He is the son of Edward King Skinner II, a Korean War veteran[1] and Concha Marina Meléndez del Valle the cousin of George Melendez Wright.

[8][9][10] A fourth generation New Orleanian, he is the grandson of the Honorable Judge Robert J. Skinner,[11][1] former recorder and treasurer (for the City of New Orleans), a regimental sergeant-major in World War I, and the great-grandson of Judge Edward King Skinner, who served on the city, criminal and civil district court benches, successively, over a total period of 52 years[12][13][14] In 1880, he was appointed to first district court after the American Civil War.

The next year, after advice of his Tulane professor, Deborah Drattell, he became tenor soloist in Bach's "St Matthew Passion" with the New Orleans Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Massey, conducting.

Del Valle's European operatic debut took place with the role of "Don José" in the Hugo de Ana production of Carmen at the Teatro Comunale di Treviso under the vocal direction of Regina Resnik and conducted by Peter Maag.

A series of important engagements followed, and since 1999, del Valle has appeared around the world, including performances in Frankfurt Alte Oper, Strasbourg (Beethoven 9th Symphony, op.

125, with John Storgards conducting), Maastricht, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Theater Augsburg, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Theater Dortmund, Teatro Carlo Felice, Bremen, Bergen, Costa Rica, Munich Gasteig, Finnish National Opera, Helsinki, Belo Horizonte in Brazil, the HIFA Festival in Harare, Zimbabwe,[21] Malmö, Sweden, New Symphony Orchestra of Sofia, Bulgaria, Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari, Torino, Baveno, Inaugural concert of the Umberto Giordano Festival with the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Paolo Vaglieri conducting, National Theatre Mannheim, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Staatstheater Kassel, Hamburg and Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

He has collaborated with some of the most notable conductors in the world including, Vladimir Jurowski, Ralf Otto, Asher Fisch, Anton Guadagno, Claudio Abbado, Eduardo Mata, Benjamin Zander, Isaac Karabtchevsky, Peter Maag, John DeMain, Carl St. Clair, JoAnn Falletta, John Nelson, Dan Ettinger, Carlo Maria Giulini, Alexander Lazarev.Alexander Anissimov, Patrick Summers, Philippe Entremont, Joseph Rescigno and Richard Bonynge.

In 2003 his portrait was realised by Ricarda Jaccobi protégé of Oskar Kokoschka.On the occasion of the 150th (1854–2004) Anniversary of Santa Tecla, El Salvador, del Valle was invited by former Salvadoran Ambassador Ernesto Rivas-Gallont to present 2 Concerts.