Pertti Olavi "Veltto" Virtanen (born 18 May 1951 in

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of F ...

) is a rock personality, former presidential candidate, and former member of the

Finnish Parliament The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

from

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

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 ...

. In

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

he performed both as a solo artist and in the bands Virtanen (with Moog Konttinen), Välikausitakki and Sammas. ''Elektroninen xstaasi'' is considered the most famous of Veltto Virtanen's songs. Välikausitakki was notable for including also

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 ...

, Harri Rinne and later also

Juice Leskinen Juhani Juice Leskinen (officially Pauli Matti Juhani "Juice" Leskinen; 19 February 1950 – 24 November 2006), better known as Juice Leskinen ( as if the word ''juice'' were Finnish) was one of the most important and successful Finnish singer- ...

. After running as a protest candidate in the 1994 presidential election, his surprisingly high popular vote spurred him to run in the 1995 election for the

house of representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

as an essentially independent candidate, and succeeded in winning a seat. His terms in the Parliament were characteristically

quixotic Quixotic may refer to: * Quixotism, deriving from the novel ''Don Quixote'' * ''Quixotic'' (album), an album by Martina Topley-Bird * Quix*o*tic Quix*o*tic was a rock band active from 1997 to 2002 in the area of Washington, D.C., United States. T ...

; the speeches he made being exercises in near-shamanistic elocution, and counter to parliamentary protocol refusing to bare his head, sporting various headgear, but being most famous for his "artistic"

beret A beret ( or ; ; eu, txapela, ) is a soft, round, flat-crowned cap, usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre. Mass production of berets began in 19th century France and Spain, and the beret remains ...

. The minor party KiPu, which tactically allied with Virtanen, never won a seat of its own; thus he formed a one-man party-group in the parliament. Outside critics of the phenomenon of his political success wrote a critical book about it titled ''Huijari - Veltto Virtanen & Kirjava Puolue'' (publisher: Veitikka Kustannus 1999). He continued in elective politics by running in the 1999 and 2003 parliamentary elections, but failed to win a seat due to the Finnish

D'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...

of voting which favours large parties over minor ones. Virtanen became again a member of Parliament in parliamentary elections of 2007, this time representing the

True Finns The Finns Party, formerly known as the True Finns ( fi, Perussuomalaiset, PS, sv, Sannfinländarna, Sannf.), is a right-wing populist political party in Finland. It was founded in 1995 following the dissolution of the Finnish Rural Party. The ...

party. He served two terms but did not run for re-election anymore in the parliamentary elections of 2015 Virtanen was elected to the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

in 2000 with 2038 votes. Besides his musical and political career, he has also worked as a motivational speaker, most notably for some winter sports teams. On

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. T ...

2011 the newly elected member of the parliament delivered a somewhat controversial political Mayday speech, where he stated that if the

Swedish People's Party The Swedish People's Party of Finland ( sv, Svenska folkpartiet i Finland (SFP); fi, Suomen ruotsalainen kansanpuolue (RKP)) is a list of political parties in Finland, political party in Finland aiming to represent the interests of the minority ...

were to become part of the next cabinet with the True Finns, he would resign from the party and vomit for five days.

List of albums

* Virtanen: Hal-00 (1974) * Virtanen: Uusi jääkausi uhkaa (1975) * Kusessa (1976) * Ronkpukki (1978) * Välikausitakki: Välikausitakki (1978) * Tässä seison (1978) * Beibi (1982) * Virtanen: Klassikot - Ne Surkeimmat (1990) * Sammas: Sampo-Passio (1990)

References

External links

The official Veltto Virtanen homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Virtanen, Veltto 1951 births Living people People from Hämeenlinna Finns Party politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (1995–99) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2007–11) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2011–15) Finnish male musicians Finnish psychologists