Valente
Template:Infobox musical artist 2 The son of an American jazz singer and an Italian theatre director, Valente was born in Rome but grew up in the Italian part of Switzerland. From an early age, music was in intrinsic part of his life, whether it be Opera (where his father worked), jazz (which his mother sang), or New Wave and Punk (which his sisters listened to).
Valente began to write music while attending Catholic priest boarding school, sneaking into the basement's soundproofed room at night, to write music and play an old upright piano. This same behavior was met differently at home - Valente's father would be worried sick when his son would come home in the wee hours of the morning. What his father didn't know was that Valente had befriended the owner of one of the only record stores in town, where he'd spend hours listening to records.
With time it became clear that music was the only thing Valente was interesed in, despite his Latin teacher's prediction that he'd end up as a used car salesman (or worse, a lawyer). After a short stint in London, Valente moved to Los Angeles to attend music school as a bass player.
One year and (he claims) a broken heart later, he reconnected with his first love - singing and writing songs - which he is still doing to this day.
Movie Soundtracks
In 2004 producer Florian Tessloff asked Valente to perform the theme song to the German movie "I Spy with My Little Eye" (Key Entertainment/Triggerhappy Production) starring Stipe Erceg (the Edukators, Kiki and the Tiger). The movie directed by Matthias Emcke premiered at the Sony Zentrum in Berlin and has won several awards at festivals around the world.
"Two For The Road"
Valente was approached by Marc Collin of Nouvelle Vague to work on a concept album called Two For The Road, which is discribed as a movie without the visuals. He spent nine days in Paris working with such musians as Katerine Ottosen, Tibo, Xavier, and BirdPaula. This album was produced under The Perfect Kiss Productions and will be released Fall 2007.
EP
In September 2007 Valente's debut EP entitled "Escape Artist" will be released on iTunes as a digital download.
Track list for "Escape Artist":
1. Home
2. Origami Baby
3. Shattered Glass