Голландский певец, композитор, продюсер и мультиинструменталист Valensia (Aldous Byron Clarkson - Альдо Байрон Кларксон) родился 13.04.1971 в Гааге, Нидерланды. Музыкой начал заниматься с пяти лет, и не просто играть, но и сочинять. Он написал много песен и ему даже предложили контракт, но его родители сочли, что он еще слишком мал для этого. В Голландии он играл в различных группах (обычно на клавишных или гитаре). Позже он стал рассылать свои демо записи по разным звукозаписывающим компаниям и Джон Зонненфельд (John Sonneveld) ответил ему. Valensia подписал контракт с Mercury Records. В 1993 году вышел первый альбом "Valensia" (в Японии также известен под названием "Gaia"). Главный хит Gaia сразу достиг второго места в голландских чартах.
В качестве музыканта, вокалиста и автора песен в разное время сотрудничал с Vengeance, Ian Parry, Amy Winston, Robby Valentine, Jeff Scott Soto.

Первоначально, Valensia было названием проекта, а не псевдонимом г-на Кларксона, и в правильном написании выглядело, как Valencia.
Но на момент подписания контракта с Phonogram-Mercury выяснилось, что группа с таким названием уже существует, поэтому пришлось заменить букву C на S.

На музыкальные пристрастия Кларксона в юношестве сильно повлияли Queen и Kate Bush. Это можно заметить в его песнях, особенно на первых альбомах. Можно в его музыке услышать также ностальгию Beatles и оптимизм 10СС. И это не копирование "под", вся эта квинтэсеннция как бы развитие и прододжение их музыкальных идей с новым, свежим взглядои Кларксона. Почти все свои песни в своем проекте Valensia он записывает сам, т.е. все инструментальные партии и вокальное многоголосье - это дело его рук и голосовых связок. Правда, иногда на барабанах помогает ему его брат. Существует ещё один его сольный проект - Metal Majesty.
В нём он демонстрирует уже более тяжёлую музыку - melodic Hard Rock & Hard'n'Heavy. Был у него ещё один, уже дуэтный проект - Valensia & Valentine. Но в любом из его проектов можно услышать, что музыка интересна, а сам он гениален.

Discography:

Valensia
Valensia (1993)
The White Album (1994)
K.O.S.M.O.S' (1996)
Valensia, The Very Best Of' (1997)
Valensia '98 (1998)
Gaia II (2000)
Luna Luna (2001)
The Blue Album (2002)
Queen Tribute (2003)
Non Plugged (2004)

Valensia & Valentine
V (1999)
Valentine vs Valensia (2002)
Nymphopsychoschoziphonic (not released)

Metal Majesty
Metal Majesty (2003)
This Is Not A Drill (2004)
2005 (2005)

The Dutch singer Valensia is best known for his song "Gaia" (1993). Out of nothing, the song reached #2 position in the Dutch hitlists, where it stayed for several weeks. The accompaning album "Valensia" received good critics and spent almost 20 weeks the album charts.

Valensia (real name Aldous Byron Clarkson) was born on April 14th, 1971 in The Hague. He grew up in Waalwijk and spend a lot of his time at the familyґs beachhouse in Denia, Spain. Valensia used to play guitar at the beaches in Denia and at a very young age he was offered a record contract, but his parent considered him too young and refused the offer. In Holland, Valensia played in several bands, usually on keyboard- or guitar.

After meeting Robby Valentine (a Dutch singer) on an airport, where they were both listening to Queenґs Bohemian Rhapsody, Valensia started sending demoґs around and was noticed by producer John Sonneveld. Valensia signed a record deal with Mercury and in 1993 his first album "Valensia" was released.

Valensia was a success in Holland, but he was a great success in Japan. For that reason a 5 track mini-album called "The White Album" was released in Japan only, including a Valensian styled Christmas song (21st Century New Christmas Time) and a cover from the Duran Duran hit "A view to a kill".

Valensia's next album "Kosmos" was again a success in Japan, but got less attention than it deserved in Holland, due to the fact that his Dutch recordcompany refused to promote it.

For his next album, "Valensia ґ98", the Dutch recordcompany ordered Valensia to create songs in an Alannis Morisette-style, because they were affraid the public wouldn't be interested in Valensia's style of music. Gantenbrink, the only real Valensian song on the album, was added in request of the Japanese recordcompany. Ironically, the album was never released in Holland.

Dispite the lack of attention, Valensia still had a lot of die-hard fans in Holland. After a fanmeeting near the Carrй theater in Amsterdam, they were presented a promotional copy of "Valensia ґ98" and started gathering at the internet. In June 1999, the Official Valensia Website at wwwvalensia.com went online, in cooperation with Valensia.

The summer of 1999 brought "V", a cooperation of Valensia and Robby Valentine. Valensiaґs previous albums always had a mysterious atmosphere around it, but "V" was a total eclipse of style. Varying in sound from Beatles to Queen, the overall impression of the album was quite happy and bright.

In November 1999, Valensiaґs mother Jacqueline died. This had quite an impact on Valensia. The album "Gaia II", released on the new recordlabel Marquee, contained a "Requime pour Jacqueline". Nevertheless, the album wasnґt very succesfull and even the fans criticized it. In the winter of 2000 Valensia disappeared, leaving the official website with a mysterious farewell message. Rumours about suicide and deadly accidents were fed by the appearance of the 2001 mini-album called "Luna Luna", which contained 5 previously unreleased recordings and a remix of "Ilsia", wrapped in a black albumcover.

But Valensia had not died. After deciding that he was going to leave the music-business and only create music for his own joy, he regained inspiration and started recording several new songs. In the spring of 2002 "V vs V" was released, another cooperation with Robby Valentine, containing 6 songs by Valensia, and the summer of 2002 brought The Blue Album, which was not only released in Japan, but also in the United Kingdom. The Blue Album contains several songs about his daughter Alyssa Gaia, who was born in 2001.

After years, Valensia gives in to the constant requests to record a Queen-cover. As a result, The Queen Tribute-album is released in Japan in 2004. This album is also released in Holland and as a repackage in Scandinavia. The third V album is held back by the Japanese recordcompany, because they recently signed a new boyband who also uses the artist-name V. So far, the album rests on the shelve.

Valensia still struggles with recording songs on low-budget and decides that his recordings for Non-plugged and the two Metal Majesty albums will be the last ones recorded in his home-studio. The next album has to be recorded in a official studio, with good equipment, the aid of producers and technicians and no recordcompany breathing down his neck worrying about costs. Since you need a lot of money for this, it might take some years before this will actually happen, so no new albums are expected before 2007. The songs have already been written though...