John Valby

John R. Valby (born November 22, 1944)^[1] is an American musician, singer, songwriter, comedian, and producer known for his comedic and obscene song parodies. Also known as Dr. Dirty, he typically performs in a white tailcoat suit and black derby hat. His songs and shows focus mainly on sex and racial slurs, with a mix of current and historic people and events.

Early life

Valby was born and raised in Western New York.^[2] He attended school in Rochester, New York, where at age seven, was taught to play the piano by two nuns.^[2][3] At ten, Valby wanted to become a performer. In 1966, Valby graduated from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.^[4] At one point he considered a profession as a philosophy teacher, but soon realized it was not right for him and focused on musical entertainment.^[2]

Career

Valby joined various rock bands in his early career that "kept on breaking up", which drove him to become a solo piano act of mostly rock and roll and honky tonk tunes. At one show in May 1974, he added some dirty songs of his own into the set.^[5] The positive response to the dirty songs led Valby to focus on the more adult material.^[6] He would often write new material while traveling between gigs.^[5] Valby claimed that he was named "Dr. Dirty" by the National Entertainment Conference, a booking organisation for the college circuit. He stated that he disliked the name because it "takes away from the element of surprise".^[2] He credited some of his obscene act as a reaction to the Catholic repression that he faced during childhood.^[6]

In addition to his blue comedy act, Valby has recorded and produced pop and rock albums for himself and other artists, including Buffalo Sabres defenseman Jim Schoenfeld, with whom Valby recorded two albums, Schony (1972) and The Key is Love (1974). He also had a small role as a piano player in a Tijuana brothel in the 1983 film Losin' It which featured an early performance by Tom Cruise.

Personal life

Valby is married to his wife Anne; together they have six children.^[6][5] In August 2012 his home in Clarence, New York was burned due to suspected arson.^[7] As of 2016, he still lives in Clarence.

Valby endorsed Donald Trump in the 2016 United States presidential election and recorded a song and music video supporting his campaign.^[8] (He would later backtrack on his endorsement, working a line into a 2018 song stating that Trump was "full of shit".)^[9]

Discography

References

1. ^ "The Stafford Palace Theater - John Valby aka Dr.Dirty's Special Christmas Show - Stafford Springs, CT". December 14, 2013. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
2. ^ Laverty, Marilyn (22 October 1977). "Warning: Dr. Dirty is strictly X-rated humor". The Ithaca Journal. p. 31. Retrieved 23 February 2019. – via Newspapers.com
3. ^ Aloi, Daniel (14 March 1996). "John Valby comes clean". Star-Gazette. p. 34. Retrieved 23 February 2019. – via Newspapers.com
4. ^ "JohnValby.com - The Official Home Of Dr. Dirty". www.johnvalby.com. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
5. ^ Schwerin, Mark (19 March 1998). "'Dirty' performer keeps it clean at home". Battle Creek Enquirer. p. 5. Retrieved 23 February 2019. – via Newspapers.com
6. ^ Carter, Dana (19 October 2001). "Blue, period". Battle Creek Enquirer. p. 29. Retrieved 23 February 2019. – via Newspapers.com
7. ^ Tokasz, Jay (August 26, 2012). "Musical entertainer's home heavily damaged by fire". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on August 29, 2012. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
8. ^ John Valby sings "Everybody Hates Trump" at YouTube (April 18, 2016).
9. ^ John Valby - "Give My Remains to Science" on YouTube (January 29, 2018).

• Richard A. Reuss, An Annotated Field Collection of Songs From the American College Student Oral Tradition (Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Masters Thesis, 1965).
• Ed Cray, The Erotic Muse: American Bawdy Songs (University of Illinois, 1992).

External links

• Official website
• John Valby at IMDb
• iTunes