Writers

Tapio Kangas (FIN)

Tapio Kangas (FIN)

Tapio "T" Kangas is a vastly accomplished songwriter, artist, arranger and producer, whose had his musical training in the USA (B.A. in music) and in the UK (M.A. in composition for Film and TV). In addition he has studied music production at
Metropolis Academy in London taught by Marc Fox, Peter Vettese and Steve Levine. Tapio has honed his craft in all styles of music ranging from classical music to techno beats and ambient landscapes.
Tapio began his musical career in the USA, where he worked with various producers such as Donnie Iris, John Calhoune and Jonathan King gaining notoriety and success as songwriter and artist. After a short stint in Los Angeles, Tapio returned to his native Finland, were concentrated on radio and TV music. He had written over 100 radio and TV commercials, before he was offered a recording contract as solo artist.

Tapio had 2 TOP 10 songs and won various song contests before placing 3rd in the biggest national song contest. It led to an album called "Julia" and his own TV special and other television performances.
In the late 90's Tapio was offered a job in Sweden as A & R manager for a record label. For the following 6 years Tapio wrote and produced songs for various artists.
Tapio also worked with the producers from the German dance group SASH. After finishing his studies in musicology at Gothenburg University, Tapio continued his studies in London graduating in 2002 with a Master's degree in composition for film and TV. His teachers included Nigel Clarke, Nick Ingman and Sir Rodney Bennett.
Later that year Tapio was signed to Virgin UK with his world music project Tundra. Declan Colgan had agreed to be the producer, however the whole project folded due to budget cuts at Virgin.

In 2005 Tapio returned to Finland and was hired to write music for the biggest TV channels and programs including YLE and MTV. Furthermore he got a chance to produce songs and albums for his own idols such Marion, Matti Esko, Pepe Ahlqvist and Jukka Tolonen. Furthermore Tapio has earned three "Album Of The Month" awards and one album of the year 3rd place so far and produced consecutive top 10 singles many years in a row. Tapio has also been nominated for the Finnish Grammy as a producer.

In 2012 it was time return to England again and this time Tapio hooked up with engineer-producer Mark "Tufty" Evans, whose credits include such artists as Elton John, The Bee Gees, Joe Cocker, Girls Aloud and Nik Kershaw. Together they rebooted Tapio's pet project:
The Spacer with the help of manager Kevin Reynolds.

In 2016 The Spacer signed a deal with Matchbox Recordings with a world-wide distribution deal with Universal Music. The first single "Creature" features Peter Cox (of Go West) on vocals and has already reached the UK Pop Club Chart Top 20 thus making Tapio one of the very few Finns to reach the official UK Chart (along with The Rasmus, Darude and Bombfunk Mc's).

MERITS:
- UK Top 20 song with "Creature"
- UK Top 30 song with "Alien"
- UK Top 30 song with "Robop-A-Love"
- "Creature" no. 1 at some local radio stations in the UK
- EP "Origin Unknown" made various charts in the USA
- 3 "Album Of The Month" accolades in Finland
- Album Of The Year 3rd place as writer and producer
- 11 Top 10 songs in Finland as artist, writer and producer
- Levyraati song contest winner 1992
- Syksyn Sävel song contest 3rd place 1997
- nomination for Emma (Finnish Grammy) as producer
- theme music for YLE news TV and radio channels
- theme music for A Studio TV program
- theme music for Ajankohtainen Kakkonen TV program
- theme music for MAX, FAKTA, LEFFA and FAKTA XL television channels

COLLABORATIONS:
Peter Cox Peter Vettese
Sash (Ralf Koppheimer) Inka (Sash)
Mark "Tufty" Evans Nick Ingman (tutor)
Donnie Iris Pete Bassett
Jerry Goldsmith (tutor) Trevor Jones (tutor)
Eero Heinonen (The Rasmus) Norman Bergen
Lars E. Carlsson Sir Rodney Bennett
Katherine Ellis Martin Sventorp
Jussi Tegelman (SONY studios) Rawnite
Kevin Reynolds Shereen
Karoliina Kallio (Waldo's People) Stonestream (Ace Of Base)
Michael Calhoune Jonathan King
Francis Goya Jukka Tolonen
Jorma "Hämis" Hämäläinen Anssi Nykänen (Havana Black