Nick Valensi

Nicholas Valensi (born January 16, 1981) is an American musician and songwriter, best known for his role as lead and rhythm guitarist in the American rock band The Strokes.

In the late 1990s, Valensi was part of an informal band with vocalist Casablancas and drummer Moretti in high school, and continued after he and Casablancas left Dwight.

Nikolai Fraiture started playing as the bassist and the band was formed when guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.. joined in fall 1998.

Their first show as The Strokes was at the Spiral in New York City on September 14, 1999.

Since 2001, the band has released six studio albums, some of which Valensi has also contributed keyboard and backing vocals to.

The band released The Modern Age EP in 2001 under Rough Trade Records and was signed for a five-album record deal by RCA Records.

The band released six LPs including Is This It, Room on Fire, First Impressions of Earth, Angles, Comedown Machine and The New Abnormal with tours and festival sets in the North America, Europe, South America, East Asia and Australia.

One of his first notable credits was playing guitar for Regina Spektor's song "Better," which was released on her 2006 album Begin to Hope and also published as a single in a slightly different version on which the guitar parts are rearranged.

He has collaborated with artists Devendra Banhart, The Stroke's Moretti, and Sia on multiple occasions.

Nick Valensi sang backing vocals and played guitar for Devendra Banhart's song "Shabop Shalom" on the 2007 album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon.

Furthermore, he contributed backing vocals on the self-titled debut album of his bandmate Fab Moretti's band, Little Joy.

He appears in the video for "No One's Better Sake" by Little Joy as drummer.

He also appears in the video for "Adam & Steve," a song by Devendra Banhart and Moretti's side project Megapuss.

He plays guitar on Sia's album 2010 We Are Born and has also written several hooks and melodies on it.

Sia has also stated that she and Valensi are planning to write songs together for other artists.

In 2013, he founded the band CRX, for which he acts as singer, songwriter, and lead and rhythm guitarist.

Following the completion of their album contract deal with RCA Records in 2013, the band has continued to release new music through Casablancas' Cult Records.

In 2013, Valensi co-founded the Los Angeles-based rock band CRX.

He is the frontman of the group, and is backed by drummer Ralph Alexander, multi-instrumentalist Brad Oberhofer, bassist Jon Safley, and guitarist Darian Zahedi.

Their debut album, New Skin, was released in 2016, and was followed by the 2019 album Peek.

Valensi has also worked as a songwriter and session guitarist with various artists, including Sia, Regina Spektor and Kate Pierson.

Valensi was born in New York City, to a Tunisian father and a French mother, Danielle.

His mother was from a Catholic family in South Western France, near Bordeaux, and his father was a Tunisian Jew.

Valensi's mother had moved to Boston as a teenager and met his father in New York; his mother converted to Judaism to marry his father.

Valensi was raised on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with two sisters, Céline and Alessandra.

Until the age of 16, Valensi spent summers at his grandfather's home near Bordeaux.

He began learning guitar at the age of five, following an impromptu strum on one of his father's guitars.

His father described him as a natural guitarist, due to his quickness at picking up the ability to strum along with the rhythm of songs at a young age.

Valensi's father died when Nick was nine.

Valensi was arrested at age 11 and was assigned a probation officer for a year.

Valensi attended New York City public schools while growing up.

He began attending The Dwight School at age 13, where he met Julian Casablancas on the first day of the school's orientation program.

Soon after, he met classmate Fabrizio Moretti and the three formed a band.

He was once quoted as saying, "I always thought I wanted to be able to play any song you could name. But once I started playing with Julian, that's when I really started to understand music."

Through Casablancas, Valensi also met Nikolai Fraiture during this time.

The two later attended Hunter College together.

The band released their debut album, New Skin, on October 28, 2016.

This was followed by the 2019 record Peek.

Valensi has described the band's sound as a mix of power pop and heavy metal, and has named The Cars, Cheap Trick and Elvis Costello as influences.

While much of his career has been focused on playing and writing for The Strokes and CRX, Valensi has also contributed as a session musician and songwriter to some of his contemporaries.