Born and raised in London, multi-instrumentalist Hugo Valentine has finally arrived on the scene as a singer-songwriter and is starting to cause quite a stir.
Growing up with a varied musical upbringing Hugo Valentine all began when he taught himself ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ on a toy piano that his grandmother bought him and began taking piano lessons in his London home. At the age of 10, Hugo was admitted into the Royal College of Music junior department and remained there for four years where he was trained in classical music and, above all, the piano. Developing and widening his musical interest, Hugo began to become involved in Jazz music, and started playing in his school jazz band. Unsatisfied with the slow pace, he soon left and began performing solo, exploring the likes of Oscar Peterson, Errol Garner and Keith Jarrett.
His homegrown, self-taught approach has been what has carried him through to this point. Using production first as inspiration, and then as a way of getting his ideas across, he now has the tools to take his ideas almost to their final stages of completion. In fact, this is how ‘A Nation Of People’ EP came about - four tracks originally written for piano which he took to the next level with his exciting approach to creative production.
Having performed and recorded all instruments on the EP, he has been able to explore many of his influences and desires, follow his own path of creativity, and put into practice skills and techniques which he has spent many years honing. With a little help from mix engineer and producer Dan Cooper, Hugo now has a polished product which displays a quarter of a lifetime of inspiration, hopes, fears, ups, downs, and above all, a little window into the world of Hugo Valentine.