ArtistInfo

John Tilt

voc,
Rock
A.k.a. Johnny Valentino (4)

"RIP: Johnny Valentino (John Tilt) 30/12/38-04/11/17" "It's with incredible sadness that we have to report the death from cancer of John. He was 78, approaching 79. He passed away at home in the early hours of this morning, Sat 4th November 2017, having been quite ill for several months." "John Tilt had been singing with bands since the 60's. He joined Drew in Yakety Yak in 1972 and was hugely instrumental in forming their distinctive sound, the centre point of their doo-wop vocals. In 1973, shortly after the arrival of Butch Evarts in the band, John was dubbed with the stage name, Johnny Valentino, as the band tried hard to emulate the style and success of Sha Na Na in the early 70's. He stuck with the name for the rest of his singing career." "John continued with Yakety Yak through two decades, through many line-up changes and long after Drew had left. He and Drew remained good friends and were best man at each other's respective weddings." "John stepped in a few times to help out the Alleycats at the end of 2002, by which time Yakety Yak had wound right down, and he finally took over full time as lead vocalist towards the end of 2003." "In 2015, after being shaken up in a car crash, he started to show the effects of some health problems. Soon after, following more than a decade with the Alleycats, he took a long break from performing to try to fight his way back to full health. He did return in February 2017 for several gigs, his last one with the band being their gig at Melksham Rock'n'Roll Club on 22nd June 2017. Sadly he started to feel really unwell again and, after a brief spell in hospital determined that a previously treated prostate cancer had spread to other areas, he returned home to spend his last few days. John was one of the sweetest people around, a real gentleman, and will be much missed by his family and many, many friends."

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