Gunnar Graps

Gunnar Graps-Grāfs (27 November 1951 – 17 May 2004) was a popular Estonian musician and one of the pioneers of hard rock in Estonia and the former Soviet Union.

He has been compared to Mick Jagger and Alice Cooper, both who were his own personal idols, and is often called Raudmees (Iron Man).

Gunnar Graps was born to Latvian conductor, cellist and musical pedagogue Igors Gunārs Graps-Grāfs and his Estonian wife Salme (née Pluum).

In spring 1968 Jüri Lina recorded about ten Mikronid's songs which also included Graps' creation for his show "Pobifo Revüü".

In 1976 Graps put together a new outfit called Magnetic Band which was Jazz-rock oriented, with reggae and funk-soul influences.

They won first prize at the first official rock-festival of the Soviet Union which took place in Tbilisi thanks to their hit "Lady Blues" and became the stars of Yerevan-81 international pop-rock-festival.

"Garbed in fire-engine red pants and white shirt decorated with a splashy 7-Up emblem, Graps sang: "Since we have nowhere else to make love/we do it out in the open/And sometimes the rain washes away the makeup/from her face—and mine", wrote Time magazine in 1981.

[3] It was no surprise that in 1983 Magnetic Band got banned by the Soviet authorities, which led to creation of GGG (Gunnar Graps Group).

The change also marked a shift towards straightforward hard rock and heavy metal, genres which Magnetic Band were already flirting with (Note: all the musical groups in Soviet Union had to be evaluated before they were allowed to perform or exist at all).

Financial problems arose once more and he was compelled to work at local radio stations and night-clubs as a DJ, playing music he hated.

In 2002, a 3 CD collection of Gunnar Graps' music, from all his tenures with past bands, was released as part of "Eesti kullafond" (Estionian Gold Fund) series.

Despite his health problems, Graps did not want to give up on music and in 2003 he released "Rajalt maas" (Off the Track), which had a strong blues influence.

Three months before his death he was still looking forward to continue his career and in an interview for Sakala, an Estonian newspaper, he promised to release a new album by the end of 2004 and another record in 2005.

In December 2005, Hard Rock Club started collecting funds to erect a memorial headstone at Graps' grave.