50 years old | Katri Somerjoki’s uncle was a singer known by the whole nation – My father was afraid that he would “be like Raul”, he believes

Vocalist Katri Somerjoki has been able to hear about his kinship with his uncle throughout his career Rauli Badding to Somerjoki. The songs of the father’s brother are legendary and the surname is rare. The situation has not been easy, but Somerjoki has wanted to stay in the industry.

“I have an inner compulsion to sing, and I think it comes from my genes. I sing every day and take care of the health of my mind and body with it,” he says.

The career spans more than 40 years. Somerjoki was heard for the first time when he was 6 years old Lurp’s larp’s ear – with a children’s disc.

“I sing in it with the hoarse voice of a little girl, because I was terribly tense and I got sick. But I got a reward for it, which I used to buy a Barbie doll. It felt incredibly great that I got myself a Barbie by singing.”

Somerjoken Kari-isä worked at Yleisradio as a music journalist. The daughter was allowed to sing, but she was not particularly encouraged to do so.

Later, Somerjoki has thought that the reason was probably his uncle’s problems with the dark side of artistry. When Badding died at the age of 39 in 1987, Katri Somerjoki was a teenager.

“I think Faija was afraid that the same thing would happen to me as to Raul. But father died two and a half years after Raul, so he hasn’t seen that I’m completely healthy and vibrant here,” Somerjoki says.

“Rauli was a calm but very withdrawn guy. I didn’t even realize how famous he was until after he died. I was still quite young and there was no talk of his fame at home.”

Close ones problems overshadowed Somerjoki’s childhood and youth. The soul hole was found in karaoke, which arrived in Finland in the early 1990s. Around the same time, Somerjoki turned 18 and got into karaoke restaurants.

He got to know the karaoke host at KY-Exit Sari “Chess” to Wallenius, who had the group Mascara, which started making dance pop. Soon a song was recorded together Very good if not perfect)and it became a hit.

“Then Mascara was taken, and at first I thought it was help, for gigs and on the road. It was nice, but I was still so young that everything just happened and I didn’t have time to enjoy it. Rantarock and other festivals were of course sweet, but I mostly remember the gigs where everything went to hell.”

As one in the winter, before the gig, it was discovered that the tape containing the background of the songs had been left on the bus overnight and was ruined due to the cold. We were far from home and there was no backup, so the music of the evening had to be played from a video recording of an earlier gig. The VHS tape also included the songs and interludes, but the most important thing was to get the gig done.

“After a couple of years, the record company’s uncles then said that this wouldn’t work when we didn’t do what they wanted. They would have wanted us to be just pretty girls who shake our ass, but we weren’t like that at all. Why would we have gone against how we felt?”

Mascara faded, and Somerjoki started singing English roots music as the soloist of the band Cat Lee & Co. He liked performing acoustic music in clubs and continues to do so.

When It was 30 years since Badding’s death, it seemed like the right moment to take up his work. After the sold-out commemorative concert, Somerjoki released with his band With love to Raul album.

“I did hear comments that women can’t sing Raul and dishonor my uncle’s memory. Some people think it was a terrible sin, but that’s because Rauli is holy to Finns.”

Last winter, Somerjoki decided to start a solo career. The first single, a piano ballad The furrows on my facewill appear in a couple of weeks.

Mascara is also gigging again, but Somerjoki is now focusing on making his own music.

“The supply of music for our generation is very limited in the mainstream. Yes, it’s being done, but it doesn’t show up anywhere, because it doesn’t come out because we’re already too old. I’m not good enough for record companies, but it doesn’t matter because I founded my own record company. Now it’s the turn of us grown women to come forward.”

Picture: Viena Kytöjoki / HS

• Born in 1973 in Järvenpää, grew up in Helsinki.

• Singer, flutist and lyricist. Bands Mascara, Cat Lee & Co and Katri Somerjoki Katharsis. Recently started a solo career.

• Lives in Kruununhaa, Helsinki. Enjoys karaoke and jogging.

• Single, one adult child from a previous union.

• Turns 50 on Wednesday July 26th. Birthday party at Bar Mendocino (Eerikinkatu 28) on Saturday, August 12 from 6 p.m., performers include Us band.