In February, James Valentine gathered a couple of hundred of his nearest and dearest to a party at the Clovelly Surf Club, to celebrate his generous, creative, big-brained and big-hearted life, and to say goodbye.
Two months later, on 21 April, the radio broadcaster, jazz musician, author, TV personality, much loved friend, husband and father of two magnificent kids, died at home after two years living with esophageal cancer which had metastasized.
“What I started to think,” he said at that gathering of friends and family, which was on Valentine’s Day, of course, “when I first had to think about this, was, ‘How do I live these next days? What is a good death?’
“I started to think about how death was often a time of bitterness, of anger, of regret, of resentment, of shaking your fist at the universe or at God. And I thought, ‘I don’t want that. I don’t want my last days to be that.’ I want my last days to be full of joy and happiness and laughter and jokes and humour – all the things I’ve loved through life.”
And all things which – along with family, friendship, music (always music), and a unique and quirky ability to find meaning in the commonplace – never ceased to engage his interesting and ever interested mind.
Growing up in Ballarat
James was born in Ballarat, Victoria. His father, Peter, owned a European car yard. His mother Nina was something of a regional celebrity. She was a broadcaster at the local radio station, a teacher of elocution and editor of the Ballarat Grammar School magazine.
“It was like James came out as a fully formed adult,” said his lifelong friend, the opera singer David Hobson. “He was always wise. He was like a little Yoda … Everyone loved James. He was nerdy but he was kind of cool.”
Music was James’ first love
James started playing flute and clarinet in the Ballarat Grammar School Orchestra and began his love affair with jazz. He studied music at university and graduated to a place in the Anne and Johnny Hawker Showband before the vibrant and absurdly cool ‘80s Melbourne rock scene called.
James lent his jazz sax stylings to Jo Jo Zep, before he joined the Models, featuring on their number-one hit, Out of Mind Out of Sight. He played with Kate Ceberano, Pseudo Echo, Iva Davies, Richard Clapton, and in 1990 co-founded Absent Friends with Sean Kelly (the Models) and Garry Gary Beers (INXS). Their biggest hit, I Don’t Want to Be with Nobody but You featured vocalist Wendy Matthews.
James pivoted to TV, with a hosting gig on The Afternoon Show on the ABC. By then, he had moved to Sydney and met and married Joanne Corrigan.
James’ son, Roy, has said that his father approached his career with a jazz sensibility. He was never one to settle into a rut. James appeared on a whole host of TV chat shows and authored six books, including the Jump Man trilogy. But he had a gift for Radio.
25 years of radio
James started out on the ABC in Canberra before scoring a spot on Sydney’s 702, where he anchored Afternoons for more than 20 years.
“His background was in jazz improvisation and he brought that love of improvisation to talkback radio in a way no one else has ever done,” said fellow ABC presenter Richard Glover. “His audience became his orchestra and he their conductor. He supplied wit and wisdom as well as an appreciation of the rich drama and hilarity of everyday life. Monday to Friday, for 25 years, James lifted the spirits of a city.”
His most popular segments were affectionate celebrations of the universal mundanities of life. “My favourite segment,” Richard added, “was This Is What I Live With because every single call was about love.”
James’ program was recognised internationally, with a Bronze Award for Best Two-Way Telephone Talk/Interview Show at the 2020 New York Festival’s Radio Awards.
“He is a generous soul,” said another former ABC colleague, Sarah McDonald. “Behind that gruff, cynical exterior, there is a generous, loving heart. He shares his skills at work with a lot of people who are coming up behind him.”
Music, however, was James’ first and forever love. He had several bands, the most recent being James Valentine’s Upbeat Revue. His quartet made three albums, and he frequently guested with other artists including his son, Roy.
“In the last year or so,” Roy said at that Valentine’s Day gathering two months ago. “Dad started to play for himself and make music for joy. It felt like we were both playing from this place and we found each other there.”
James Valentine died at home, surrounded by family, using voluntary assisted dying. He has very reluctantly left behind his wife, Joanne, his 28-year-old daughter Ruby and 26-year-old Roy, all of whom he adored.
“Throughout his illness, James did it his way, which lasted all the way until the end when he made the choice to do Voluntary Assisted Dying,” his family said in a statement. “Both he and his family are grateful he was given the option to go out on his own terms. He was calm, dignified as always and somehow still making us laugh.”
Here at The Weekly we bid James Valentine farewell with gratitude for 64 years of music, insight, humour and grace.
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