The “Golden Hits Of The 50s”
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JOE VALINO
GARDEN OF EDEN
(Dennise Haas Norwood)
Vik 0226
No. 12 December 8, 1956
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“I had a record-a long time ag0—Frank Sinatra heard it; and he blew me away,” said Joe Valino, in an
exclusive interview in July 1990. “I did ‘Learning the Blues,’ the original. That was my record, my first
record. I was a kid; and it woulda happened …”
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Valino was born Joseph Paolino, in South Philadelphia on March 9, 1929, to a music-filled family. By
six he was studying guitar, then piano and bass; at 11 he sang at a back-alley club called the Flamingo
Cafe. Two years later he was on the road with the Marty Kent Band.
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“I suffered a ‘mishap’ when I was young,” Joe said. “It left me unable to sing or talk for three weeks. I
promised myself that I was gonna sing as much as the Lord let me, for the rest of my life.”
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For four years he fronted his own four-piece; followed by stays as soloist with Buddy Fisher and Charlie
Ventura. For a time,”Mr. Mood,” as he became known was a soloist with the Woody Herman Band.
Valine’s first recording was in 1950, with the Johnny Thompson Orchestra, “Shooting High,” for Goth and
In 1953, he signed with Debut and issued “All the Things You Are,” which was followed by Valino’s most
cherished recording, the noncharting “Learnin’ the Blues” in ’55. “Sinatra heard that one when I was
working with him that summer at the 500 Club in Atlantic City. We got to know each other and he told
me, ‘You sing so great. I’m gonna remember your name. If I can do something for you, I’m gonna do it.
And he did it to me. I was in Detroit, when I got the call. Somebody called and said, ‘Sinatra’s recording
your record, right now.'”
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To repay the tribute, Valino covered Sinatra’s “Not As a Stranger.” Sales were mild. “Hidden Persuasion”
followed with minimal sales. “Sinatra took that one, too,” Joe said. “But, RCA heard of me and signed me
up [to their subsidiary,VIK]. They had me come in to this Giselle MacKenzie session and cut two songs
[his debut disk for the label,”The Four Seasons” b/w “Buckets of Love”]. They must have liked it ’cause
I got my own session next, when I cut ‘Garden of Eden.”‘
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Joe did a fine, fine skin-crawling crooning on “Garden of Eden,” a tune of apples and lust. The take is
built with “Bolero”-like tensions and what can only be called a semi-operatic ending. Joe Valino finally
had his day, “I knew it would be a hit, even as I was recording it,” said Joe.
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The disk charted big in England and in regions throughout Europe. Follow-ups failed to maintain the
momentum. VIK only issued “In the Arms of Love” and an EP named after the hit; no album. United
Artist put out “Legend of the Lost,” the title tune to the John Wayne-Sophia Loren flick (1957), and
“God’s Little Acre.” Sales were negligible. There was a brief return to RCA for one single in 1959,
“Everything I Touch Turned to Gold,” and a single each for Philly’s Crosley (Enrico Caruso’s “Vesti
La Giubba”) and Jimmy DeKnight’s Bandbox.
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Years passed. Joe Valine worked the nightclubs. Finally an album, Saint or Sinner, was issued by
Debut, in 1968. He also landed a bit part in Richard Grand’s mini-budget flick about compulsive
gamblers, The Commitment (1976).
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About 1980, I got hit with a heavy, heavy stroke and it took me four years to get myself back. Since
then, I got two more. I’ve been blown away for years. Each time I get it going, it happens. When it’s
not a stroke, it’s heart attacks and bypass surgery. I got to start a new album called Atlantic City to
McArthur Park ( 1987). ‘McArthur Park’ was eight minutes and 15 seconds. I was pushing…. The
day I wrapped it up, I went home and woke up stroked again. I’m trying to get myself together. It’s
this last round that got me. I’ll get it back. I just won’t stop. I’ll just play the piano in the bars until
I get my bearings back…. I’ll sing again. I’m strong, thank God. I’m ready.”
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Debut Records released, Joe’s Atlantic City to McArthur Park. I.M.C. pressed up copies of Valine’s
final 45,”Atlantic City.” Christmas Day 1996, within hours of its climax, Joe Valino died. He was at his
mother’s home in South Philadelphia when a heart attack claimed his life.