John Valentine William Valentine and his brother William “Billy” Valentine were born in Columbus, Ohio, and began their musical journey as a sibling duo in the mid‑1970s. After Billy performed with Young‑Holt Unlimited, the brothers formed The Valentine Brothers in 1975 and joined the touring company of The Wiz in 1977. Their first self‑titled album was issued by Source Records in 1979, followed by First Take in 1982, which produced the single "Money's Too Tight (to Mention)", written by the duo and produced by Bobby Lyle; the track spent 14 weeks on the Billboard R&B chart, peaking at number 41. In 1984, Have a Good Time was released by A&M Records and yielded their highest charting single, "Lonely Nights", which reached number 28 on the R&B chart. A subsequent release, Picture This, came out in 1987. Throughout the 1980s, Billy contributed to film soundtracks such as Champions Forever and The Five Heartbeats and later performed in the Los Angeles show It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues. He has also worked as a demo recording artist and songwriter, and since 2004 has sung on the soundtrack of the TV series Boston Legal. The Valentine Brothers’ catalog, including the 2005 compilation The Best of the Valentines, remains part of contemporary R&B and soul music history.
