Kai Kivi

Born March 29th, 1959 in Tampere, Finland. Died June 10th, 2007 in Hanko, Finland. Main singer and guitar player of Kollaa Kestää, one of the greatest and most inspiring of Finland's punk bands; Kollaa easily crossed over into the new wave experimental territory known as postpunk. Extraordinarily skilled main songwriter and Co-frontman with second singer and fellow guitarist Juha Helminen. After the breakup of the band around 1979/80 Kivi plotted an academic career path. After postgraduating as DPhil (doctor of Philosophy) Kai became docent in biology at the University of Helsinki until his premature demise in 2007. Here he is mirrored by his punk colleagues in arms Mikko Saarela from Eppu Normaali who briefly featured in kollaa for live bass performances after Mikko Nevalainen left in 1979 (Saarela became a biologist after graduating in '85) and Nasty Suicide who after leaving Hanoi Rocks mainly works as a pharmacist.