The song deals with a man reminiscing about a lost love he hopes to find again someday. In an interview with Songfacts, Will Jennings said: "Valerie is a real person, whose identity I will not reveal. She was almost at the top of the world in her profession and let it slip away from her. She was a dear friend and this was my tribute to her."[1] It has been alleged, however, that he was thinking about singer Valerie Carter.[2]
On its original release, the single reached number 51 on the UK Singles Chart and number 70 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
In 1987, a remix by Tom Lord-Alge was included as a single from Winwood's compilation album Chronicles. The remixed version of "Valerie" climbed to number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late December 1987, and also reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart. Both versions also reached number 13 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
DJ Falcon recalled in an interview that he and Thomas Bangalter, as a duo called Together, had sampled "Valerie" to create a track that they used in DJ sets. Falcon added that the duo had no intention of releasing it as a single, despite demand from various outlets.[3]
Eric Prydz later sampled "Valerie" in 2004 for a house music track and presented it to Winwood, who was so impressed with what Prydz had done, he re-recorded the vocals to better fit the track.[4] It was released as "Call on Me" that same year.[5] "Call on Me" was, in turn, sampled in 2009's "Pass Out" from Chris Brown (featuring Eva Simons) on his Graffiti album, also co-produced by Prydz.
