James Matthew Valentine (born 1961) is an Australian musician, and radio and television presenter. As a saxophonist he was a member of

Jo Jo Zep Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons are an Australian blues and rock band that features the singer, songwriter and saxophonist Joe Camilleri (aka "Jo Jo Zep"). The band was active in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and had several Australian chart hits ...

(1982),

Models A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

(1984–87) and Absent Friends (1989–90).

Biography

James Matthew Valentine was born in 1961 in Ballarat. His father was a car salesman and his mother taught elocution and was a part-time radio announcer. He has two older brothers. He attended

Ballarat Grammar School , motto_translation = Honour Follows Labour , streetaddress = 201 Forest Street, , city = Wendouree , state = Victoria , postcode = 3355 , country = Au ...

where he learned

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, he described his performances in the local area, "a really bad jazz rock fusion gig." In the early 1980s Valentine relocated to Melbourne to attend university, he later recalled "First year I spent studying, and then I started getting gigs, and I didn't pay much attention to uni after that because I wanted to be a jazz musician." Valentine is also the author of a series of books for teenage boys, including the sci-fi novel trilogy ''JumpMan''.

Musical collaborations

In 1982 James Valentine joined Joe Camilleri's group,

.McFarlane
'Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons'
entry. Archived fro
the original
on 13 August 2004. Retrieved 11 June 2015.James Valentine at Australian Rock Database: * Jo Jo Zep (1982): * Models (1984–87): * Absent Friends (1989–90): Valentine, on saxophone, and

Kate Ceberano Catherine Yvette Ceberano ( or , born 17 November 1966) is an Australian singer and actress who performs in the soul, jazz, and pop genres, as well as in film and musicals such as ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. Her song "Pash" received a gold sa ...

(of

I'm Talking I'm Talking are an Australian funk-pop rock band, which featured vocalists Kate Ceberano and Zan Abeyratne. They formed in 1983 in Melbourne and provided top ten hit singles " Trust Me", " Do You Wanna Be?" and " Holy Word" and a top fifteen ...

), on lead vocals, were members of Diana Boss and the Extremes, a covers band which performed

The Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successf ...

material. Other members included

James Freud James Randall Freud (born Colin Joseph McGlinchey; 29 June 1959 – 4 November 2010) was an Australian rock musician-songwriter. He was a member of Models during the 1980s and wrote their two most popular singles, "Barbados" and " Out of Mind, O ...

(of

) on bass guitar, Barton Price (also of Models) on drums and

Zan Abeyratne Suzanne Marguerite Abeyratne (born 1961), who performs as Zan or Xan, is an Australian-based singer born in London. Abeyratne was a co-lead vocalist of I'm Talking (1984–87), alongside Kate Ceberano. She provided lead vocals on their single, ...

(of

, with Ceberano) on co-lead vocals. He described his experience, "The rhythm section of that band was The Models. When that finished, they asked me to go on tour with them and then I never left. All of a sudden I was in this pop band wearing black leather jackets." Valentine joined Models in late 1984, when they relocated to Sydney and he played saxophone with them until 1987, the group broke up in June of the following year.McFarlane
'Models'
entry. Archived fro
the original
on 4 June 2004. Retrieved 11 June 2015. As a member of Models he appears on their studio albums, '' Out of Mind, Out of Sight'' (September 1985) and '' Models' Media'' (October 1986). Valentine joined Absent Friends on saxophone and clarinet in 1989, they recorded a lone album, ''

Here's Looking Up Your Address ''Here's Looking Up Your Address'' is the debut studio album by Australian rock band Absent Friends. It was released in April 1990 and peaked at number 7 on the ARIA Charts and was certified gold. Track listing All songs written by S. Kelly ex ...

'' (April 1990).McFarlane
'Absent Friends'
entry. Archived fro
the original
on 3 August 2004. Retrieved 11 June 2015. He also worked for

Wendy Matthews Wendy Joan Matthews (born 13 January 1960) is a Canadian-born Australian singer-songwriter who has been a member of Models and Absent Friends and is a solo artist. She released Top 20 hit singles in the 1990s including " Token Angels", " ...

(ex-Models, Absent Friends) on her debut solo album, ''

Émigré An ''émigré'' () is a person who has emigrated, often with a connotation of political or social self- exile. The word is the past participle of the French verb ''émigrer'' meaning "to emigrate". French Huguenots Many French Huguenots fled Fr ...

'' (November 1990).

Radio and TV presenter

Valentine has been a radio and TV presenter. He was the host of

The Afternoon Show ''The Afternoon Show'' is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's former live flagship daytime show. It ran from 2004 until May 2010. The programme was dropped by RTÉ as part of its new season of television in 2010, to be replaced by two afternoon pro ...

on ABC TV, children's afternoon TV series, from February 1987 until 1990. He continued at the ABC as a presenter of ''TV TV''. As a radio presenter he worked on 666 ABC Canberra and has also spent more than 20 years presenting the Afternoons show on

ABC Radio Sydney ABC Radio Sydney (official call sign: 2BL, formerly 2SB) is an ABC radio station in Sydney, Australia. It is the flagship station in the ABC Local Radio network and broadcasts on 702 kHz on the AM dial. The station transmits with a power ( C ...

and Upbeat, each Sunday morning on

ABC Jazz ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Televisio ...

. Valentine wrote and presented comedy sketches on air for the ABC's ''Humour Australia'' website. Valentine narrated '' Come Dine with Me Australia'' from 2010 to 2013 and '' Celebrity Come Dine With Me Australia'' from 2012 to 2014. He took over from

Wendy Harmer Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...

and

Robbie Buck Robert Buck known as Robbie Buck is an Australian radio announcer. Career Robbie's radio experience began in his home town of Lismore where he took up a late night shift on the local radio station. Once he moved to Sydney he began doing gra ...

as host of

's Breakfast from Monday 13 December 2021 after the pair ended their run on Friday 10 December 2021.

References

;General * Note: Archived n-linecopy has limited functionality. ;Specific

External links

*
James Valentine
'' It Takes Two'' biography
James Valentine
ABC biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Valentine, James 1961 births Living people Australian radio personalities Models (band) members Absent Friends (band) members Australian children's television presenters Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons members Australian saxophonists