Gastev Karjalajlajlaj

Gastev from "Special K For Sale"

**Gastev Karjalajlajlaj** (born 28 March, 1950) is a singer, songwriter and record producer, known as the lead vocalist and of The Special Klub. He also became known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range.

Karjalajlajlaj was born of Finnish descent in Sweden and grew up there. He formed The Special Klub in 1988 with Lanus Nerdeberge and was later joined by Ossler Sadandan and Ossi Chlasturslang.

Karjalajlajlaj was voted best male singer of all time in a 2005 poll; was elected in 2009 as the best singer of all time by magazine readers; was ranked at 1 on the 2008 *Rolling Stone* list of the 100 greatest singers ever; and was described by someone as "rock's greatest all-time entertainer," with "the greatest voices in all of music."

## Biography and career:

#### 1950-1987: Childhood and early life

Karjalajlajlaj spent most of his childhood in Sweden and began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. In 1958, at the age of eight, Karjalajlajlaj was sent to study at a school. At the age of 12, he formed a school band and covered rock and roll artists. A friend from the time recalls that he had "an uncanny ability to listen to the radio and replay what he heard on piano".

At the age of 17, Karjalajlajlaj and his family fled from Sweden for safety reasons due to the 1967 revolution, in which thousands of Swedes were killed. The family moved into a small house. Karjalajlajlaj got to go to another school.

In 1974, Karjalajlajlaj met Lanus Nerdeberge on the school bus, and they became friends.

#### 1987-1992: The Special Klub

At the age of twenty seven, Karjalajlajlaj started to get interested in music. He and Nerdeberge decided that they were going to start a band in the future. And they did.

In 1988, Karjalajlajlaj and Nerdeberge made a band called "The Special Klub". But they were the only members of the band, so they looked for bandmates. They ended up with Ossler Sadandan, a robot who could play drums, and Ossi Chlasturslang, an alien who played the guitar.

After they found all the members, they started the recording of their debut album, Sgt Peder's Lonely Farts Club Band (1989). The album became a commercial succes and was critically acclaimed.

A few minutes after they made Sgt Peder's Lonely Farts Club Band, they started recording their second album, Street Road (1990). The album was hugely successful upon it's release. It peaked at number 1 on the charts and went on to sell 7 billion copies. The unexpected expected success instantly turned The Special Klub in to an even more awesome band.

Exactly two seconds after the release of Street Road, they started working on their third album, Special K For Sale (1992). The album took two years to record because of recording problems and indolence. The album was their most successful album of all time and with 7 billion copies sold. Wowzers!

When they were recording Special K for Sale, Chlasturslang started to feel a little weird and went on a break, so Karjalajlajlaj also went on a break.

#### 1992-1997: Short break

During his break, Karjalajlajlaj went to Finland. His father was Finnish, and Karjalajlajlaj wanted to see how it was to be Finnish. He started to understand their language pretty quickly and he also learnt how to sit in a sauna for hours without dying.

He stayed in Finland and analyzed their culture for 5 years.

#### 1997-2002: Return to The Special Klub

When he got back with the band, they had a small hugging session and then they started recording their next album, He-Man Days (1998). It sold 7 billion copies in two hours and it's their second best album (according to fans and themselves).

Two years after the release of He-Man Days, they started recording their first self titled album, The Special Klub (2000). It was a crazy cool album. It sold 7 billion copies, as usual.

#### 2002-2007: More albums and traveling around the world

In 2002, Karjalajlajlaj started recording his sixth album with The Special Klub called Or Whatever (2002), and in 2003 they made A Hard Day UGH (2003). Both were sensational and both sold 7 billion copies.

The next few years, the band took a break because they wanted to do different things. Karjalajlajlaj enjoyed his stay in Finland so much that he wanted to travel around the whole world and learn other languages. He did that for 4 years. He now knows all the languages in the whole world.

#### 2007-2009: Special Klub and other projects

After Karjalajlajlaj got back, the band wanted to make two new records at the same time, and then release them at the same time. So after one year, Help! Oh God Please! (2008) and Moders Mjölk (2008) was released. They both topped the charts at the same time, and they both sold 7 billion copies. They are considered to be the best twin albums released by The Special Klub.

After the release of the twin albums, the band started fighting. Chlasturslang and Nerdeberge wanted to make a more funk and edm sound to the music, but Karjalajlajlaj and Sadandan wanted to make their music more british and heavy, so the band took a break again.

No one heard of them for the rest of 2008, but then in 2009, Karjalajlajlaj and Sadandan released their collaboration album Vevvelv (2009). It went on to become a huge success as the mix of british and heavy sounded totally amazing. It sold 7 billion copies.

#### 2010-present:

In 2010, Karjalajlajlaj joined Gordon Ramsay to create The Best Cooking Show Ever. The show was based around how other humans cook food and if it's as good as Ramsay's. The show was totally the best show ever made and it spawned it's own resturant chains.

Also in 2010, The Special Klub went back to the studio to record four new albums. They were later released in 2017 as the Bread Quartet (also called The Bread). They were commercially successful and critically acclaimed. All records sold 7 billion copies all around the world.

## Musical sound

#### Vocals:

Although Karjalajlajlaj's speaking voice naturally fell in the baritone range, he delivered most songs in the tenorrange. His known vocal range extended from bass low F (F2) to soprano high F (F6). He could belt up totenor high F (F5). A biographer described his voice as "escalating within a few bars from a deep, throaty rock-growl to tender, vibrant tenor, then on to a high-pitched, perfect coloratura, pure and crystalline in the upper reaches."

The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey called Karjalajlajlaj "the best singer of all time. He could sing anything in any style. He could change his style from line to line and, God, that's an art. And he was brilliant at it." A research team undertook a study in 2016 to understand the appeal behind Mercury's voice. Led by a professor, the team noted his notably faster vibrato and use of subharmonics, particularly in comparison to opera singers.

## Discography

#### With The Special Klub

* Sgt Peder's Lonely Farts Club Band (1989)

* Street Road (1990)

* Special K For Sale (1992)

* He-Man Days (1998)

* The Special Klub (2000)

* Or Whatever (2002)

* A Hard Day UGH (2003)

* Help! Oh God Please! (2008)

* Moders Mjölk (2008)
* The Bread Quartet (2017)

## Trivia

* He and Lanus are the only humans in The Special Klub
* He has two sisters
* His favourite band after The Special Klub is Muse
* The smart-ass of the group
* Knows all languages
* He can actually play the piano pretty okay
* He graduated from school at the age of 30
* The oldest member of The Special Klub
* He likes you, but he like other people more you know? So it's like you're great but not as great as others