Jamie G Valentine

About Jamie G Valentine

Biography

Stockton

I was born in Stockton On Tees, in the north of England (a few miles south of Newcastle), where some of my earliest memories are resetting the EQ on a Vox AC30, and being taken for a pint in my Dad’s Jazz club. And all this before the age of five…! Marvellous…

Thirsk

Moved to Thirsk in North Yorkshire when I was about five (the town of the Vet, oh yes!), where I spent my formative years learning the guitar, doing rock and roll gigs with my Dad’s band, ‘The Johnny Taylor Five’ (who beat ‘The Beatles’ in a talent contest in the sixties dontchaknow), forming my first band, “5th Gear”, playing covers and writing Dire Straits type tunes rather than doing schoolwork, learning how to paint in oils, before leaving school with A levels in music and art, (and a classical symphony under my belt) to live the life of a music student in…



Leeds

…attending (occasionally) Leeds College of Music from 1990 to 1993 under the expert tutelage of Bill Kinghorn, Adrian Ingram and Pete Sklaroff among others, a fabulously drunken time was had by all, sharing a house in Kirkstall with several top fellows, including Neil Reed from Iko and Gav Murphy, brother of Al Murphy.

Left music college with degree in Jazz, Contemporary and Popular music, after which I got involved in several bands – “The Saints” (originals and covers, funk-rock-jazz-country band), “Willow” (original prog rock tunes) and then began doing sound engineering work for people like Wishbone Ash, Dr Feelgood, The Hoax, The Hamsters, Isaac Guillory, Bill Paxton, The Lost Music Of Celtarabia and many more.

Then came the opportunity to play guitar and piano with “Steve Williams Blues Deluxe” to promote Steve’s fab blues album, ‘Full Moon On Broadway’ – toured the UK and Ireland, played the “Blues to Bop” festival in Lugano, Switzerland alongside Stan Bronstein (John Lennon’s musical director), Rodney Crowell, Woody Mann, Richard Cousins (of The Robert Cray Band) and Danny ‘Mudcat’ Dudeck among others, before I was coerced into getting a ‘proper’ job… Ended up working in…



Harrogate

…where I joined “Wharrey”, a fine band of much potential, with some fine musicians, playing some fine original folk rock tunes, garnering many fantastic reviews, supported the likes of Shane Macgowan’s The Popes (ex – Pogues) on their 1999 tour of England, and The Whisky Priests on the English leg of their 1999 European tour, hooked up with a management company, who were approached by agents ranging from Australia, New York and Ireland.


Also did some time with “The Wildcats”, a kind of rockabilly blues band, much fun, top ladies and gents indeed.

Then came the “Ade Payne Band”, again a fine band, playing original tunes with three part harmonies and large guitar solo’s, with more marvellous musicians such as my old mates Rory Mcleish, Del Nichol and Nick Rickwood, and songwriting advice from the band ‘Texas’.

Then came the calmer waters of the acoustic duo format with Barbara Shaw, top songstress from ‘Wharrey’, playing a mixture of originals and covers, and recording the EP ‘Tula’.



London

And then the great move south to London with Barbara (who is now Mrs V). Met some fantastic people, did some interesting gigs with Ashley Reaks, worked at Rose Morris on the wonderful Denmark Street, started playing some of my fusion stuff with the brilliant Don Bannister and equally brilliant Colin Parkinson, and had a thoroughly life changing time. Then along came son number 1 William, and decided that the greenery of Yorkshire was calling us back, so upped sticks once again.

And so here I am, playing with the UK Foo Fighters among others, teaching guitar, bass and music theory, in the process of writing a book of Jazz Chord Melody Arrangements, doing graphic design work and cd production for my own business Iridian Design, and in the process of finishing an album of my own guitar based stuff.



Influences – in no particular order:

Allan Holdsworth, Tim Miller, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, Mark Knopfler, Joe Satriani, Robben Ford, Beethoven, JMW Turner, Ty Tabor/Kings X, Monet, John Coltrane, Joe Pass, Claude Lorrain, George Lucas, GV, Mark Knopfler, Ridley Scott, Nik Kershaw, Scott Henderson, Rory McLeish, Nick Dunne