Early life

Salmi was born in Hämeenlinna, Finland, on 21 September 1942. His father was a carpenter and his mother a factory worker. He was their second child, and his sister was five years older than he was. Salmi's father died in 1951 after having begun construction on a house, leaving his wife to finish the project.^[2]

At an early age, Salmi became friends with Antti Hammarberg. They grew up together on the same street, Rinkelinkatu, and while children, their first song together was "Humalamäki", a joking song they wrote about their neighbour. Hammarberg later started to use an artist name Irwin Goodman and became a popular Finnish folk and rock singer. Salmi wrote the lyrics for most of Goodman's compositions and acted as his manager, and their friendship lasted until Goodman's death in 1991.^[2][5]

Career

Salmi worked for the Musiikki-Fazer record company in the mid-1960s and became a professional lyrics writer as well as a translator of international hits into Finnish. The company's production manager, Toivo Kärki, reluctantly took the beginning lyricist under his wing and taught him for five years, making him at first read Aristotle's Poetics and learn musical notation.^[6] During his time at Fazer, Salmi wrote numerous hit songs, including two consecutive winners of the Syksyn sävel song contest for Goodman. In 1974 he also wrote the lyrics for three Eurovision Song Contest candidates. The most successful of these songs was "Anna kaikkien kukkien kukkia", composed by Kärki and performed by Markku Aro.^[2]

Yleisradio (YLE), the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation, censored or banned several of Goodman's songs, due to lyrics, often written by Salmi, that they considered to be of a "suspicious nature". One of Salmi's songs to be censored was "Ei tippa tapa" ("One Drop Doesn't Kill"), a song which YLE viewed as a glorification of alcohol and drunkenness.^[5]

Salmi left Fazer in 1977, after not getting a position as a production manager as he had hoped. He founded a record company, Levytuottajat Oy, and a number of well-known artists recorded for his label. In the 1980s, the label produced several albums that achieved gold records, for artists including Vesa-Matti Loiri and Jörgen Petersen.^[2]

When Irwin Goodman made a successful comeback in 1984, Salmi once again provided lyrics for his songs. In 1988, Goodman's most popular album Rentun ruusu was released. The same year, Salmi also collaborated on Kirka's Surun pyyhit silmistäni, which became the best-selling album in Finland at the time with 210,000 copies sold.^[2]

The economic depression of the early 1990s was a difficult time for Salmi and his production companies, both Levytuottajat Oy and his other record company, Flamingo Music, went bankrupt in 1996. Since then, Salmi has made his living as a freelance writer and lyricist, authoring multiple novels, biographies, and a book of poetry.^[2]

Death

Salmi died on 8 September 2020 from a rapidly progressing disease.^[7] He was 77 years old at the time.