Paris for the holidays with his friend Pekka. Vainio was supposed to pass his matriculation exams in the spring of 1959, but he failed the Swedish exam and had to wait until the autumn to pass it. Fatherhood, teaching and military service In Fennia, Juha Vainio met his future wife Taina Kaukonen. When Taina became pregnant in early 1960, Juha's parents scolded the young father. As a result, the couple married in the summer of 1960 and a son Ilkka followed in October of the same year. Juha and Taina had three more children: Sami in 1961, Kalle in 1963 and Kati in 1967. At first the young couple lived at Juha's parents', but moved to Helsinki when Juha started his studies there. He studied at the Yhteiskunnallinen korkeakoulu (School of Social Sciences, which later became the University of Tampere) and later the Opettajakorkeakoulu (School of Vocational Teacher Education) where he graduated as a school teacher. Juha Vainio taught higher classes at Yläpää Primary School where the pupils informally called him "Junnu". His teaching methods were relaxed, such as making the pupils sing a children's song instead of a hymn in the morning. The pupils could also eat and watch television with Vainio. In 1964 he had a temporary absence from teaching due to military service. Already having some reputation as a lyricist, whilst in the army Vainio was assigned to write the lyrics for the new cadence of the Karelia Brigade. Vainio finished his military service in the autumn of 1964, at the age of 26. Breakthrough Vainio's musical influences included Tapio Rautavaara, Georg Malmstén and Henry Theel. As a young man he trained to play music because he wanted to become a professional musician. He started writing lyrics for friends' bands, and his texts brought him some fame. Vainio was above all a lyricist; he wrote lyrics or music for over 2,400 published songs, the majority of which were recorded by others. Many of Vainio's lyrics were written for Toivo Kärki's compositions. He translated popular foreign songs into Finnish, work that he later abandoned since translators only received a fixed payment for their work rather than royalties. At the beginning of his career, comedian Spede Pasanen asked Vainio and his friends to play in a radio show called Ruljanssiriihi ("Thrashing House of Rigmarole"). The band accepted, and after Pasanen gave up the radio show to start his television