Juha Vainio

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Juha Harri 'Junnu' Vainio , also known as Juha 'Watt' Vainio (born May 10, 1938 in Kotka , Finland , † October 29, 1990 in Gryon , Switzerland ) was a Finnish songwriter . His compatriot and colleague MA Numminen counts him “one of the great lyrical songwriters in the country”.

biography

Juha Vainio was born in Kotka as the first of the three children of Tauno Vainio and his wife Kaarina. The family lived in Vuoksenniska until the winter war . When his father, a reserve officer , received the position order, the family moved to Metsola, Kotka. An uncle, his mother's brother, was killed in the war. From 1945 they lived in a single-family house in Metsola, but in 1950 they moved to the center of Kotka. In 1949, the 11-year-old had to undergo serious surgery because of a congenital heart defect. As a teenager he was an avid basketball and football player, later he followed sporting events passionately as a spectator. At the request of the club manager, he wrote the club anthem for the top Finnish ice hockey team Tappara , whose fan he remained for life.

In 1960 he married his pregnant girlfriend Taina Kaukonen, who gave birth to his son Ilkka that same year; three more children followed: Sami in 1961, Kalle in 1963 and Kati in 1967. The young family moved to Helsinki when Vainio began teaching there and then taught at a primary school. In 1964 he had to interrupt the school service to fulfill the conscription.

As a young man he wrote texts and songs for musicians he was friends with, but increasingly performed as a musician and singer himself. Soon after his military service, a music journalist friend made him aware of the state radio's search for copywriters, whereupon Vainio, who had seen himself as an artist since his youth, quit the tiresome school service.

His first great success was his song Sä kuulut päivään jokaiseen , set to music by Reino Markkula and sung by Eino Grön, which became a hit. From then on he worked as a permanent lyricist at Frazer Music , while he was writing more and more of his own songs, which made him a sought-after solo performer from the mid-1960s, and he continued to write lyrics for other artists. In 1966 he went on a tour of Finland with friends Irwin Goodman and Vexi Salmi as a trio, during which Vainio's alcohol excesses repeatedly occurred, which led to the concert tour being canceled. Recurrent persistent alcohol abuse overshadowed Vainio's career and personal life throughout his life. In 1968 and 1969 Vainio was the lyricist of the Finnish contributions to the Eurovision Song Contest . In the early 1970s he briefly returned to school service; afterwards he earned his living as a freelance copywriter and artist.

In 1981 he married a second time, which resulted in his fifth child two years later. In the late 1980s, he moved to Switzerland with his new family. Numerous prominent colleagues arranged a concert there for his 50th birthday in 1988. Juha Vainio died of a heart attack in his home in Gryon on October 29, 1990, after his congenital heart problem had become acute again in the previous months. He is buried in the Hietaniemi cemetery in Helsinki, where a number of Finnish statesmen, artists and other personalities are buried.

plant

Discography (albums)

  • Juha 'Watt' Vainio ja Reijo Tani (1968, single compilation together with Reijo Tani)
  • Viisari värähtää (1972) (English translation: 'The Pointer Twitches')
  • Tulin, Näin ja soitin (1975) (English translation: 'I Came, I Saw, I Played')
  • Kansi kiinni ja kuulemiin (1976) (English translation: 'Shut the Lid and Goodbye')
  • Käyn ahon laitaa (1979) (English translation: 'I Walk by the Side of a Glade')
  • Albatrossi ja sorsa (1981) (English translation: 'The Albatross and the Duck')
  • Sellaista elämä on (1983) (English translation: 'That's How Life Is')
  • Elämää ja erotiikkaa (1985) (English translation: 'Life and Erotica')
  • Viiskymppisen viisut (1991) (English translation: 'Tunes of a Fifty-year-old')
  • Porno-ooppera / Pahojen Poikien Lauluja 3 (1993) (Denglish translation: 'Porno-Oper / Böse Boys Songs 3')
  • Legendan laulut - 48 mestariteosta (2009, FI: goldgold)

The discography follows the information from Discogs in the web links.

Reception in film and television

Vainio's music is also used in numerous film and television productions, according to the IMDb he is named in 57 credits , including internationally screened films by the Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki , including:

Web links

Commons : Juha Vainio  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MA Numminen: Tango is my passion , Berlin 2014 (Link on Google Books )
  2. ↑ Hietaniemi Cemetery: MERKITTÄVIÄ VAINAJIA , page 20. (PDF; 552 kB)
  3. ↑ Music Sales Awards: FI
  4. ↑ IMDb: Juha Vainio (I) (1938–1990)
personal data
SURNAME Vainio, Juha
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vainio, Juha Harri; Vainio, Junnu; Vainio, Juha Watt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Kotka , Finland
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1990
Place of death Gryon , Switzerland