KAUKO RÖYHKÄ

Kauko Röyhkä, (born Jukka-Pekka Välimaa, February 12, 1959, Valkeakoski), is Finnish rock musician and author. Since early 1980s he has been one of the most foremost rock artists in Finland known especially as a strong lyricist. Röyhkä lived his youth in Oulu and has later lived in Turku and Helsinki. His recording career began in 1980 with the debut album Steppaillen. Today he has recorded 23 full length albums. His most famous backing band has been Narttu that was together in various line-ups throughout the years 1980-1990. There has been many side projects including a band called 500 kg lihaa. In 2007 Röyhkä performed his songs with Mikkeli town string orchestra. Röyhkä has studied literature and has got praise of his profound lyrics especially during late 1980s. Röyhkä is singer and guitarist. He has told that after he realized that he cannot learn to play similarly as his idols, he wanted to create his own style of playing. In a public Röyhkä has been a slightly provocative figure. He managed to raise some fuss in the early 1990s by claiming to be satanist (later he explained that the statement was just an experiment with publicity). Some of the most well known songs by Röyhkä include "Lauralle", "Talo Meren Rannalla", "Paska Kaupunki" and "Paha Maa". Albums Maa on voimaa and Pikku enkeli found their way to Soundi magazine's list of alltime 50 greatest Finnish popular music albums. Röyhkä began publishing books in the same year as his debut album appeared in 1980. Originally he wanted to be an author rather than musician. So far Röyhkä has written ten novels or short story collections and some other works including the biography of Finnish porn star Henry Saari and a book about Velvet Underground. He has also written columns for newspaper Kaleva and record reviews for Rytmi magazine. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.