Olli Haavisto (born 30 May 1954,

Pori ) , website www.pori.fi Pori (; sv, Björneborg ) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäki River, west of Tampere, north of Turku and north-w ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

musician best known for playing the

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

and the guitar. He is one of the most respected pedal steel guitarists in Finland, and he has worked as a session musician for numerous Finnish artists. He has played on ca. 1 850 songs on ca. 600 albums. He has also acted as producer on ca 50 albums. In addition to this, he has played ca. 5 000 gigs.

Studies

Haavisto studied the

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

in the Espoo Music Institute during 1968–73. He also studied

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

and the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

Helsinki University The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public university, public Research university, research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turk ...

for five years in the 1970s.

Career as a musician

Haavisto's first band was Vanha Isäntä, founded in 1973, which the same year won the Finnish championship of pop bands, playing an entirely acoustic set, mainly traditional songs from the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

. The band soon oriented itself towards

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

, mainly bluegrass and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

. Now there was a demand for Haavisto's pedal steel guitar. Haavisto bought his first pedal steel guitar in 1976, and played a session with it no less than a fortnight later. The song was called “Äidin ihmekauha” (“The Wonderful Soupstone”, written by

Shel Silverstein Sheldon Allan Silverstein (; September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, poet, cartoonist, singer / songwriter, musician, and playwright. Born and raised in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended universit ...

), sung by Aimo Jaara, with Finnish lyrics by Jukka Virtanen. Since then, Haavisto has played with e.g.

Jim Pembroke James Francis Pembroke (27 January 1946 – 8 October 2021) was a British musician who was the vocalist of the Finnish progressive rock band Wigwam. Life and career Pembroke was born in London, and played with London group Taverners' Guild befo ...

Band,

J. Karjalainen Jukka Tapio "J." Karjalainen (born 1 April 1957) is a Finnish singer-songwriter. His first album came out in 1981 and he has been called the "Bruce Springsteen of Finland." He states that his music is a mix of "Blues, Rock´n´roll, Folk, Countr ...

& Mustat Lasit,

Mikko Kuustonen Ari-Mikko Kuustonen (born 4 March 1960 in Leppävirta, Finland) is a Finnish singer-songwriter and television personality. In 1998 Kuustonen was the first Finn to be nominated as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador __NOTOC__ UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador ...

’s band,

Mikko Alatalo Mikko Tapio Alatalo (born 1 May 1951) is a Finnish musician and politician. Career Alatalo was born in Kuivaniemi, now a part of Ii, Finland. He is mostly known for his long and successful musical career. His style is primarily seen as chi ...

’s band, The Boys, Dallas Wayne & The Dimlights,

Kari Tapio Kari Tapani Jalkanen (22 November 1945 – 7 December 2010), better known by his stage name Kari Tapio, was a Finnish schlager and country & western singer. During his career, he was one of the most popular singers in Finland for decades; having ...

’s band,

Hoedown A hoedown is a type of American folk dance or square dance in duple meter, and also the musical form associated with it. Overview The most popular sense of the term is associated with Americans in rural or southeastern parts of the country, par ...

, Farangs, Ninni Poijärvi’s band, Band'o, Jorma Kääriäinen’s band,

Topi Sorsakoski Pekka Erkki Juhani Tammilehto (27 October 1952 – 13 August 2011), better known by his stage name Topi Sorsakoski, was a Finnish singer. His father was Finnish tango singer Yrjö Johannes "Tapio" Tammilehto. Career Sorsakoski started his care ...

’s band, Country Boys, Meatballs, North Country Far and

Tuomari Nurmio Judge Bone, Tuomari Nurmio, is the artist name of Hannu Juhani Nurmio (b. 1950 in Helsinki), a Finnish rock singer and songwriter. Work Since his debut album, Nurmio has been regarded one of the most original Finnish singer-songwriters. His l ...

& Kylmät Todistajat. Haavisto released his first solo album, ''Pysäkkimusiikkia'', in 2002. His second album, ''Collisions'', came out in 2020. Both were released by Texicalli Records. The musicians on the latter album include e.g.

Pepe Ahlqvist Pertti "Pepe" Kalevi Ahlqvist (born July 4, 1956) is a Finnish blues singer and musician. Notes External links * Living people 1956 births Blues guitarists Finnish blues musicians Finnish guitarists Finnish male guitarists 20th-c ...

, Jukka Gustavson, Seppo Sillanpää, Timo Kämäräinen, Verneri Pohjola,

Tuomo Prättälä Tuomo Prättälä also known by the mononym Tuomo (born 30 April 1979 Helsinki) is a Finnish soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymolo ...

, and of course, his younger brother

Janne Haavisto Janne Pekka Haavisto (born 28 November 1964 in Espoo, Finland) is a Finnish drummer, recording engineer and record producer. He has been a professional musician since the age of 16, that is, from 1983 on. Career as a musician In his youth, Haa ...

Family

Olli Haavisto's father Jukka Haavisto is a well-known musician in Finland, and so is his brother, drummer

, who is 10 years younger than him. Their sister

Susanna Haavisto Susanna Haavisto (born 20 October 1957, in Helsinki) is a Finnish actress and singer. She is the daughter of musician Jukka Haavisto and sister of musicians Olli and Janne Haavisto. She has taken part in several movies and TV programs. She was ...

is known both as a singer and an actress. In 2015, Haavisto was granted an artist's pension by the state of Finland.

References

External links

Official homepages

Band'o’s official homepages

Olli Haavisto in Elonet
1954 births Living people People from Pori Finnish session musicians Finnish guitarists Finnish male guitarists {{Guitarist-stub