Quick Facts
Biography
Thomas J. Valentino (died August 4, 1986) was an American businessman of Italian descent being amongst the first to develop libraries of sound effects and taped music.
Born in Sicily he began his career in the 1920s as a piano and organ tuner, serving trans-Atlantic steamers docking in New York. In the 1930s he became a sales representative for Gennett Recordings before starting his own sound effects company named Thomas J. Valentino Inc., that now operates as simply Valentino Inc. He provided the sound effects for many Broadway shows, including The Heiress and Death of a Salesman. His sound effects library was also widely distributed to TV and radio stations.
He served as a vice president of the Recording Industry Association of America and in 1978 won a Grammy award as producer of Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven", featured in the film Saturday Night Fever. Valentino produced or co-produced most of Murphy's albums throughout his career.