History of THE ANIMALS

The original Animals who were famous for their hits in the 1960’s were formed in the North East of England city of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1963 and were known for their distinctive gritty rhythm and blues sound derived from a mix of British pop and American blues. They were also known in the USA as part of the ‘British Invasion’. The Animals were Eric Burdon on vocals, Hilton Valentine on guitar, Chas Chandler on bass, Alan Price on keyboards, and John Steel on drums. The band shot to fame Worldwide with their No1 signature song ‘House Of The Rising Sun’, as well as having many other successful hits including ‘We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place’, ‘I’ts My Life’, ‘I’m Crying’, 'Bring It On Home To Me', and 'Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’.

Following the success of House of The Rising Sun in 1965 Alan Price left the band to follow a solo career and was replaced by Dave Rowberry on keyboards. In February 1966 John Steel left the band and was replaced by Barry Jenkins on drums until the band split in late 1966. Eric Burdon then moved to the USA and along with Jenkins formed the 'psychedelic' band 'Eric Burdon and the New Animals'.

The original line-up had brief comeback tours in 1975 and 1983, and in 1994 The Animals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. Chas Chandler died in 1996, Dave Rowberry died in 2003, and Hilton Valentine died in 2021.

In the UK in 1993, when Hilton Valentine was a member of Tyneside based Rhythm & Blues band The Alligators, he was approached by Peter Barton, an agent from Lancashire in the UK, to see if he would be interested in performing some shows in Germany as The Animals. Hilton liked the idea and quickly set about augmenting the Alligators band with a keyboard player to recreate the original 1960’s Animals sound. Auditions were held at the Pheasant pub in Tynemouth where Hilton, along with original Animals bass player Chas Chandler and original drummer John Steel were present. Following a comprehensive trial run of the Animals songs Chas Chandler decided that local keyboard player Steve Hutchinson (Stevie Hutch) was in his words “The man for the job”. Chas Chandler however declined to become a member of the band due to health problems, but did offer instead to become the manager for the band.

Using the remaining members from The Alligators band, the line-up of Hilton Valentine's new Animals band was complete, and with all of the members living within 10 miles of Newcastle the birth place of the original Animals band. The line-up comprised of original Animals Hilton Valentine on guitar and John Steel on drums, Robert Kane (aka Robert Robinson) on Vocals, Steve Hutchinson on keyboards, George Fearon on guitar, and Joss Elliott on bass guitar.

 John Steel, who at that time kept in regular contact with Eric Burdon in the USA, contacted Eric Burdon to ask if he would mind if this new band could use 'The Animals' name. Eric allegedly replied stating that Hilton and John were both Animals as much as he was, and did not mind so long as there would not be any confusion with his own band that regularly performed in the USA and Germany as Eric Burdon and The Animals. To solve this problem George Fearon suggested that the psuedo name 'Animals II' could be used in those two countries. So with the acceptance of all the original members of the band Hilton now had 'THE ANIMALS' back on the road again.

This new 2nd generation of The Animals performed its first 'dress rehearsal' show under the name of 'Hilton Valentine’s Animals' on 14^th March 1994 at The Pheasant pub in Tynemouth, followed by another show at Bultins in Ayr Scotland. Much larger shows then followed shortly afterwards in the UK and Scandinavia with both Chas Chandler and Eric Burdon’s blessing under the original name of 'The Animals'.

Hilton's unmistakable guitar playing and John's unique drumming style, coupled with Robert Kane's uncanny vocal resemblance to Eric Burdon and Steve Hutchinson's ability to play the keyboard in the distinctive style of Alan Price undoubtedly made for a very authentic re-creation of The Animals sound, leaving fans in no doubt that The Animals were well and truly back on the road.

In the summer of 1995 after two years of extensive touring as the Animals in Europe and Scandinavia unrest had unfortunately grown within the band, said in part to be due to the strong Alligators influence within the band. Hilton and John's determination to promote their band's identity as 'The Animals' resulted in them looking for replacement dedicated band members. Robert Kane and Steve Hutchinson retained their exacting roles however Joss Elliott and George Fearon having heard of the impending split immediately left the band. 

The Animals at this point had a full diary of shows to fulfill so on 28th July 1995 Hilton and John recruited bass player Graham (Fred) Hill, and guitarist Dave Whiffen who would go on to perform many shows touring with the band in the UK and Scandinavia.

In August 1995 local guitarist Tony Ions was brought in for the recording of the Northern Ireland TV Show "It's only Telly" which was broadcast on 23rd August 1995. This TV show lineup featured Hilton Valentine, John Steel, Robert Kane, Steve Hutchinson, Graham Hill and Tony Ions.

Due to personal commitments Dave Whiffen and Graham Hill left the Animals line up in 1995 and local guitarist Steve Dawson and local bass player Martin Bland joined the band as the new replacement members alongside the long established band members Hilton Valentine, John Steel, Steve Hutchinson and Robert Kane. This would turn out to be the longest stable line-up in the history of The Animals.

The band with this new line up line up successfully toured and performed throughout the World under the name of The Animals playing concerts as far a field as Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Middle East, Far East, Japan, Europe, and Scandinavia, as well as performing successful tours of the USA and Germany under the psuedo name of Animals II, cataloging a total of more than 600 shows Worldwide. 

The 1995 - 1999 line up of The Animals also recorded and released many CD's which included new versions of their old hits featuring new piano arrangements by Steve Hutchinson along with some new band compositions. These CD's included the extremely rare official 1990's 'ANIMALS' CD: 'THE ANIMALS - INTERESTING LIFE', which was recorded in October 1996. This particular limited release CD which was released under the name of The Animals has now become a collector’s item due to the CD being later re-released in 2001 under the Animals II name.

On 21st November 1996 The Animals appeared live on the British breakfast TV show "GMTV" to promote the upcoming release of the album.

Many further compilation albums were subsequently released around the world using the 1996 recordings under different album titles and covers.

By the end of 1999 The Animals were in high demand and were attracting much higher profile shows and revenues so Hilton and John decided to replace the existing long standing North East line-up of the band with higher profile musicians. 

Long standing keyboard player Steve Hutchinson was replaced by London keyboardist Dave Rowberry who had been a member of The Animals in the 1960's for 18 months after Alan Price left the band. Bass player Martin Bland was replaced by London musician Jim Rodford from 70's band The Kinks. Long standing guitarist Steve Dawson was not included in the new line-up, and the job of new front-man went to singer Tony Liddle (vocalist from Saxon and The Tygers of Pan Tang). 

This was a change that took Hilton and John's second generation of The Animals into a different direction and was unfortunately relatively short lived, resulting in Hilton Valentine, who was unhappy about the new changes, leaving the band in April 2001 to live in the USA.

Hilton Valentine's exit split up the band and marked the end of the second generation of The Animals that spanned the years 1993 to 2001.