WALLINGFORD - You might not know the name Hilton Valentine, but you've almost certainly heard the man play the guitar.

Valentine was the guitarist for the Animals, the British rock band that rose to fame in the 1960s with such hits as "We Gotta Get out of This Place" and the anthem, "House of the Rising Sun," a group that at its peak practically rivaled The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in popularity.

"In the music papers in England at the time we were classed as the third biggest group in the world," Valentine said. "It was The Beatles, the Stones and then The Animals."

His arpeggio on The Animals' 1964 version of "House of the Rising Sun" is arguably one of only a handful of rock songs recognizable in mere seconds thanks to its simple, distinctive opening chords. Even Bob Dylan, who covered the popular folk tune as a track on his self-titled first album in 1962, is said to have exclaimed his respect for the song, and Valentine's guitar riff in particular the first time Dylan heard The Animals' version over the radio.

And you might not know that Valentine, who was elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Animals in 1994 and has a handprint on the Hollywood Rockwalk, has called Wallingford home since 2000.

"Back in 1997 I was touring over here and we played the Mohegan Sun, with The Yardbirds at the time, and that's where I met my now current wife, Germaine, and she's from Wallingford," Valentine said, during a recent interview in town. "We went over to England to live for a couple of years but she didn't really like it over there. She thinks it's a good place to visit, but not to live. So we decided to come back over here."

With that distinctive arpeggio lead in and other contributions to the music world, it may seem odd that a certified rock and roll legend now calls the quaint, quiet neighborhoods of Wallingford home.

But the 66-year-old musician, who taught himself to play the guitar at the age of 13 in the coal-mining town of North Shields, England, says he enjoys Wallingford's laidback, down-to-earth atmosphere.

"I love it," Valentine said. "It's a great place to be when you've toured the world and had a lot of success and you just want to kick back."

Germaine, who works for the town's Electric Division, said her husband enjoys a casual game of tennis in his free time, and has become a devoted Red Sox fan since moving back to the United States. (Valentine spent parts of the 1960s and 1970s in Los Angeles).

"When we were in England he used to make me watch certain things on TV, like cricket or darts," Germaine recalls. "So when we came back over here I said you're going to have to start watching baseball with me, and you'll have to be a Red Sox fan, because I won't allow anything else in the house. Now, he just loves the Red Sox."

The original version of the Animals broke up in 1966 - which Valentine attributed to "internal combustion" and "certain substances" - but their music has influenced generations of subsequent musicians, including Bruce Springsteen and The Doors.

"I would say that The Animals had a tremendous influence on (rock and roll) in that they had a different edge than The Beatles and a rougher, less polished sound than The Rolling Stones," said Rich Hanley, an assistant professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University and a pop culture expert. "They were more angry young men than cute suburban kids, which is what The Beatles represented."

Hanley called The Animals version of "House of the Rising Sun" the quintessential garage band song, because so many young musicians learned to play the guitar with that song.

"Every garage band started off doing that song," Hanley said, "so that progression, and that opening, is really seminal in terms of rock and roll."

Even Wallingford's longtime mayor, William W. Dickinson Jr., who has been known to play the guitar at certain public events, confessed to being a fan of the song. Although he conceded that he was not aware that Valentine was a Wallingford resident.

"That's one of the true classics," according to Dickinson, who said he has never played "House of the Rising Sun" himself. "It's one of those songs that everybody knows. It has a timeless sound to it. Bands and music like that really affect so many lives in really good ways."

The Animals did not retain the rights to many of their songs, and since leaving the band Valentine has had an interesting career trajectory.

For several years after the band's breakup, Valentine said he had no interest in playing music at all. He moved back to London and tried his hand as a manager and a music producer. The 1970s saw a solo album, "All In Your Head," and a move to Los Angeles. Valentine has also held down a string of interesting "regular" jobs over the years, including a stint as the manager of a Tudor-themed restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard in Beverly Hills and as a porter in an English hotel.

Valentine started playing Animals music again in the 1990s, and occasionally tours with Eric Burdon, the group's former lead singer. Valentine has been concentrating more and more on acoustic material and his own band, Skiffledog, since 2004. The band played Saturday as part of the 4-H Fair in Durham and has a weekend of gigs lined up at a blues festival in South Carolina in October.

For several years, he even played an acoustic set one night a month at the Old Dublin on Quinnipiac Street, but a hectic touring schedule forced him to drop that commitment in 2007.

When not playing or touring, Valentine said he spends most of his time doing simple things around the house, but that he still finds the time to break away whenever any of his musician buddies from the 1960s are in the area on tour.

"I don't really get out much. If I do get out it's usually for a reason, to see a band or if a 1960s band is coming through, friends that I knew from the 1960s, that sort of thing," Valentine said. "I don't really have any hobbies other than just playing and listening to music."

And that legendary, instantly recognizable arpeggio that leads off "House of the Rising Sun"?

Valentine couldn't quite recall its origin, but said it just seemed to fit from the first time The Animals ever played "House of the Rising Sun."

"The chord sequence on our version we took from the Bob Dylan version, just the chord stuff," Valentine said. "The arpeggio, it just felt right to play that arpeggio with M chords. We just started rehearsing it and I just started playing that arpeggio at the beginning and so we kept it."