Aldous Byron Valensia Clarkson (born April 13, 1971, in The Hague) is a Dutch singer, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. is the 103rd day of the year (104th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... Hard Rock redirects here. ... Symphonic rock is a subgenre of rock music, and more specifically, progressive rock. ... For the Swedish political music movement, see progg. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... For other uses, see Guitar (disambiguation). ... is the 103rd day of the year (104th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar, known as the year of cyclohexanol. ... Hague redirects here. ...

Early life

Valensia grew up in Waalwijk and used to spend a lot of his time at the family's beachhouse in Dénia, Spain. When he was a little kid, he used to play guitar and sing at the beaches in Dénia. He had also written a lot of songs and was even offered a record contract, but his parents decided he was too young for the music business and refused the offer. Several years later, in the Netherlands, Valensia used to play in some bands, usually on keyboard or guitar. Waalwijk is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands. ... The fort of Denia overlooks the city. ...

Gaia era

Valensia met Robby Valentine (another Dutch singer) at an airport, as they were both listening to Queen´s Bohemian Rhapsody. After that, Valensia started sending demos to several record companies and producer John Sonneveld noticed him. Then Valensia signed a record deal with Mercury Records and in 1993 his first album "Valensia" was released. Queen are an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Brian May, lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, and drummer Roger Taylor, with bassist John Deacon joining the following year. ...   is a song written by Freddie Mercury and originally recorded by the band Queen for their 1975 album A Night at the Opera. ... Mercury Records is a record label currently headquartered in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. ...

Influenced by Kate Bush and Queen, Valensia's self-titled first album (known as "Gaia" in Japan) contained the hit single "Gaia" that, out of nowhere, reached #2 in the Dutch charts and stayed in the charts for several weeks. "Gaia" had success in other countries too. The album itself spent almost 20 weeks in the album charts and had good critiques. Four singles were released: Gaia, The Sun, Nathalie and Tere. Kate Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. ...

He was quite a success in the Netherlands, but he was an even greater success in Japan. Valensia noticed that, so a mini-album called "The White Album" was released in Japan only, in 1994, including a Valensian-styled Christmas song ("21st Century New Christmas Time") and a version of Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill." The White Album is a 1994 mini-album by Dutch singer Valensia. ... Duran Duran are an award-winning English rock band notable for a long series of popular singles and vivid music videos. ... A View to a Kill is a 1985 spy film. ...

K.O.S.M.O.S and promotion issues

Valensia's second album "Valensia II" (also known as "K.O.S.M.O.S.") was the first Dutch surround sound CD ever made. It was, again, a success in Japan, but his Dutch record company didn't want to promote it. Due to this fact, it got less attention than it deserved in the Netherlands. Multichannel audio is the name for a variety of techniques for expanding and enriching the sound of audio playback by recording additional sound channels that can be reproduced on additional speakers. ... CD may stand for: Compact Disc Canadian Forces Decoration Cash Dispenser (at least used in Japan) CD LPMud Driver Centrum-Demokraterne (Centre Democrats of Denmark) Certificate of Deposit České Dráhy (Czech Railways) Chad (NATO country code) Chalmers Datorförening (computer club of the Chalmers University of Technology) a 1960s...

K.O.S.M.O.S (Valensia often refers to it as "Costmost") was the most expensive album in the history of the Netherlands, and the single itself was also the most expensive single ever produced. Valensia said that people often forget that his first 2 albums were produced by the best Dutch producers: John Sonneveld and Pim Koopman (KayaK's drummer). Kayak, founded during the early 1970s, was a Dutch art rock band. ...

Three singles were released: "Kosmos", "Thunderbolt" (only in Japan) and "Blue Rain" (only in the Netherlands).

For Valensia's next album, the record company ordered him to write songs in an Alanis Morissette-style, because they thought the public wouldn't like Valensia's style of music. At the request of the Japanese record company, "Gantenbrink" (the only real Valensian song on the album) was added. Ironically (or sadly), Valensia's new album "Valensia '98" (full name: "Valensia '98 Musical Blue Paraphernalian Dreams Of Earth's Eventide Whiter Future & Darker Present Soundspheres From New Diamond Age Symphonian Artworks To Yesterday's Westernworld Rockcraft Under The Raging Nineties' Silver Promise Of The Happy Hundreds On The Break Of The New Millennium's Hazy Misty Dawn") also known as "Millennium" or "Valensia III," was never released in the Netherlands. Alanis redirects here. ...

Though his Dutch record company refused to release "Valensia '98", Valensia still had a lot of fans in the Netherlands. A fan meeting took place near the Carré theater in Amsterdam and they were presented with a promotional copy of "Valensia ´98." The fans started gathering on the Internet and, finally, in June 1999, in cooperation with Valensia himself, the Official Valensia Website at www.valensia.com went online. For other uses, see Amsterdam (disambiguation). ...

Later career

In the summer of 1999, "V" was released. V was a cooperation between Valensia and Robby Valentine. Valensia's style have always had a mysterious atmosphere around it, but "V" sounded absolutely different. With a Beatle-esque and Queen-esque style, the sound of "V" was quite naive and happy.

Valensia's mother Jacqueline died, in November 1999. This had quite an impact on him. So, his next album "Gaia II" (released on the new record label Marquee) had a song dedicated to his mother, "Requieme pour Jacqueline".

Since then he has released several quality albums with little commercial success. For this reason he is still struggling to find a good company record. Meanwhile he records his albums in his own home studio. He is a respected artist in Japan. He is known also because his music is very complex in almost every way (millions of vocal harmonies, lots of guitar orchestrations in the style of Brian May, though he is also a very technical guitarist; and lots of modulations and arrangements). He has also released albums with the bands V (with Robby Valentine) and Metal Majesty (with his brother David on drums). For the Australian film composer, see Brian May (composer). ...

Discography

Valensia albums

Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... The White Album is a 1994 mini-album by Dutch singer Valensia. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) The year 1994 was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by the United Nations. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

V (Valensia/Valentine)

This article is about the year. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ...

Metal Majesty

Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Valensia's official webpage (currently offline)
• Surf to the Valensia Website (in Japanese)
• Paraphernanial Dreams
• The Valensian Music Vault
• Valensia's Message Board