Jimmy Valentine has one of those rare baritone voices that is perfect for the standards. Jimmy has been popular on and off for years, and his star is rising again with the reemergence of standards making the top ten music industry sales. Unlike other Sinatra Tribute Singers, Jimmy's voice is phonetically exact, only Frank Jr. sounds as close and there may be some very good reasons for that phenomenon.
Jimmy Valentine was born in Las Vegas, the year was sketchy due to his mom lying about her age (She was still "29" when jimmy was 25). He spent much of growing up between Las Vegas and Brooklyn, where his maternal grandparents lived. Jimmy Valentine's mother was the almost famous Stella Starlite, the Las Vegas stripper who was often featured in many B films and played herself in a brief cameo on Oceans 11 as the dancer with the boa in which Frank got her the job.
She claimed to anyone who would listen, that she and Frank had an affair over the years which produced little Jimmy. And this may be true, since early on, whenever Frank was in town, Jimmy would visit. As he got older these visits usually turned into chores, like getting Frank's shoes polished or picking up his suits at the cleaners or telling some chick he had to go out of town unexpectedly. Growing up, Jimmy got in trouble and it was a call from Frank that usually got him out. Everyone remembers when Frank Jr. was kidnapped, but no one remembers when Jimmy V was kidnapped. In fact when Frank was contacted by the kidnappers, he wanted to know if Jimmy still had his shoes? The kidnappers ended up with nothing trying to pawn Frank's shoes, which Jimmy had to make good on. As the years went on, Jimmy tried to make contact with Frank. Instead, on Jimmy's birthday he would get a check and a note saying 'get lost!"Jimmy cherished and saved all the 'Get Lost' notes as that was the only contact he had with Frank.
Jimmy traveled the world, having many different jobs and meeting lots of girls. One day, on a dare, Jimmy was at a sea side bar where karaoke was going on. Jimmy sang "Summerwind" which sounded exactly, EXACTLY like Frank. So Frank left him with something after all, a phenomenal voice.
If anyone hears Jimmy sing, you can't help but hear the exact pitch resemblance he has to Frank. And like Frank, Jimmy has great lung capacity: Can hold a note singing for a minute, Today, JImmy is as close as you can get to hearing the sound of Frank.
