Slick New York AOR produced by Neil Kernon. VALENTINE, titled with appreciation after a hot local female, was convened by guitarist Adam Holland and bass player Gerard Zappa. Later additions would be Craig Pullman on keyboards and drummer Neil Christopher with the arrival of lead vocalist HUGO bringing the band up to full strength. The group was soon snapped by by the Columbia label but then entered a period of frustration, as no product was forthcoming. Eventually the group parted ways with this label and switched to the Giant concern, signed by the very same A&R rep who had secured their signatures at Columbia. Enlisting Neil Kernon as producer VALENTINE laid down their debut in late 1989. STRANGEWAYS Terry Brock and PREVIEW's Jon Fiore appear on backing vocals.

Praise was universal and VALENTINE soon found themselves elevated to cult status. Quite incredibly the British 'Kerrang' magazine honoured the song 'Never Said It Was Gonna Be Easy' with the accolade 'Best Ballad Of All Time'! Live work was limited although VALENTINE did put in a showing at the 1990 industry showcase Foundations Forum in Los Angeles. The band cut a second album and had the non album song 'Keep The Faith' included as part of the movie soundtrack 'Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead'.

Switching to the RCA label VALENTINE set about recording a third album with producer Richie Zito. Amongst those tracks would be a cover version of SUPERTRAMP's 'Give A Little Bit'. Internal problems resulted in the departure of Neil Christopher. This loss of a key member had further ramifications on the band title and what was intended to be a third VALENTINE opus emerged credited to OPEN SKYZ. Upon completion of nationwide touring supporting MR. BIG the group disbanded in 1994.

Vocalist HUGO would subsequently issue well received solo albums. HUGO's 2000 album 'Time On Earth' found the singer collaborating on material with his erstwhile VALENTINE and OPEN SKYZ band mate guitarist Adam Holland. VALENTINE bassist Gerard Zappa would contribute in the studio to the third HUGO solo outing 'Fire In The Night' in 2003.

In 2008 it was learned Hugo had teamed up with guitarist Josh Ramos, of STORM, TWO FIRES and HARDLINE, in the RAMOS-HUGO project for an October album entitled 'The Dream'. VALENTINE made a surprising return with the 2008 album 'Soul Salvation'. However, in November 2009 the group issued a statement saying that Hugo had left the ranks.