Nick Valensi
| Nick Valensi | |
|---|---|
Valensi performing with The Strokes in 2002
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Nicholas Valensi |
| Born |
January 16, 1981 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1998–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | |
| Website | thestrokes |
| Notable instruments | |
Nicholas "Nick" Valensi (born January 16, 1981) is an American musician, and a founding member of the American rock band The Strokes, in which he primarily plays lead guitar and occasionally rhythm guitar. He also acts as lead vocalist and guitarist in his own band, CRX.
Valensi was born in New York City to a Jewish Tunisian father and a French mother, Danielle. Valensi’s father died when Nick was nine. He began learning guitar at the age of 5, following an impromptu strum on one of his father's guitars. His father described him as a natural guitarist, due to his quickness at picking up the ability to strum along with the rhythm of songs at a young age. Growing up, Valensi spent many summers at his grandfather's home near Bordeaux, until the age of 16. He has two sisters, Céline and Alessandra. He attended Dwight School, where he met and formed a band with Fabrizio Moretti and Julian Casablancas, and later Hunter College, where he met Nikolai Fraiture. He was once quoted as saying, "I always thought I wanted to be able to play any song you could name. But once I started playing with Julian, that's when I really started to understand music."
Valensi's main guitar, which he uses for nearly every live show and recorded song, is a 1990s Epiphone Riviera with Gibson P-94 pick-ups. In a 2004 interview with Epiphone, he called it "the greatest guitar never made" because Gibson had never produced a semi-hollow with P-94 style pickups, except for the fully hollow ES-330 and the Epiphone Casino. He has several models in different colours (all with P-94s), including multiple naturals, one in vintage sunburst, one in red, and a 12-string elite in red. In 2005, Epiphone released a signature model of his guitar, the Elitist Nick Valensi Riviera P-94, and followed it up with a standard model Nick Valensi Riviera P-94 in 2007. Back-up/warm-up guitars include an Epiphone Dot fitted with 2 P-94s, an Epiphone Casino, an Epiphone Sheraton, and a Gibson Faded Special Double Cutaway with 2 P-90s. Valensi often borrows fellow Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr.'s backup guitars, which include a Gibson Les Paul Jr. and a Les Paul Special. New guitars used for the First Impressions of Earth tour include a Les Paul Custom in black, a Fender Telecaster Custom (which he can be seen using in the music video for Under Cover of Darkness ), and a Duesenberg semi-hollow. Valensi's main amplifier is a 2x12" Fender Hot Rod DeVille, used with Fender 4x12" extension cabinets during live shows. He also recently purchased a Carr amplifier to use on the last few stops of the First Impressions tour. His pedalboard consists of a Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde Ultimate Overdrive pedal, Boss TR-2 Tremolo, Vox Cooltron Bulldog Distortion, MXR Micro Amp (2) and a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner. He has also been seen with an Electro Harmonix Memory Man and a Boss Blues Driver.
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