Valente: All writing, arranging, production, programming, instruments, vox, cooking, most of the cleaning, taking out the trash and trying to reply to as many emails as possible every day.
Influences
Bjork, Peter Gabriel, Jamiroquai, Sting, Ivano Fossati, Joni Mitchell, U2, AIR, Annie Lennox, Brian Eno, my Momma, Massive Attack, Satie, Craig Armstrong, Daniel Lanois, Death Cab For Cutie, Joao Gilberto, Eric Clapton, Brahms, Jimmy Iovine, Everything But The Girl, Frank Sinatra, Jeff Buckley, Jellyfish, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Cash, Mahler, The Blue Nile, Nina Simone, Diana Krall, Elvis Costello, Nitin Sawhney, Nine Inch Nails, Michael Kamen, Digable Planets, Outkast, Pat Metheny, Phil Collins, The Police, il mio Papá, Prodigy, Queen, Rage Against The Machine, Radiohead, Royksopp, Sigur Ros, Sarah McLachlan, Solomon Burke, Stevie Wonder, Terence Trent D'Arby, Postal Service, DNTEL, The Clash, The Cure, The Unbelievable Truth, The White Stripes, Tina Lear, Tom Waits, Tony Levin, Tricky, Towa Tei, Zero 7
look, just listen to the Mp3 and figure it out.
I was born in Rome, Italy, son of a American Jazz Singer and an Italian Theatre Director. At the age of 1 we moved to the Italian part of Switzerland and lived there till I was 18. There I attended a catholic priest boarding school where my love for music started growing even more (more than how much I loved it when I would walk around the hills around an old high-school where my mother used to rehearse with a big band in the summer) . I would get out of my room at night and go to the basement where there was this soundproof room with an uprght piano. I'd sit there for nights on end writing. And whenever I'd be home for vacation I'd worry my father sick when I wouldn't come home until the wee small hours of the morning. What he didn't know is that I befriended the owner of the only record store in my town and would spend hours there listening to music. There I started to figure out that it was the only thing I was cut out for. (according to my Latin teacher it was either gonna be lawyer or second hand car salesman...so thank God!) After a short stint in London I moved to LA, fresh out of High School. I went to a music school thinking I was going to be a bass player. Oh but wasn't I wrong. After a big break up I decided to stop trying to hide and figured I'd go for what I really wanted, being a singer/songwriter. So ever since that, THIS is what I have been doing.
Oh and here's a clip from a German movie for which I interpreted a song (oh, and I almost forgot...played bass to as well):
Just listened to your tunes again in quite a while and was -once again- utterly spellbound... When are you finishing this album of yours.... and -more importantly! When are you performing???
hi Valente how's it goin? hope you all are doing well :) just wanted to share Christmas Cheer and happy holidays. stay cool and all the best for the 2009, very happy Christmas from Tokyo! :)
