Val Diamond (born 1951) is a stage performer and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

icon. She is best known for her role in the stage musical, ''

Beach Blanket Babylon ''Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon'' was the world's longest-running musical revue. The show began its run in 1974, at the Savoy Tivoli and later moved to the larger Club Fugazi in the North Beach district of San Francisco. The show was cr ...

''.

Life and career

Diamond grew up in

Castro Valley, California Castro Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Alameda County, California, United States. At the 2010 census, it was the fifth most populous unincorporated area in California and the twenty-third most populous in the United States. The popula ...

, the daughter of Harold and Lilly. Her father is Jewish and her mother is an Italian immigrant. She began her acting career in high school, playing Medea in ''Medea'' and Anna in ''The King and I''. After high school, she performed with a rock band, touring the country from 1970 to 1978. After Diamond tired of life on the road, her friend, Shelly Werk, convinced her to audition for ''Beach Blanket Babylon''. Werk was already a cast member.

Steve Silver ''Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon'' was the world's longest-running musical revue. The show began its run in 1974, at the Savoy Tivoli and later moved to the larger Club Fugazi in the North Beach district of San Francisco. The show was cr ...

, the creator of the show, wanted Diamond despite the objections of the dance captain. Diamond speculates, "I didn't look like most of the people who were in the show. I was heavyset and I think that bothered them 'cause there was a lot of dancing for me. But I can dance. Women that aren't

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949) is an English model, actress, and singer, widely known by the nickname Twiggy. She was a British cultural icon and a prominent teenaged model during the swinging '60s in London. ...

-thin can still dance." Diamond had her first of over 10,000 performances in ''Beach Blanket Babylon'' on January 17, 1979. Diamond has played numerous roles in the show. She is best known for singing ''San Francisco'' at the end of the show wearing a tremendous hat depicting numerous San Francisco landmarks. In 1983, she performed at

Davies Symphony Hall Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall is the concert hall component of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, California. The 2,743-seat hall was completed in 1980 at a cost of US$28 million to give the San Francisco ...

for

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

. Diamond married the ''Beach Blanket Babylon'' trumpet player, Steve Salgo, in 1987. They live in Sonoma. An article in the October 2, 2009, ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' reported that Diamond's run with ''Beach Blanket Babylon'' had come to an end, with her final performance on September 23, 2009. The show's producers, according to the article, did not give a reason.

References

* Edward Guthmann
"Val Diamond rolls with 'Beach Blanket' changes"
December 30, 2008, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', Hearst Communications Inc., page E-1, last access 2008-12-30

External links

* 1951 births Actresses from San Francisco American stage actresses Living people People from Castro Valley, California 21st-century American women {{US-theat-stub