Heikki Silvennoinen

Heikki Silvennoinen
Heikki Silvennoinen plays at Kiuruvesi, 2007
Born	Heikki Johannes Silvennoinen (1954-04-27) 27 April 1954 (age 63) Kiviapaja, Sääminki, Finland

Heikki Johannes Silvennoinen (born 27 April 1954, Kiviapaja, Sääminki) is a Finnish musician and an actor. He was a guitarist and a songwriter in several notable Finnish bands in the 1970s and 1980s, and has also recorded solo albums. He is best known in Finland as a member of comedy group Kummeli, which started a television show in 1991.

Silvennoinen owns a production company named Pirkka-Hämeen Apina & Gorilla Oy ("Ape and gorilla of Pirkka-Häme Inc."). With his fellow comedian Timo Kahilainen he owns Porkkana Ryhmä Oy ("Carrot Group Inc."), which produces Kummeli's output.

As young boy Silvennoinen fell in love with music of Eric Clapton, especially Cream and Jimi Hendrix. He learned to play the guitar and formed a rock band called Tabula Rasa, one of the most important 1970s progressive rock bands in Finland. When the group released their debut album, Silvennoinen started to realize that music was likely to be his primary occupation. His later career has not been associated with progressive rock, but during the Tabula Rasa years he composed almost all the songs that the group recorded. After Tabula Rasa came to an end, Silvennoinen joined Juice Leskinen's band.

In the 1980s, Silvennoinen became a professional producer and collaborated with many significant bands. He played guitar in bands called Frendz and Catwalk, and in 1987 he formed a group called Q.Stone with singer Mikko Kuustonen. This band was English singing blues-rock group that released four relatively well-received albums. Kuustonen decided to leave the group and concentrate on his solo career. Silvennoinen continued to play the guitar on his albums.

In the beginning of the 1990s Silvennoinen released his first solo album, Mature And Cool. It included his own songs and a cover of Blind Willie Reynolds song "Outside Woman Blues" (popularized by Cream). His second solo album, Bobcat, was released in 1997. It includes Silvennoinen's own song "Sun Don't You Shine" and a cover of "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix. On the sleeve notes of the album he thanks his idols, not just Hendrix and Clapton, but also Peter Green and Stevie Ray Vaughan (he has personally met Vaughan and Clapton). His next album, Sweet Surrender, was released two years later. In 2000 Silvennoinen founded his own label and released the album Blues Blue Sky, which contains mostly old blues songs. The album Miehet kaatuu was released in 2003, and is his only album containing lyrics in Finnish.