Kari Tapani Jalkanen (22 November 1945 – 7 December 2010),[1] 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 sold over 830,000 certified records (during his career and posthumously), he is the best-selling soloist in the country.[2][3][4][5][6] Kari Tapio was born in Suonenjoki, Finland. In the 1960s he performed in his home town Pieksämäki with the local bands ER-Quartet and Jami & The Noisemakers.[7] In 1966 he took singing lessons from Ture Ara.
After Kari Tapio's first single "Tuuli kääntyköön"/"Niskavuoren nuorimmainen" in 1972, he performed in Ilkka "Danny" Lipsanen's show. In the beginning his role was to take care of the snake that was used in the show. Before music became a job for him, he worked as a typesetter in a printing house.
In 1976 Kari Tapio finally broke through with his single Laula kanssain (literally "Sing with Me", a Finnish cover of Jackpot's Sing My Love Song), which was followed by Viisitoista kesää ("Fifteen Summers," a cover of Living Next Door to Alice) and Kaipuu ("Longing", a cover of Mort Shuman's Sorrow). In later years Olen suomalainen ("I Am a Finn", a cover of Toto Cutugno's L'Italiano), Myrskyn jälkeen ("After the Storm"), En pyydä paljon ("I Don't Ask for Much", a cover of Paulina Rubio's Te Quise Tanto) and Paalupaikka ("Pole Position"), among others, were among his most popular songs. In 2003 the Iskelmä-Finlandia award was given to him.
Many of Kari Tapio's songs have influences from country music. He sang many Finnish versions of the songs of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson.
Kari Tapio was one of the candidates to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song Valaise yö ("Light up the night"). In the finals, he placed second; and Teräsbetoni was chosen to represent Finland.
Kari Tapio was married to Brita Kyllikki "Pia" Viheriävaara (1947-2015) since 1969, and they have three sons: Jiri (b.1970), Jani (b.1972) and Joona (b.1978). Jiri and Jani played in Kari's band, while Joona was Kari's manager.
Kari Tapio died of a sudden heart attack in the yard of his home in Haukilahti, Espoo, Finland on the 7th of December 2010. He was 65 years old. Kari Tapio had already had a heart attack in summer of 1996, and had gone through a bypass surgery in January 1997. His memorial concert was held in Tampere on 18th of October 2011.
