Kirill "Kirka" Babitzin (22 September 1950 – 31 January 2007) was a popular Finnish musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

.

Biography

Kirill Babitzin was born in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 in 1950 to a Russian emigrant family. He first got into music at the age of five when his grandmother gave him an accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

. He won an accordion competition at the age of ten, but soon ditched the squeezebox for rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 music. His first band was The Creatures, which he joined in 1964 assuming stage name

Stage name

A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

 Kirka.

Kirka got his big break in 1967 when he joined the band The Islanders, originally led by would-be pop stalwart Ilkka "Danny" Lipsanen

Ilkka Lipsanen

Ilkka Johannes Lipsanen , also known as Danny, is a Finnish singer and guitarist. He started his career with the band Islanders who released a couple of singles, among them Danny's first recording which was in English: East Virginia by Joan Baez in 1964...

, and went on to become a household name in dance halls and festivals all over Finland. Kirka also recorded with Blues Section

Blues Section

Blues Section are a Finnish rock music group. They started in 1967, formed around the vocalist Jim Pembroke, a British expatriate song-writer now living in Finland. The other members of the band were Eero Koivistoinen , Ronnie Österberg , Hasse Walli , and Måns Groundstroem...

. His trademark was to be his powerful, throaty voice; simultaneously shrill and soulful, it is instantly recognizable to generations of Finnish music lovers.

Several Babitzin siblings are established musicians in their own right. In 1978, Kirka released a duet album with sister Anna; the next year, another sister Marija ("Muska

Muska

Marija "Muska" Babitzin is a Finnish singer. She became famous in 1971 with her song Kirjoita postikorttiin . Her first, eponymous album was released in 1973...

") joined in. Kirka's brother was popular rock musician Sammy Babitzin

Sammy Babitzin

Aleksandr "Sammy" Babitzin was a Finnish popular music singer, the brother of Kirka.Babitzin started his professional career in a band called The Stealers. Its line-up also included Remu Aaltonen. Babitzin sang in the group of Leo Lindblom under the pseudonym "Sammy-boy".Sammy Babitzin released...

, who was killed in a car crash in 1973. Eerily, Sammy's signature hit Daada daada tells a story of high-speed automotive cruising.

Kirka represented Finland in Eurovision Song Contest 1984

Eurovision Song Contest 1984

The Eurovision Song Contest 1984 was the 29th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 5 May 1984 in Luxembourg. The presenter was Désirée Nosbusch. Nosbusch, only 19 years old at the time, hosted the show in a lax manner, which was quite unusual for this show back then...

, finishing a strong ninth with the song Hengaillaan. Four years later, he got his greatest chart success with Surun pyyhit silmistäin, a melancholic pop-schlager

Schlager

Schlager music is a style of popular music prevalent in Central and Northern Europe and the Balkans and also in France and Poland. In Portugal, it was adapted and became pimba music...

. True to his rock'n'roll roots, however, he never fully appreciated this success, repeatedly citing 60's breakthrough Hetki lyö (orig. Beat The Clock by Gottehrer

Richard Gottehrer

Richard Gottehrer is an American songwriter, record producer and record label executive.-Career:Gottehrer came to prominence as a songwriter in the 1960s with his most notable songs being "My Boyfriend's Back" and "I Want Candy". As Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer , he wrote various songs including...

-Stroll) with The Islanders as his greatest achievement.

Babitzin was awarded the Emma award

Emma-gaala

The Emma-gaala is a Finnish music gala arranged yearly by Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland, awarding the most distinguished artists and music professionals of the year. It has been arranged since 1983, except for the years 1988–1990....

 for best male singer twice, first in 1984 and then in 2000. He died suddenly on 31 January 2007 at his home of undisclosed acute illness. His widow Paula Nummela is a jewellery designer.

Discography

Kirka Babitzin released 78 singles and almost 60 albums, including 15 collections. Kirka's album Surun pyyhit silmistäni (1988) became the biggest selling album in Finnish history; it has now been relegated to all-time third place.

Albums

• Kirka keikalla (1969)
• Kirka (1969)
• Saat kaiken (1971)
• Nykyaikaa (1972)
• Rautaa ja kettinkiä (1973)
• Kirkan parhaita (1974)
• Tiukka linja (1975)
• Babitzinit konsertissa (1975)
• Lauantaiyö (1976)
• Kaksi puolta (1977)
• Anna & Kirka (1978)
• Kirkan parhaat (1979)
• Kirka (1981)
• Täytyy uskaltaa (1983)
• Hengaillaan (gold, 1984)
• Älä sano ei (1985)
• Isot hitit (1985)
• R.O.C.K.
  R.O.C.K.
  R.O.C.K. is a 1986 hard rock/heavy metal album by Kirka. A major departure from Kirka's typical easy listening albums, the album featured English language lyrics, written by Kassu Halonen, and was largely hard rock oriented. Although Kirka had done covers by rock artists in the past, R.O.C.K...
  
  (gold, 1986)
• The Spell
  The Spell (Kirka album)
  The Spell is a 1987 hard rock album by Kirka. Following in the style of the R.O.C.K. album, the songs were all in English with a distinct hard rock sound, however, losing some of the aggressiveness of the first album...
  
  (gold, 1987)
• Surun pyyhit silmistäni (quadruple platinum, 1988)
• Anna käsi (double platinum, 1989)
• Iskelmäkansio (1989)
• Parhaat, uudet versiot (1990)
• Ota lähellesi (double platinum, 1990)
• Kasvot peilissä (platinum, 1991)
• Babitzin (1991)
• Pyydä vain (gold, 1992)
• Kirka (gold, 1994)
• Sadness in your Eyes (1995)
• Tie huomiseen (gold, 1996)
• Hetki lyö: 1967–1997 (platinum, 1997)
• Mestarit Areenalla (triple platinum, 1999)
• Suuri hetki (2000)
• Sinut siinä nään (2002)
• Elämääni eksynyt (2005)
• 40 unohtumatonta laulua (2006)
• The Best of Kirka (2007)