Neljä Ruusua

Neljä Ruusua
Origin	Helsinki, Finland
Years active	1982–2007
Labels	EMI
Website	www.neljaruusua.com
Members
Ilkka Alanko Petteri "Kode" Koistinen Jari "Lade" Laakkonen Kari "Kämy" Kämäräinen

Neljä Ruusua (Four Roses) is a Finnish rock group formed in the city of Joensuu in 1982. The group consists of guitarist-singer Ilkka Alanko, guitarist Petteri Koistinen, bass guitarist Jari Laakkonen and drummer Kari Kämäräinen. Their style of music was influenced by punk in their earlier years, but changed over the time for conventional finnish rock and more closer for pop music. Most top rated albums of the band are Haloo (1992, Hello) and Pop-uskonto (1993 Pop-religion), which bought the band to a great popularity.

The band has released 12 studio albums, with two English albums, Mood (1996) and Not For Sale (1998), which were the band’s attempt to break the English language market. After these two unsuccessful albums, the band returned to their native language and released their so-called comeback album Uusi Aalto (1999, New Wave). On August 13, 2007 it was announced on the band’s official website that the group retreats to spend a quiet life for an indefinite period, and they made their so far last public appearance in August 17. The band’s future is completely open, any plans for recordings, concerts or other activities has not been established. 2011 they played on the Ilosaarirock-Festival in Joensuu.

History

The group formed in 1982 under the name Talouskukkaro, and changed their name in 1985; in the late 1990s, they made an attempt to break the English language market, and released some albums under the name 4R.^[1] The band's guitarist/vocalist Ilkka Alanko is brother of famous Finnish singer-songwriter Ismo Alanko.

Discography

Studio albums

• Neljä Ruusua (1987, Four Roses)
• Kasvukipuja (1987, Growing Pains)
• Hyvää Päivää (1989, Good Day)
• Hyvää Yötä Bangkok (1990, Good Night Bangkok)
• Haloo (1992, Hello)
• Pop-uskonto (1993, Pop-religion)
• Mood (1996, in english)
• Not For Sale (1998, in english)
• Uusi Aalto (1999, New Wave)
• Valuva Taivas (2001, Flowing Sky)
• Karelia Express (2004)
• Ensi-ilta (2006, Premiere)

Other

• Energiaa (Compilation of remixes, 1994, Energy)
• Popmuseo (Compilation, 2000, Popmuseum)

Singles

• "Hunningolla" (1999) FIN #3
• "Varjo" (1999) FIN #15
• "Popmuseo" (2000) FIN #19
• "Missä Vaan" (2001) FIN #12
• "Popstars" (2004) FIN #4
• "Tahdon" (2006) FIN #17

References

1. ^ Biography at Allmusic