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Jesse Valenzuela | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | May 22, 1962 |
Occupation(s) | Singer, musician, producer, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar |
Member of | Gin Blossoms |
Jesse Valenzuela (born May 22, 1962) is an American rock musician and singer who is perhaps best known as a member of the alternative rock band Gin Blossoms. He was originally the vocalist in Gin Blossoms when the band first formed in 1987. [1]
In 1988, he switched roles with the band's new guitarist, Robin Wilson. He continued to be a member until the band's breakup in 1997, and reunited with the rest of the group in 2002.
As a songwriter, Valenzuela has written or co-written Gin Blossoms songs including "Til I Hear It From You," "Follow You Down," "Mrs. Rita," [2] "Until I Fall Away" and "As Long As It Matters."
Valenzuela has talked about a lifelong fascination with music and the guitar. He began to play in public when he was 15. [3]
"I've always been a fan of music," Valenzuela noted in a 2018 interview with Icon Vs. Icon. "I've gotten older now, and my mother's started handing over lots of photographs from my childhood. It seems that I always had a guitar in my hand as a kid. I do remember just wanting a guitar really badly and it was all I thought about at that age. I was playing in bars by the time I was 15." [3]
Several years of honing his craft in the Arizona music world brought Valenzuela into contact with Gin Blossoms founder and Tempe neighbor Doug Hopkins – and in 1987, Valenzuela joined the band. [4]
By 1989, the Gin Blossoms were fully up and running and released their first album, Dusted , with Hopkins serving as the principal songwriter but with Valenzuela contributing four tracks.
Although an independent, low-budget effort, Dusted planted a flag in the ground for the Arizona rockers. Some of its songs – "Lost Horizons," "Hey Jealousy" and "Found Out About You" – reached a wider audience when included on the band's major-label debut, 1992's New Miserable Experience . That album spawned six singles and achieved multi-platinum status.
All Music described New Miserable Experience as "a tight and lean collection of brilliant, edgy pop music." [5] Rolling Stone called the album "fresh and highly personal," and said: "the ease with which this quintet casts hooks suggests that there's plenty more in store." [6]
The band's follow-up album, released several years after Hopkins's 1993 suicide, bore the evocative title Congratulations I'm Sorry . The title was intended to summarize the sentiments expressed to band members arising from New Miserable Experience's success and Hopkins' tragic death. Though it was recorded in harrowing circumstances and required other band members to take over songwriting duties, Congratulations ... I'm Sorry was a commercial success, reaching #10 on the Billboard charts.
All Music said the album was "filled with chiming guitars, sweet melodies, and simple, catchy hooks, as well as a sturdy grasp of traditional pop/rock songwriting that results in a number of gems." [7] The Los Angeles Times praised album's "jangling, radio-friendly tunes." [8]
Sandwiched between the two albums and appearing on the Empire Records movie soundtrack was the song that Billboard magazine called "The closest thing to a perfect pop song to hit radio in recent memory," Valenzuela's "'Til I Hear It From You." The double-A side single of "Til I Hear It From You"/"Follow You Down" is the Gin Blossom's top single, reaching #9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and rising to #1 in Canada.
Subsequent Gin Blossoms albums Major Lodge Victory (2006), No Chocolate Cake (2010) and Mixed Reality (2018) produced songs such as "Miss Disarray," "Learning the Hard Way" and "Heart Shaped Locket."
In addition to his work with the Gin Blossoms, Valenzuela has been active as a solo artist, session player, producer and composer for movies and television. [9]
Valenzuela's work for film includes the song "Screwed Up," [10] written with Susan Sandberg for the Farrelly Brothers' 2007 remake of The Heartbreak Kid . NBC featured his song "Change 4 Me," cowritten with Moon and Danny Wilde, in promotions for the 2008 Olympics. And "Follow You Down" was featured in the 2003 film How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days ."
In 2004, he collaborated with Canadian singer-songwriter Craig Northey on the album Northey Valenzuela. [11] They co-wrote and performed "Not A Lot Goin' On," the theme song to the Canadian sitcom Corner Gas . [12]
In 2002, he released a solo album, Tunes Young People Will Enjoy., [13] followed by Hotel Defeated in 2015. A third solo effort, Pete, was released in 2020. [14]
In 2016, he released Prairie Wind, a collaboration with Danny Wilde, a founding member of The Rembrandts.
In 2022, Valenzuela was touring with the Gin Blossoms as the band was marking the 30th anniversary of the release of New Miserable Experience and was performing solo shows in the Phoenix area. [15] [16]
He is of Mexican American descent. [17]
Gin Blossoms is an American alternative rock band formed in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona. They rose to prominence following the 1992 release of their first major label album, New Miserable Experience, and the first single released from that album, "Hey Jealousy". "Hey Jealousy" became a Top 25 hit and went gold, and New Miserable Experience eventually went quadruple platinum; four other charting singles were released from the album. The band's follow-up album, Congratulations I'm Sorry (1996), went platinum and the single "As Long as It Matters" was nominated for a Grammy Award. Gin Blossoms broke up in 1997. Since reuniting in 2001, the band has released Major Lodge Victory in 2006, No Chocolate Cake in 2010, and Mixed Reality in 2018.
New Miserable Experience is the second studio album by alternative rock band Gin Blossoms, released on August 4, 1992. The album was released to little fanfare and relatively lackluster reviews. However, nearly a year after its release the lead single "Hey Jealousy" entered the top 40. With "Found Out About You" following a few months later, the album eventually reached multi-platinum status.
Douglas Owen Hopkins was an American musician and songwriter. He co-founded Gin Blossoms, a popular modern rock band of the early 1990s, with Richard Taylor. He was the band's lead guitarist and a principal songwriter. Hopkins' writing credits included the hits "Hey Jealousy", "Found Out About You", "Hold Me Down" and "Lost Horizons".
