Finnish producer and lyricist, born September 21, 1942 in Hämeenlinna, died September 8, 2020 in Helsinki, Finland

Vexi Salmi wrote his first songs with his childhood friend Antti Hammarberg, also known as Irwin Goodman, under the pseudonym Emil von Retee. In the 1960s, due to the success of the songs, Salmi started to both write original lyrics and translate lyrics to Finnish. During his career he has participated in the writing of over 5000 songs, and about 2500 of them have been recorded.

Pseudonyms: Bertil Berg, Bill Black, Lars Luode, Leo Länsi, Antero Ollikainen, P.A., Irja Tähde, Pasi Penttilä, Rudolf van Pornoff, Emil Retee/Emil von Retee (he added von to the name after writing the lyrics to the 100th song with Irwin Goodman in 1971).