Valentine Shipley

VALENTINE SHIPLEY....{The Musical Journey}Born into a family very rich musical heritage Valentine got initiated into music at a very tender age of four year when he gave his first live concert in Lucknow. Valentine is the nephew of the famous Van Shipley popularly known as “Man with the Golden Guitar and magical Gypsy Violin”, who is one of the pioneers of instrumental music in India. He draws his inspiration from varied musical traditions and his work reflects influences of greats such as Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Jimmy Page, Van Halen, Ritchie Blackmore, J.J. Cale, R.D. Burman.As a teenager at St. Xaviers School in Delhi, he was part of the famous Glee Club at the school headed by the most prolific music composer / director - Param Vir. He has sung for various musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar, Oliver, Mikado, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita etc. At college Valentine played with various rock bands winning most of the prestigious competitions like IIT (Delhi / Kanpur), BITS Pilani’s Culfest etc.He got a Tear Fund Scholarship on the recommendation of Sir. Cliff Richard to study Music, Communication and Radio Broadcasting at Cambridge University, U.K. While in London Val worked with the BBC and also got initiated in the Asian Underground Music Scene. He has traveled all across Europe and played with various Pop, Rock, Ethnic, Folk and Jazz outfits.On his return to India, Val worked with the likes of Mr. Louis Banks and Astaad Deboo and with Grammy Award winner Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and also played with India’s No.1 Rock Band - Parikrama. He has played a lot of live concerts across India and abroad including duo performances with Roshan Abbas of the Mastercard Family Fortunes, Public Demand and Breakfast with Zee fame. He has composed, produced, directed and recorded music for the first highly successful original Indian musical “Graffiti” – Postcards from School directed and produced by Roshan Abbas and choreographed by Shiamak Davar.Val is also the founder member of the now famous “Friends of Music”. The only music club of its kind in this country to provide a platform to young artists for the promotion of original music and bringing together performers from various genre of music on a common platform.Val has also composed music and background scores for numerous radio and television productions in the form of jingles and title tracks like : Mobilink, Coke, Nescafe, Mescos, Dabur, Amazer Tyres, Gillette etc. He has played live concerts as a solo artist and with his band for Cosmopolitan, India Today and BBC (live) in Birmingham and Sunrise Radio London. He has also scored music for various documentaries too.Apart from his fire brand stage presence and his style of guitar playing, Val is a major player in the Northern Indian music recording industry.Val released his debut Instrumental album called “SHARARAT” on Times Music featuring hit songs form classic Hindi Movies played for the first time on Acoustic, Nylon and Slide Guitar. It is the No. 1 selling Album in India in the Instrumental Category. It has some amazing fluid Guitar playing in Val’s inimitable style and his interpretation of these classics evergreen tunes from Bollywood.Val’s released his instrumental album called Memorable Ghazals of Jagjit Singh by Valentine Shipley on Times Music label. He has played all the hit classics of Jagjit Singh on Guitar. It is the first album of this kind in the worldVal released his first solo Album "THE WANDERING MYSTIC' on Times Music in 2006 featuring some amazing heart touching poetry and lyrics in Vals very own powerful style of singing and playing Guitar. This album is availble on line and can be sourced out from Google if Searched for ValVal has also played and toured with India’s leading band “Silk Route” winner of 3 Channel [V] awards. He is also presenting live music on Subah Savere the breakfast show on DD1 while being the in-house music director for Riverbank Studios headed by Mr. Mike Pandey – winner of the Green Oscar for his wildlife film “The Last Migration”. Val also co-hosts “Cool Talk Café” on DD News a DD International.Val also teaches students music at his Academy called Valentine Shipley Academy of Music & Performing Arts in New Delhi teaching Guitar/Drums/Keyboards/Vocals etc...Val is proficient in playing various instruments like 6 and 12 string Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, Mandolin, Drums, Slide Guitar, Bass Guitar, Tabla, Piano, Electric Lead Guitar and Banjo, apart from having a very expressive and powerful stage and vocal presence and his inimitable style of Guitar playing.Val is also the first Indian to be premiered on the Internet on the Eve of India’s 50th years of Independence. His style of music ranges from Rock & Roll, Jazz, Funk, Blues, Live remixes Jazz-Rock and contemporary Indian music. What sets him apart from other musicians in his ability to connect with audience and his showmanship. This ability enables him to provide a sense of familiarity to the audiences while providing the crowdwith an entertaining experience. The musicians in Val’s band are highly accomplished stage and studio artists.Val is also associated with various Charities to raise funds for AIDS awareness and working with Autistic Children.He is very passionate about Environment and Water...conducting workshops for School children on Social Responsibility and how MUSIC can be used as a platform for Self Expression with the Tehelka Foundation and Swecha-We for Yamuna.Besides all this he is also a very avid photographer…