About Me
Sylvie Valiente is an English singer, songwriter and pianist. Born in Bath, Wiltshire in 1972, to a Spanish mother and Polish father, Valiente's introduction to music began aged seven with the piano and aged eight with the violin. Valiente followed a classical training path, completing all eight Grades of the Royal College of Music's Associated Board of Examinations in both instruments by the time she was 13. At 14, Valiente started classical singing lessons and completed her Grade 8 aged 17. Valiente had obtained both music and academic scholarships at the age of 11 to Westonbirt School, Gloucestershire, then an all girls school with an emphasis on music. As part of being a scholar, Valiente was required to perform regularly in school concerts. Valiente was also Head of Orchestra and the exclusive Chapel Choir, with whom she regularly sang solos at the annual school Christmas Concerts, vespers, morning mass and also once in Gloucester Cathedral and Malmesbury Abbey in the UK and in Salzburg Cathedral, Austria.
Valiente achieved five 'A' Grades at 'A' Level, one of which was music. One element of the music exam was digital songwriting and this is when Valiente's interest in popular music began. In 1989, Valiente sang backing vocals in the Acoustic tent at Glastonbury Music Festival for Johnny G and his band, requiring special permission from the Headmistress to be absent from school for that weekend, mid-way through her 'A' Level study years. A few months later, Sylvie formed the school band "A Splash of Red" with three other friends, which performed at school concerts and also in the final of a national bands competition held in Brighton late in 1989.
During her gap year 1990-91, Valiente began a side career with Sounds Visual Music, a music production company then based in Devizes, Wiltshire, singing jingles and voicing adverts on local radio stations. This turned out to be quite lucrative and provided her with ample pocket money during her four-year degree course. Despondent after rejections from Cambridge University and The Royal College of Music, Valiente defiantly dropped music altogether, opting to study Italian and Spanish at Exeter University. Valiente graduated with a 2:1 Combined Honours degree in 1995. Hereafter, Valiente's only musical participation was as a soprano in Exeter University's choir and in a couple of choirs in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where she lived for almost 14 years from 2005. Major highlights during this time were when she was privileged to sing in the backing choir for two annual Andrea Bocelli concerts.
Sadly, however, Valiente sold her soul to the corporate world just a few months after graduating from Exeter. And despite attaining many professional honours and qualifications, Valiente never felt fulfilled in her 22-year business life and retired early, in 2017, aged 45.
By then, Valiente had married Jeff Camp and together they decided to retire to Thailand, where her music career began again in earnest. They both quickly became involved with a prominent local rock band in the beach town Hua Hin called Bamboo Heart, with Valiente on keyboards and vocals and Camp on bass guitar and vocals. After a couple of years, Valiente and Camp started the J&M BAND which featured just the two of them playing a combination of easy listening and pop songs hailing from the 1970s until today. Between the two bands, the pair were playing live 3-4 times per week at local venues.
In 2019, Valiente and Camp wrote and digitally released the original song "Holding On" on the back of Valiente's singing audition for X Factor. In that same year, Valiente briefly met Ian Nice, brother to Steve Harley of Cockney Rebel fame, who also played keyboards in his brother's band from 1972 - 84 and whom himself had decided to retire in Thailand 15 years prior. In April 2020, Valiente met a new drummer in town at a local event and discovered that he was recording some tracks at Rocky Head Studios, a new recording studio in Hua Hin that Ian had opened together with his eldest son, Ronnie. In July 2021, Valiente was asked by a fellow local musician, to perform backing vocals on one of the tracks on his new album. This was Valiente's first visit to Rocky Head Studios and spurred the evolution of her debut solo studio album, wide open air, featuring ten cover songs and two originals (a re-release of "Holding On" and "Life Is A Dance", written by Ian Nice). wide open air was released digitally on 17 November, 2021.
Valiente is the youngest of four siblings. She has two twin elder sisters, Marisol and Maria-Teresa, and a brother, Jan-Carlos. Her father Boleslaw was deported from Poland to a PoW labour camp in Siberia as a teenager during WW2. He was liberated and ended up in Palestine until he settled in the UK in 1947. Sadly he passed away in 2005 after a long battle with Parkinsons Disease. Boleslaw was a kind, compassionate man with a wicked sense of humour. He adored his wife and everybody loved him. Valiente's mother Carmen, of Spanish descent, is a beautiful, youthful, vibrant, independent woman. She lives life to the full and is an amazing role model for her children.
Valiente's husband Jeff had a dual career at IBM for 20 years and in the US military National Guard for 32 years. He served in El Salvador, Iraq and Afghanistan. He retired as a Lieutenant-Colonel in 2016. The two met in Dubai in 2014 via the Tinder app, since online dating sites were banned in the UAE at the time. She got lucky! Jeff is brave, determined and one heck of a sexy guy and they enjoy a very doting and respectful relationship with each other. They married in 2016 and have two French bulldogs, Ruth and Gabby.
Despite growing up in a loving, close-knit family, Valiente has struggled with depression and low self-esteem issues for most of her life. After countless hours of counselling over the years, the turning point was completing the Hoffman Process (https://www.hoffmaninstitute.co.uk) in 2013, which started her on an incredibly vulnerable path towards self-discovery, self-respect and authenticity. Facing her demons head on led her to Jeff, to innate joy and back to music, the passion that she was destined to share with the world.
Valiente and her husband relocated to the United States in late 2021 where Valiente has taken to anthem singing at local sporting and County events, as featured on this website. J&M Band plans to make a comeback appearance in the not-too-distant future.