Burton (musician)

Burton
Puurtinen performing in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Janne Johannes Puurtinen
Also known as	Emerson Burton, King Tut
Born	(1974-10-17) 17 October 1974 (age 42) Helsinki, Finland
Genres	Rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Piano, keyboards, backup vocals
Years active	1995-present
Associated acts	HIM, Daniel Lioneye, Suburban Tribe, Amorphis
Website	Official website

Janne Johannes Puurtinen (born 17 October 1974), better known as Burton or Emerson Burton, is a Finnish musician. He is best known as the keyboardist of the Finnish rock band HIM, with whom he has released several gold and platinum albums. Outside of HIM, he has played in various band's including Suburban Tribe, Daniel Lioneye and Amorphis.

Janne Johannes Puurtinen was born on 17 October 1974, in Helsinki, Finland. Born into an artistic family, both of his parents were ballet dancers, as was his sister. Puurtinen himself took up ballet for a few years, but quit due to a lack of interest, after which he began taking classical piano lessons at age five, which he continued well into his twenties. During his civilian service, Puurtinen worked as a lighting engineer at the Alexander Theater in Helsinki. He later worked as a stage manager at the Helsinki Opera House, a concert janitor at the Sibelius Academy, as well as a cook.

In 2001, Puurtinen joined the band HIM, with whom he had already played one show in the mid-nineties, performing Type O Negative -covers. After the addition of Puurtinen, HIM released the albums Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights and Love Metal in 2001 and 2003, respectively. Both cracked the top ten in several countries, and became the band's first albums to chart in the United Kingdom and the United States. After relocating to the US, HIM released Dark Light in 2005, which became the group's most successful album to date, going gold in Germany, the UK, the US, and platinum in Finland.

In 2007, HIM released Venus Doom, which went gold in Finland and Germany, and gave the band their highest US-chart position at number 12. After 2010's Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice, the band went on hiatus after drummer Gas Lipstick was diagnosed with a repetitive stress injury and nerve damage in his hands. After eight months of uncertainty, the band regrouped and eventually released the album Tears on Tape in 2013. In 2015, Gas Lipstick announced his departure from HIM after 16 years, to pursue other musical projects. He was subsequently replaced by Jukka "Kosmo" Kröger.