Photographer: Stanley Bielecki / ASP / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Photographer: Stanley Bielecki / ASP / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
London (AP) – Hilton Valentine, the founding guitarist of English rock and roll band The Animals is credited with coming up with one of the most famous opening riffs of the 1960s. He was 77.
The label of the band ABKCO Music confirmed that Valentine died on Friday, claiming that he was informed of his death by his wife, Germaine Valentine.
“As a founding member and original guitarist of The Animals, Valentine was an advanced guitarist influencing the sound of rock and roll for decades to come,” the label said in a tweet.
Valentine, from North Shields in northeast England, founded The Animals in 1963 with singer Eric Burdon, bassist Chas Chandler, organist Alan Price and drummer John Steel.
The band’s most famous song, 1964, “The House of the Rising Sun,” topped the UK and US charts. The song was so strong in the US that it surprised many. people that the band came from an industrial area in England.
Burdon paid homage to Valentine on Instagram, writing: “The opening opus of Rising Sun will never hear the same thing! … You not only played it, you were alive! Broken by the sudden news of Hilton’s time passing. “
Valentine stayed with the band for four years and can also be heard on other classics with the band including “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and “Don ‘t Bring Me Down. ”
The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and in recent years Valentine has been living in the US state of Connecticut.