Hilton Valentine, the founding guitarist of the English rock and roll band The Animals, who allegedly created one of the most famous opening riffs of the 1960s, has passed away
LONDON – Hilton Valentine, the founding guitarist of the English rock and roll band The Animals, who reportedly created one of the most famous opening riffs of the 1960s, has passed away. He was 77.
The ABKCO Music label confirmed that Valentine passed away on Friday, saying it had been told of his death by his wife, Germaine Valentine. The cause of death was not given.
“Valentine was a pioneering guitarist who has influenced the sound of rock and roll for decades,” the label said in a statement.
Valentine began playing guitar at the age of 13 in his hometown of North Shields in the North East of England, then became involved in the skiffle craze – a kind of fusion of American folk, country, jazz and blues – that swept the UK. His skiffle band The Heppers developed into The Wildcats, a rock and roll band that became popular in the North of England, partly because of Valentine’s habit of rolling on the ground while playing his guitar.
Valentine had learned his trade and formed The Animals in 1963, together 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 rock-infused version of the national anthem ‘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 budding guitarists around the world, had such resonance in the US that many people were surprised to learn that the band hailed from the industrial heartland of England.
Burdon paid tribute to Valentine on Instagram by writing, “The opening work of Rising Sun will never sound the same again! … 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 can also be heard on other classics of the band, including “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “Don’t Bring Me Down”.
Valentine subsequently released solo work and intermittently returned 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 and returned to skiffle music with the formation of his band Skiffledog.