Kauko Röyhkä

Kauko Röyhkä

Kauko Röyhkä, (born Jukka-Pekka Välimaa, 12 February 1959, Valkeakoski), is a Finnish rock musician and author. Since the early 1980s he has been a popular rock artist 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. To date he has recorded 23 full-length albums. His most famous backing band has been Narttu ("Bitch"), that was together in various line-ups throughout the years 1980–1990. Röyhkä has also had many side projects, including a band called 500 kg lihaa ("500 kg of Meat"). In 2007 Röyhkä performed his songs with the Mikkeli town string orchestra. Röyhkä has studied literature and has been praised for his lyrics, especially during the late 1980s. Röyhkä is a singer and guitarist, and has said that, after realizing that he couldn't learn to play like his idols, he wanted to create his own style of playing. In 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". The albums Maa on voimaa and Pikku enkeli found their way onto Soundi magazine's list of the 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. 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 the newspaper Kaleva and record reviews for Rytmi magazine.

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