Kathy Valentine

Rock N Roll Mum
Michael Holloway

Born: Kathryn Valentine
January 7, 1959
Nickname: KV
Birthplace: Austin, Texas

Having a baby and recording an album simultaneously may seem like a monumental feat, but for Kathy Valentine, this is merely yet another milestone in a long career filled with monumental feats.

Valentine had been playing in bands since the age of sixteen even before she relocated to Los Angeles from her native Texas. A confident and talented guitarist, Valentine had been a member of bands such as The Violators and The Textones before she was asked to replace their current bassist. Naturally talented, Valentine also began writing with The Go-Go’s as well, joining Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin as the primary triumvirate of the band’s songwriting team.

The Go-Go’s

The Go-Go’s became the first all-female band to write their own music, play their own instruments, manage their own careers, and become a sensational success, making history and forging the way for future generations of women musicians to rise above what was generally perceived to be a male-dominated industry.

Valentine and the other Go-Go’s garnered accolades, fame, and 28 years of adoration from fans for the work they had done on Beauty And The Beat, for which Valentine contributed Can’t Stop The World which she had previously recorded as a single with The Textones.

Vacation, the title song from the second album was also one of Valentine’s compositions from The Textones. Caffey also collaborated on the chorus, though much of the song had already been written by Valentine. Valentine let Wiedlin change the first line and even gave her credit for the song.

In 1984, Talk Show was released, it was the last new Go-Go’s album until 2001, when they reunited for God Bless The Go-Go’s, though they had reunited briefly in 1994 for a compilation album Return to the Valley of the Go-Go’s

The Delphines

Valentine’s next band after the Go-Go’s split was The Blue Bonnets, which morphed into The Delphines three years later. She teamed with sultry vocalist and bass guitarist, Dominique Davalos.

Valentine returned to what she loved doing most, shredding the guitar with The Delphines’ signature bluesy rock stylings. Gina Schock briefly performed drums with The Delphines, and was later replaced with Kristy MacInnis, and many other drummers over time.

After The Delphines disbanded, Valentine wrote and recorded her debut solo album, Light Years in 2005, while pregnant with her daughter. Though it was never her desire to be a solo artist, Valentine surrounded herself with great talent in an ever changing line-up to keep the feeling of being in a band, something she loved.

Members of Valentine’s band, The Impossible, have included bass guitarist and solo artist Abby Travis, Gilby Clarke, Clem Burke, Mark Dutton, Vicki Peterson from The Bangles, and local Austin talents Rachel Loy and Johnny Goudie. Dominique Davalos (still a very good friend of Valentine’s) contributed backing vocals for Guitars, Talk, Love and Drums, while Ace Frehley from KISS performed as a guest guitarist for Bad Choice.

Valentine’s fans love Light Years and eagerly await more Impossible projects to be released.

Tagged Charlotte Caffey, Jane Wieldin, Kathy Valentine, music, The Delphines, The Go Go's, The Textones