Hilton Valentine (born Hilton Stewart Paterson Valentine on 21 May 1943; died 29 January 2021) was most famous as the original guitarist of The Animals from 1962 - 1966. He was also involved in various Animals reunions for the 1977 album, "Before we were so rudely interrupted", the 1983, "Ark", the 1984 live album, "Rip it to Shreds - Greatest Hits Alive" and a 1996 reunion with ex-Animals drummer John Steel and keyboardist Dave Rowberry along with other musicians. In 1969, he released a solo album, "All in your head". Through the years he wrote songs He released the album; "It's Folk'n' Skiffle Mate!" in 2004 (the album includes folk traditionals, covers of John Lennon and Donovan songs, instrumentals and version of songs from his first solo album). From that release until October 2009 he played throughout New England, New York and South Carolina, with his Skiffledog solo project. From February 2007 to November 2008 Valentine toured with Eric Burdon. In early 2009 he released two basement demo recordings on his MySpace page. In 2011, Valentine released a new album titled Skiffledog on Coburg Street and a Christmas album with Big Boy Pete Miller ex-Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers titled Merry Skifflemas!. In his later years, Valentine resided in Connecticut. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Hilton+Valentine">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.