Sal Valentino has been a mainstay on the Northern California music scene for nearly half a century. His earliest bands were formed in the Bay area in 1961 and '62 and were essentially garage bands. In 1964, responding to the success of the Beatles, he formed the Beau Brummels, with songwriter Ron Elliott. The Beau Brummels were signed early on to DJ/music entrepreneur Tom Donahue's Autumn Records (where they were produced by Donahue's radio DJ associate, Sly Stone, prior to his own stardom).
The Beau Brummels burst onto the international music scene with a handful of hits that included "Laugh Laugh" and "Just A Little." The Brummels had a short but bright star during their heyday, even getting a cartoon characterization on the Flintstones. After the Beau Brummels split in 1968, Valentino formed Stoneground, a ten-piece, high-energy blues-rock-jazz outfit. Stoneground made three albums for Warner Brothers.