A Look at Nick Valensi

Valensi’s entrance into The Strokes brought with him a freshness and urgency that cemented their place as one of New York City’s coolest bands.

Valensi’s guitar tone has long been one of the most revered in music. Over the years, he’s tried various pedals but this particular one remains his go-to option.

Early Life and Education

Valensi was born January 16th 1981 in New York City and began playing the guitar from an early age, being inspired by artists such as Devendra Banhart and Sia. Influenced by distortion and barre chords he attended Dwight School where he met Julian Casablancas, Fabrizio Moretti and Nikolai Fraiture whom would form The Strokes releasing their debut album Is This It in 2001.

Valensi is well known for his skillful guitar virtuosity and has served as a session musician for Regina Spektor. He owns numerous guitars he utilizes during live performances such as his Les Paul Custom and Fender Telecaster Custom guitars as well as pedals such as Fulltone GT-500 Distortion/Booster, Visual Sound Volume Pedal, and Maxon Dual Overdrive pedals.

Professional Career

Valensi has made quite an impression since entering his mid-20s, earning recognition both through The Strokes band as well as his solo performances.

Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme produced his latest record, CRX. While still honoring his signature tone, this record allows him to expand upon it while broadening his palette beyond this compact style.

Valensi typically employs three guitars during live shows: a Gibson Les Paul Custom in black, a Fender Telecaster Custom (which can be seen in the New Skin video), and a Duesenberg semi-hollow guitar from Duesenberg. He also makes use of a Fulltone GT-500 pedal and Visual Sound Double Trouble dual overdrives for further sound modifications.

Achievement and Honors

Nick Valensi has achieved great success in his music career. As a member of The Strokes band, his work as a musician earned him several awards and recognition. Additionally, he collaborated with Devendra Barnhart, Regina Spektor, and Sia.

Born January 16th 1981 in New York City and hailing from a diverse background that greatly shapes his music. Starting playing guitar as soon as he could at an early age and becoming proficient quickly became evident to all around him.

He has an original style of playing that will take him far in his solo music career. He utilizes various pedals on his guitar – including the Fulltone GT-500 Distortion/Booster and Visual Sound Visual Volume Pedal – as well as performing with various side projects such as CRX where he acts as singer-songwriter-lead guitarist.

Personal Life

Nick Valensi, best known as one of the founding members of The Strokes and for his solo artist collaborations including Regina Spektor, Sia, Brody Dalle and Kate Pierson as well as being part of CRX, is an American guitarist and songwriter.

Valensi is father to son Silvan and daughter Ella. In 2006 he wed photographer Amanda de Cadenet and plays his signature orange Epiphone Riviera guitar equipped with Gibson P-94 pickups at every live performance and recording session.

His back-up guitars include an Epiphone Dot equipped with two P-94 pickups, Gibson Les Paul Special and Sheraton from Epiphone, along with his signature Riviera model that Epiphone released back in 2005. Additionally he utilizes black Les Paul Custom and Fender Telecaster Custom models.

Net Worth

Nick Valensi is an esteemed guitarist who has collaborated with artists like Devendra Banhart, Sia and Regina Spektor. His estimated net worth stands at $10 Million.

He earned most of his fortune as the lead guitarist for rock band The Strokes, who released their debut album Is This It in 1998 and have sold millions of albums worldwide since. They also won several awards including four NME Awards and a Brit Award.

He is currently married to Amanda De Cadenet and has two children named Ella and Silvan. They reside in Los Angeles where they occupy an affluent, luxurious home; Nick utilizes his 1990s Epiphone Riviera fitted with Gibson P-94 pickups during performances.