Joe Valentine - Then and Now, Singing In The Key Of Love Volume 1 60`s & 70`s (2002) Tee Jay Records 2 x CD - Rare Soul (FLAC 767MB)

Joseph Benedict Valentine was born in New Orleans, in 1937 & passed in 2018 in Austin,Texas. He was a recording artist, musician, song-writer and (club owner In Austin). Although he only recorded 15 x 45,s he did record 4 studio albums and a live album mainly on his Tee Jay label which are very much sought after by collectors because Joe produced top-drawer ultra emotive deep soul, only a few exponents have managed to produce more than one supreme example in their recording careers and even the very few come mainly from the deep south. Joe wrote all his own material and delivered it with such conviction that makes his 45,s & albums in such high demand. The "Then" CD deals with his 1960,s output & "Now" with his 1970,s material,and he liked to delve into uptempo songs as well. Joe was brought up in Reserve, Louisiana, a community situated some thirty miles north-west of New Orleans on the east bank of the mighty Mississippi. Joe was born into a musical family with a history that dated back many years. His grandfather, Peter Valentine, played trumpet with a Dixieland band and his uncle, Kid Valentine (1896 to 1987) was known as Kid Thomas and became a significant jazz figure, his band playing regularly at Preservation Hall in New Orleans from the 60’s to the 80’s. Kid also toured Russia and other parts of Europe playing clubs and festivals. During the 60’s he recorded widely for the Jazz Crusade label both with his own band and with Big Bill Bissonnette’s Easy Riders Jazz Band. Kid would make more than twenty tours with the Easy Riders to the US North-East.....Joe began his professional career at age 14, as a featured vocalist with the Mitchell Lennox Rhythm Swing Band and was soon signed to Percy Stovall’s Continental Music Attractions. Stovall had run the Hurricane night spot in New Orleans in the 40’s and became a local promoter who also ran his own band. Louisiana born Willie West (well known on here from reviews) would later use this venue when he opened shows in the area both for Otis Redding, Mary Wells,& William Bell. Stovall fondly said: “New Orleans was the first city in which ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water’ went to No.1 for otis. Meanwhile the young Joe apparently supported an also young Ray Charles at one point and it wouldn’t be too long before he would form his own band, the first incarnation of Joe Valentine & The Imperials. When still only about 18 years of age, Joe moved to Baton Rouge and would spend the next 10 years there as a regular attraction at West Baton Rouge’s Carousel Club. In 1967, Joe relocated to Austin, Texas where he would remain for the rest of his days. Once there, he formed his own Val label & later Tee Jay Records. Also a consummate live performer, in his time Joe has apparently shared the stage with not only Ray Charles but also Chuck Berry, Joe Simon, Johnnie Taylor, Jackie Wilson, Eddie Floyd and Joe Hinton. In the early 70’s, he toured the U.S. and Europe with the late Joe Tex as both his bandleader, piano-player and as an additional featured vocalist. Joe sadly passed away in 2018, aged 81 in the Eastside home he had built himself shortly after telling his children it was his "time to go." He had been suffering from Alzheimer's, according to his son Joe Valentine, the youngest of his – wait for it - 22 children – and the fourth to be named Joe. A great artist who again never got the riches and acclaim he deserved. What an incredible deep soul man he was!....The first 3 tasters Northern spins.

AMM

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