Val Diamond
Encyclopedia
Val Diamond is a stage performer and San Francisco icon. She is best known for her role in Beach Blanket Babylon
.
Diamond grew up in Castro Valley
, California, the daughter of Harold and Lilly. Her father is Jewish and her mother is an Italian immigrant. She began her acting career in high school, playing Medea in Medea and Anna in The King and I. After high school, she performed with a rock band, touring the country from 1970 to 1978.
After Diamond tired of life on the road, her friend, Shelly Werk convinced her to try out for Beach Blanket Babylon. Werk was already a cast member. Steve Silver, the creator of the show, wanted Diamond despite the objections of the dance captain. Diamond speculates, "I didn't look like most of the people who were in the show. I was heavyset and I think that bothered them 'cause there was a lot of dancing for me. But I can dance. Women that aren't Twiggy
-thin can still dance."
Diamond had her first of over 10,000 performances in Beach Blanket Babylon on January 17, 1979. Diamond has played numerous roles in the show. She is best known for singing San Francisco at the end of the show wearing a tremendous hat depicting numerous San Francisco landmarks. In 1983 she performed at Davies Symphony Hall for Queen Elizabeth II.
Diamond married Beach Blanket trumpet player, Steve Salgo, in 1987. They live in Sonoma.
An article in the October 2, 2009 San Francisco Chronicle
reported that Diamond's run with Beach Blanket Babylon had come to an end, with her final performance on September 23, 2009. The show's producers, as quoted in the article, did not give a reason.
Beach Blanket Babylon
Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon is America's longest-running musical revue. The show began its run in 1974, at Club Savoy Tivoli and has since moved to the larger Club Fugazi in the North Beach district of San Francisco...
.
Diamond grew up in Castro Valley
Castro Valley, California
Castro Valley is a census-designated place in Alameda County, California, United States. As of the 2000 census, it is the fifth most populous unincorporated area in California, and the twenty-third in the United States...
, California, the daughter of Harold and Lilly. Her father is Jewish and her mother is an Italian immigrant. She began her acting career in high school, playing Medea in Medea and Anna in The King and I. After high school, she performed with a rock band, touring the country from 1970 to 1978.
After Diamond tired of life on the road, her friend, Shelly Werk convinced her to try out for Beach Blanket Babylon. Werk was already a cast member. Steve Silver, the creator of the show, wanted Diamond despite the objections of the dance captain. Diamond speculates, "I didn't look like most of the people who were in the show. I was heavyset and I think that bothered them 'cause there was a lot of dancing for me. But I can dance. Women that aren't Twiggy
Twiggy
Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....
-thin can still dance."
Diamond had her first of over 10,000 performances in Beach Blanket Babylon on January 17, 1979. Diamond has played numerous roles in the show. She is best known for singing San Francisco at the end of the show wearing a tremendous hat depicting numerous San Francisco landmarks. In 1983 she performed at Davies Symphony Hall for Queen Elizabeth II.
Diamond married Beach Blanket trumpet player, Steve Salgo, in 1987. They live in Sonoma.
An article in the October 2, 2009 San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
reported that Diamond's run with Beach Blanket Babylon had come to an end, with her final performance on September 23, 2009. The show's producers, as quoted in the article, did not give a reason.