Sal Valentino - Come Out Tonight (2006)

Sal Valentino was one of the great voices in American rock. As the lead singer of the Beau Brummels he was, for a time in the mid-'60s, a fixture on AM radio, his voice associated with such hits as "Laugh Laugh" and "Just a Little," and he subsequently became a songwriter as well. Valentino, along with songwriter/guitarist Ron Elliott, was one of the co-founders of the band, and his friendship with Elliott went back more than a decade before the band was formed. Born Salvatore Spampinato, he grew up in the North Beach section of San Francisco, and attended the same elementary school, St. Peter & St. Paul's, as Elliott. His interest in music in those days, and until he entered Sacred Heart High School, was subservient to his love of baseball, instilled in him by his athlete father, who had known the DiMaggio brothers Joe, Vince, and Dominic as a semi-pro player. In high school, however, he'd been squeezed out by the competition and turned to football instead.