James Valentine, the versatile Australian artist, author and broadcaster who was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame as a member of Models, and whose pivot to broadcasting earned him millions of fans and international awards, has died following a battle with cancer. He was 64.
“James passed peacefully at home surrounded by his family, who adored him,” Valentine’s family remarks in a statement.
A talented saxophonist with an ear for jazz, Valentine was a prominent recording and touring artist through the 1980s with a string of Australian bands, including Models, Absent Friends and the Wendy Matthews Band, Jo Camilleri, Stephen Cummings, Kate Ceberano, and others.
Valentine performed on the band’s fourth, and most commercially successful album, Out of Mind, Out of Sight, which peaked at No. 84 on the Billboard 200, and logged 18 weeks on the chart. The collection yielded three domestic top 40 hits “Big on Love,” Barbados” and the title track, which reached No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986, and chalked up 13 weeks on the list.
When Models were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame during a ceremony in Sydney back in 2010, Valentine took his place on stage with his former bandmates. Just days later, co-frontman and bass player James Freud died by suicide, aged 51.
“We were probably a big deal in our heads,” Models drummer Barton Price tells the ABC, “but James never took it that seriously.” Bandmate Roger Mason added, “he was a very down-to-earth person. In fact, I’d have to say, annoyingly, he was the most mature one in the band.”
Valentine, it turned out, was a talent in the studio and was magic on the mic. He hosted radio and television programs across the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for 30 years, including 20-plus years presenting the 702 ABC Sydney Afternoons radio show.
His inquisitiveness and passion for exploring the matters that make us tick made his show a popular one well outside of Sydney; in 2020, he collected a Bronze Award for Best Two-Way Telephone Talk/Interview Show at the New York Festival’s Radio Awards.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led tributes to Valentine. “He was someone who was always worth listening to,” Albanese told 702 ABC Sydney. “He was so interesting and he was so full of life. All of our thoughts are with his family and his friends and, indeed, the ABC family today.”
ABC chair Kim Williams depicted Valentine as a “creative polymath,” while New South Wales premier Chris Minns recounted the late artist and presenter’s “quirky, unique way of talking with people in Sydney,” noting “he was both an interested and interesting person, which is unique. He will be hugely missed.”
Australia’s Governor-General Sam Mostyn has revealed that Valentine was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) at a ceremony last weekend. The AM is a prestigious award in the national honors system, recognizing exceptional service or achievement.
“His ideas were, as they were on radio, just lovely, gentle, sensible, really important things about how community comes together and how we all have a role to play,” Mostyn explains.
In March 2024, Valentine told listeners he’d been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, and took a leave of absence to pursue treatment. He returned to the Afternoons slot in 2025, but left once more in June when scans revealed tumour had been detected in his omentum.
Valentine is survived by his wife Joanne and their two children.
