London- Hilton Valentine, the founding guitarist of the English rock and roll band The Animals, who is credited with creating one of the most famous opening riffs of the 1960s, has passed away. He was 77 years old.
The label of the band ABKCO Music confirmed that Valentine passed away on Friday, according to his wife Germaine Valentine. The cause of death was not stated.
“Valentine was a pioneering guitarist who has influenced the sound of rock and roll for decades,” the label said in a statement.
Valentine picked up the guitar at the age of 13 in his hometown of North Shields in the North East of England, then got involved in the skiffle craze, a kind of fusion of American folk, country, jazz and blues, that took music by storm in UK. His skiffle band The Heppers evolved into The Wildcats, a rock and roll group that became popular all over Northern England, in part due to Valentine’s habit of rolling on the ground while playing his guitar.
Valentine formed The Animals in 1963 along with singer Eric Burdon, bassist Chas Chandler, keyboardist Alan Price and drummer John Steel.
The band’s most famous hit came in 1964, when their rock version of the hit song “The House of the Rising Sun” topped the charts in both the UK and the US.
The song, whose opening riff has since become a rite of passage for aspiring guitarists around the world, had such resonance in America that many were surprised to learn that the band hailed from the industrial heartland of England.
“The opening of Rising Sun will never sound the same again! … You didn’t just touch it, you lived it! I write heartbroken by the sudden news of Hilton’s passing, ”Burdon wrote on Twitter.