Hilton Valentine
| Hilton Valentine | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Hilton Stewart Paterson Valentine |
| Born |
21 May 1943 North Shields, Northumberland, England, UK |
| Genres | Rock, blues-rock, folk rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1963–present |
| Associated acts | The Animals |
| Website | hiltonvalentine |
| Notable instruments | |
|
Rickenbacker 330 Gretsch Tennessean |
|
Hilton Stewart Paterson Valentine (born 21 May 1943) is an English musician, who was the original guitarist in the Animals.
Valentine was born in North Shields, Northumberland, and was influenced by the 1950s skiffle craze. His mother bought him his first guitar in 1956 when he was 13, he taught himself some chords from a book called "Teach Yourself a Thousand Chords", and formed his own skiffle group called the Heppers. They played local gigs and a newspaper described them at the time as, "A young but promising skiffle group". The Heppers eventually evolved into a rock and roll band, the Wildcats in c. 1959. During this period Valentine played a Futurama III solid guitar, this was the UK brandname of importer Selmer, his next guitar was a Burns Vibra-Artiste which he bought in 1960–61. The Wildcats was a popular band in the Tyneside area getting a lot of bookings for dance halls, working men's clubs, church halls etc., and it was during this period that they decided to record a 10" acetate LP titled Sounds of the Wild Cats (sic). In 1963 the Animals were starting to form and Chas Chandler heard about Hilton Valentine's wild guitar playing and asked him to join what was then the Alan Price Combo.Eric Burdon was already a member and John Steel joined immediately following Valentine's arrival. Within a few months, this group changed their name to the Animals.
While the Animals are often remembered most for Burdon's vocals and Price's organ, Valentine is credited with the electric guitar arpeggio introduction to the Animals' 1964 signature song "The House of the Rising Sun", which inspired countless beginning guitarists. It was played on his Gretsch Tennessean guitar which he bought in Newcastle in early 1962 while he was still with the Wildcats, and a Selmer amplifier. Later, in 1964, Rickenbacker gave him a 1964 Rose Morris guitar to use along with a 12-string model.
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