John Valby (a.k.a. “Dr. Dirty”)

Born and raised in upstate New York, John Valby, a.k.a. “Dr. Dirty,” attended school in Rochester. At age 7, he was taught to play the piano by two nuns, and by 10, knew he wanted to be a performer. (Some of his obscene act comes from the Catholic repression he experienced during this time.)

After graduating from Middlebury College, Vt., in 1966, he moved on to Duke University, earning a degree in Idealism. He briefly considered a profession as a philosophy teacher, but quickly realized it was not right for him and focused in on music. Early in his career, Valby joined various rock bands that “kept on breaking up”. Frustrated, he switched to performing a solo piano act of mostly rock and roll and honky tonk tunes. At a show in May 1974, he added some dirty songs of his own into the set. The positive response to the dirty songs led John to focus on the more adult material. He would often write new material while on the road between gigs.

Valby claimed that he was named “Dr. Dirty” by the National Entertainment Conference, a booking organization for the college circuit. He stated that he disliked the name because it “takes away from the element of surprise”. In addition to his blue comedy act, Valby has recorded and produced several 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.

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