Bobby Valentino (British musician)

Bobby Valentino (born Robert James Beckingham, 22 June 1954) is a British violinist, singer, songwriter and actor.

Career

Born in Chatham, Kent, he adopted the stage name Bobby Valentino in 1975. Valentino's first success was as a founding member of The Fabulous Poodles, but he is most often recognised as the violinist and co-writer of the #1 hit single "Young at Heart", by The Bluebells.

After leaving the Fabulous Poodles in the early 1980s, Valentino was a member of the Electric Bluebirds before joining the Hank Wangford Band at the beginning of 1984: the British country band already included pedal steel guitarist B. J. Cole (Cochise) and former Liverpool Scene/Scaffold/ guitarist Andy Roberts.

In the five years that Valentino was part of Wangford's band they recorded three albums; filmed two TV series for Channel 4 – The A-Z of C&W and Big Big Country, which attracted audiences of between two and four million at a time when The Last Resort with Jonathan Ross was being watched by 750,000; performed and wrote an acclaimed and record breaking musical: C. H. A. P. S (Cowboy, Horseriding And Performing School) at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East (their previous record was held by Oh, What a Lovely War!); toured constantly all over the United Kingdom and Europe and made numerous other radio and television appearances. These included a TV special, Christmas in Strangeways showing the band in concert on Boxing Day with a captive audience in Manchester's Victorian jail.

Bobby Valentino

Bobby Valentino may refer to:

See also

Bobby Valentino (album)

Bobby Valentino is the self-titled debut album from American R&B singer Bobby Valentino (now called Bobby V), released on the 26th of April, 2005. The album was primarily produced and executive produced by the duo Tim & Bob and includes the singles "Slow Down", "Tell Me", and "My Angel (Never Leave You)". It debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 180,000 copies in the US and has since sold over 708,000 copies nationwide. The album also made an impact on a couple European charts as it reached #34 on the UK Albums Chart and #74 on the French Albums Chart. The album has been certified Platinum by the RIAA and the BPI.

Reception

The album has received mixed reviews from critics. David Jeffries of Allmusic stated that, "Valentino's first full-length has mystical touches in its overall slick and sexy production, touches that help separate the album from the competition in a way the everyday songwriting doesn't." While Steve Horowitz of PopMatters stated that, "Valentino has an undistinguished voice, writes hackneyed lyrics, and his instrumental backing suffers from tedious production values."

Bobby V

Robert "Bobby" Wilson (born February 27, 1980), better known by his stage name Bobby V, is an American recording artist, pianist, singer and songwriter.

Early life and career beginnings

Bobby V was born (Bobby Wilson) on February 27, 1980, in Mississippi. He later moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Growing up V listened to Michael Jackson, Tony! Toni! Tone!, Marvin Gaye, Jodeci, and The Isley Brothers. Those were the artists that inspired him to become a R&B singer. He later returned to his pier appearing on the debut episode of MTV's Once Upon A Prom, which aired on May 19, 2007. V entered the music scene in 1996 as a member of the R&B youth quartet Mista, at this time using his real name, Bobby Wilson. Under the production of Organized Noize (TLC's "Waterfalls"), the group released their self-titled debut album, which produced the single "Blackberry Molasses". However, the album did not follow in the same success and despite a second album being produced by Tim & Bob, it was never released. Due to management issues the group split in 1997. Bobby later enrolled at Clark Atlanta University majoring in Mass Communications. While in school, Bobby V continued to record in his free time in hopes of one day returning to the stage. In the spring of 2002 he auditioned for season one of American Idol, but did not make the cut.