has had such a resonance in the United States that many people were surprised to hear that the band came from the industrial heart of England.
Burdon paid tribute to Valentine on Instagram, writing: “Rising Sun’s opening opus will never sound the same! … You didn’t just play, you lived! Heartbroken by the sudden news of Hilton’s passing. “
Valentine stayed with the band for four years and is also heard on other band classics, including “Don’t Let Me Be Misundersained”, “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “Don’t Bring Me Down”.
Valentine released a solo work later and returned intermittently to the band, which was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
In recent years, Valentine has lived in the US state of Connecticut, returning to skiffle music with the formation of his band Skiffledog.