KAUKO RÖYHKÄ

Kauko Röyhkä, born Jukka-Pekka Välimaa on February 12, 1959, in Valkeakoski, Finland, ranks among the country's most celebrated and widely admired rock figures. He launched his recording career at the start of the 1980s and went on to issue more than 20 albums, 13 collections, and an extensive body of written material that encompasses ten novels along with numerous columns for music magazines and newspapers. In his homeland he earned a reputation as a somewhat "provocative" figure; although he had initially aimed to establish himself as a writer, his singular style of rock & roll—shaped by his acknowledged limitations as a musician compared with his heroes—found an audience and took hold. His first album, Steppaillen, appeared in 1980, coinciding with the publication of his debut novel, Tien Iaidalla Waterloo. For roughly the initial decade of his musical output he performed with the backing group Narttu and also took part in the side project 500 Kg Iihaa. Throughout the 1990s he strengthened his standing by putting out four collections of recordings and three novels. In 2008 he delivered his twenty-third album, Kauko Röyhkä & Riku Mattila, on Ranka Records. Beyond fiction he turned to nonfiction, producing a biography of Finnish porn star Henry Saari and a book on the Velvet Underground that surfaced in 2007.