Heikki Veikko Harma (born 20 April 1947) is a Finnish singer-songwriter who has also distinguished himself as a translator of song lyrics, but has written popular lyrics of his own too. To the public he is better known by the name Hector, which he has used since the release of his 1965 debut single "Palkkasoturi", a Finnish translation of

Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie (born Beverley Jean Santamaria; February 20, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and social activist. Sainte-Marie's singing and writing repertoire includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism, and h ...

's " Universal Soldier". His 1974 album ''Hectorock I'' became the fastest-selling record in Finnish history, selling 50,000 units within a few months. Hector was at the height of his popularity in the first half of the 1970s, but his steady string of recordings provided occasional hits well into the 1990s. In the 2000s he made a strong return to popularity with ''Ei selityksiä'', which became one of his most successful albums. In 2007 he made a farewell tour on big arenas, but has performed occasionally after that too. In 2011 he made a massive comeback tour and released a new album ''Hauras'' (Fragile) in 2014, ten years after his previous album. Hector's work is very diverse in its musical styles. He is mainly known for his

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

songs, but he has also made

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

and heavy metal songs. He has translated into Finnish works by

Don McLean Donald McLean III (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Known as the "American Troubadour" or "King of the Trail", he is best known for his 1971 hit "American Pie (song), American Pie", an eight-and-a-half-minut ...

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock music, rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold more than List of best-selling si ...

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Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

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and several other artists. Today he is considered, due to his extremely long and distinguished career, as first a pioneer and later a mainstay of Suomirock. His lyrics have often a political and/or social component. Some of Hector's songs are considered classics of Finnish popular music, such as "Lumi teki enkelin eteiseen" (''Snow made an angel in the lobby''), "Mandoliinimies" (''Mandolin man'') and "Olen hautausmaa" (''I am a graveyard''), and he can be considered a primary contributor to Finnish rock music of the 1970s. He has also written song lyrics for other Finnish singers. His song "Juodaan Viinaa" (''Let's drink spirits'') was covered by Finnish folk metal band

Korpiklaani Korpiklaani (Finnish language, Finnish for ) is a Finnish folk metal band from Lahti that was formerly known as Shamaani Duo and Shaman. History Shamaani Duo While other folk metal bands began with metal before adding folk music, Korpiklaani st ...

on their 2009 album ''Karkelo''. Hector is the Finnish voice actor of The Muskrat in the Finnish-British animated television family drama ''

Moominvalley Moominvalley (, ) is a fictional place, where the Moomins live in the tales by Finnish author Tove Jansson. Especially in the early books Moominvalley is depicted as a beautiful place with green slopes, rivers, fruit trees, flowers and a pla ...

'' (2019–). In addition to his music career, Heikki Harma has also worked as a

music journalist Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

on radio.

Discography

* 1972 ''Nostalgia'' * 1973 ''Herra Mirandos'' * 1974 ''Hectorock I'' * 1975 ''Liisa pien'' * 1976 ''Hotelli Hannikainen'' * 1977 ''H.E.C.'' * 1978 ''Kadonneet lapset'' * 1979 ''Ruusuportti'' * 1980 ''Linnut, linnut'' * 1981 ''Eurooppa'' * 1982 ''Hyvää yötä, Bambi'' * 1985 ''Hectorock II'' * 1987 ''Nuku idiootti'' * 1988 ''Varjot ja lakanat'' * 1990 ''Yhtenä iltana'' * 1992 ''In concert 1966–91'' * 1992 ''Ensilumi tulee kuudelta'' * 1994 ''Salaisuuksien talo'' * 1995 ''Kultaiset lehdet'' * 1999 ''Hidas'' * 2001 ''Helismaan pikajuna'' (album of songs by

Reino Helismaa Reino Vihtori "Repe" Helismaa (12 July 1913 – 21 January 1965) was a Finns, Finnish singer-songwriter, musician and scriptwriter. Born in Helsinki, he was mainly known for his humorous, yet homely songs. One of his best-known interpreters was ...

) * 2003 ''Total Live!'' * 2004 ''Ei selityksiä'' * 2014 ''Hauras''

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hector 1947 births Living people Singers from Helsinki 20th-century Finnish male singers Finnish male songwriters

Discography

See also

References

External links