Hilton Valentine, the founding guitarist of the English rock and roll band The Animals, which is credited with one of the most famous opening riffs of the 1960s, has died
LONDON – Hilton Valentine, the founding guitarist of the English rock and roll band The Animals, who is credited with coming up with one of the most famous opening riffs of the 1960s, has died. He was 77 years old.
The ABKCO Music label confirmed that Valentine died on Friday, saying that his wife, Germaine Valentine, spoke about his death. The cause of death has not been given.
“Valentine was a pioneering guitarist who influenced the sound of rock and roll in the following decades,” the label said in a statement.
Valentine took over the guitar at 13 in his hometown of North Shields in the north-east of England, later becoming involved in the skiffle craze – a kind of fusion of American folk, country, jazz and blues – that ran through his UK band. skiffle The Heppers evolved into The Wildcats, a rock and roll band that became popular in northern England, in part because of Valentine’s habit of rolling on the floor while playing the guitar.
After learning her trade, Valentine formed The Animals in 1963 with singer Eric Burdon, bassist Chas Chandler, organist Alan Price and drummer John Steel.
The band’s most famous hit came in 1964, when their takeover with popular songs “The House of the Rising Sun”, in the top charts in the UK and US
The song, whose opening riff was a rite of passage for budding guitarists around the world, had such a resonance in the US 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: “The opening opposite of Rising Sun will never sound the same! … You didn’t just play it, you lived it! Heartbroken by the sudden news of Hilton’s passing. “
Valentine stayed with the band for four years and is also heard by other classic bands by the band, including “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “Don’t Bring Me Down ”.
Valentine later released a solo work and returned intermittently to the band, which was inducted into 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.