WALLINGFORD – Guitarist Hilton Valentine, a founding member of the legendary British group The Animals, died on Friday morning.
His death was revealed by his wife, according to a statement from the Abkco label. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Valentine, 77, was an internationally known musician who has lived in Wallingford since 1997.
His wife, Germaine Valentine, was born in Meriden and worked for the city of Wallingford for many years.
Valentine was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England. He was a founding member of The Animals, one of the bands that led the British invasion of rock in the 1960s.
He created one of the most well-known guitar riffs in rock history with his introduction to “The House of the Rising Sun”, which reached number one in 1964 in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, and is recognized among the best songs in the Rolling Stone All the time.
Valentine ‘s other hits with The Animals include “Don’t Let Me Be Misundersained”, “It’s My Life” and “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”, which played the chord of American soldiers during the Vietnam War.
Following its introduction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum described The Animals’ essential position as a “key link in the transition from black R&B to punk rock”.
The biography John Corcoran’s Rock Hall Induction essay emphasizes how his working-class experience was the key to how his interpretations of folk and blues would resonate so distinctly compared to The Yardbirds, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
“We at Abkco are privileged to serve as administrators of The Animals catalog and his death is felt in a truly profound way by the entire Abkco family,” said the label’s statement.
From skiffle to rock and vice versa
After starting to play guitar at age 13, Valentine became involved in the skiffle craze that swept the British Isles.
He was orphaned at age 16 and was focused on his skiffle group, The Heppers. They evolved into The Wildcats, a rock and roll band that built a reputation in their homeland in northern England based on Valentine’s energetic performances – he was known for rolling on the floor while playing his guitar.
“What attracted me to the guitar was seeing Lonnie Donegan doing ‘Rock Island Line’ on television, on a show called ‘The Six Five Special’,” recalled Valentine in 2006 while speaking to journalist Tom Guerra in Modern Guitars magazine.
“I wanted to play the guitar after seeing this and, of course, after listening to Chuck Berry and watching him do the duck walk,” he said.
Valentine caught the eye of Chas Chandler, Alan Price and Eric Burdon, who recruited him to join a new group they were forming 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 meetings. The band in its original formation was included in 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 the cutting edge sound of The Animals to the forefront.
“It was really Hilton who made the early Animals a rock band,” said Burdon, “because I don’t think the rock element was in the band until we found it. At that time, Hilton didn’t just play rock ‘n’ roll, he looked like rock ‘n’ roll. Here was a guy with a wisp of greased back combed hair, a cheap leather jacket, black leather shoes, black jeans and a smile on his face playing through an ecoplex, which was a secret weapon at the time. “
Valentine released a solo album in 1969 entitled “All in Your Head” by Capitol Records. He later reunited with The Animals three times after that and recorded “Before We Were So Rudely Interrupted” with the band in 1977 and joined them again 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 show at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles.
In recent years, Valentine has returned to skiffle music and formed the band Skiffledog, which toured the United States and released two albums.
In 2011, he recorded a holiday album with Big Boy Pete called “Merry Skifflemas”, referred to on the packaging as a “festive mix of traditional oldies and original newbies.”
He joined Burdon, with whom he remained close, on tour in 2007-2008.
[email protected]: @LCTakores