Marshall Howard Crenshaw is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for hit songs such as "Someday, Someway," a US top 40 hit in 1982, "Cynical Girl," and "Whenever You're on My Mind." He is also the co-author of one of the biggest radio hits of the 1990s, the Gin Blossoms, "Til I Hear It from You." His music has roots in classic soul music and Buddy Holly, to whom Crenshaw was often compared in the early days of his career, and whom he portrayed in the 1987 film La Bamba.
Robin Wilson is an American musician most notable for his work as the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band Gin Blossoms.
Congratulations I'm Sorry is the third studio album by the American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms, and the follow-up album to the successful 1992 release New Miserable Experience, released in 1996 by A&M Records. The album was named in reference to the success of 1992's New Miserable Experience, followed closely by the suicide of the former band member Doug Hopkins in 1993.
Mixed Reality is the sixth studio album by American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms. It was released on June 15, 2018, on Cleopatra Records.
"Hey Jealousy" is a song by American rock band Gin Blossoms. The song was included on the group's debut album, Dusted (1989), and was re-recorded on their breakthrough 1992 album, New Miserable Experience. It was written by lead guitarist Doug Hopkins, who was fired from the band shortly after the recording of the second album. It became the band's first top-40 single on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1993, reaching number 25, and it also peaked at number 20 in Iceland, number 24 in the United Kingdom, number 28 in Australia, and number 39 in Canada.
Odds are a Canadian power pop alternative rock band based in Vancouver, British Columbia. They were nominated for six Juno Awards in the 1990s. As of 2014, they are on their fifth record label.
Craig Northey is a Canadian musician and film and TV composer. He is one of the founding members of the band Odds, which released four albums between 1991 and 1996. They were best known for the radio singles "It Falls Apart", "Eat My Brain", "Heterosexual Man" and "Someone Who's Cool".
Dusted is the debut album by the alternative rock band the Gin Blossoms. It was released through San Jacinto Records, a small independent label as a 12-song tape and record in 1989.
Up and Crumbling is an EP released by the American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms on October 8, 1991. It was released after the Gin Blossoms signed with A&M Records and, while attempting to create a full-length album, ran into a creative drought during the recording sessions. According to the band's official website, the band recorded Up and Crumbling "on their own in hopes of rekindling the spark from Dusted that had been missing from the recent recordings." The songs from this EP were remastered and included on the 2002 deluxe edition of the band's breakthrough album, New Miserable Experience.
Major Lodge Victory is the fourth studio album by the power pop band Gin Blossoms. It was the first album released by the band since their 1997–2002 breakup. It was released on August 8, 2006, on Hybrid Recordings, making it the Gin Blossoms' first new album in over 10 years.
"Found Out About You" is the fourth single from American rock band Gin Blossoms' second studio album, New Miserable Experience (1992). Written by lead guitarist Doug Hopkins, who was fired from the band after the album, it first appeared on their 1989 debut recording, Dusted.
"Til I Hear It from You" is a song by the Gin Blossoms that was released as the lead single from the soundtrack to the film Empire Records in July 1995. It topped the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart for six weeks, rose to number eight in Iceland, and reached number 39 in the United Kingdom. In January 1996, it was re-released as a double-A side with "Follow You Down" in the United States, peaking at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard described "Til I Hear It from You" as "the closest thing to a perfect pop song to hit radio in recent memory" lauding its "breezy and wonderfully infectious melody, the boy-needs-girl lyrics, and the earnest execution."
"Follow You Down" is a song by American rock band Gin Blossoms, and the first single released from their album Congratulations I'm Sorry. It was released as a double A-side single with "Til I Hear It from You" in the United States. The song received a fair amount of radio play and has been featured in several films, including How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. It reached number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100 in a 46-week stay on the chart. It also became the band's second number-one single in Canada, after "Til I Hear It from You", and reached number 30 in the United Kingdom.
No Chocolate Cake is the fifth studio album by power pop band Gin Blossoms. It was released on September 28, 2010, worldwide, and the first single, "Miss Disarray", was released to radio stations on August 2, 2010. The album reached #1 on Amazon.com MP3 album charts on the release date. No Chocolate Cake entered the Billboard 200 album chart at number 73 after selling 7,000 copies in its first week of release. It was the album's peak position, after falling off the chart the following week.
Outside Looking In: The Best of the Gin Blossoms is a greatest hits album by American alternative rock band Gin Blossoms. It was released in 1999 on A&M Records. It includes eleven songs from their previous two A&M studio albums, New Miserable Experience and Congratulations… I'm Sorry. The remaining three songs are from different sources. "Just South of Nowhere" was originally included on the 1991 EP Up and Crumbling. The hit single "Til I Hear It from You" was originally found on the soundtrack of the 1995 movie Empire Records. "Whitewash" is a previously unreleased 1996 live recording of the song originally included on Congratulations… I'm Sorry.
Rarities is a compilation album by pop rock band Gin Blossoms. It was released in 2010 on A&M Records. It is most of the bonus disc from the New Miserable Experience Deluxe Edition, 2-disc set released in 2002, which had three extra cuts from the Dusted album. The separate release here includes nineteen tracks not found on prior albums. These encompass seven tracks from two EPs, Up and Crumbling and Shut Up and Smoke, six tracks from a 1993 live performance, two studio outtakes, two alternate versions of previously released songs, a soundtrack contribution and Big Star cover.
"As Long as It Matters" is a song by American power pop band Gin Blossoms. It was released in July 1996 via A&M Records as the third single from their third studio album, Congratulations I'm Sorry (1996). The song was written by Phillip Rhodes, Jesse Valenzuela, and Robin Wilson and produced by John Hampton and the band.