Finnish drummer and singer, born January 10, 1948 in Helsinki, who was the lead musician of the band Hurriganes.
He is of Romani descent. For a while the family lived in an abandoned train car in Ruskeasanta, Vantaa near the construction of the Helsinki Airport.
The living conditions of Romani people in Finland only started improving in the 1970s.

The family's father Otto Aaltonen was an alcoholic who was not always around, and the mother Eeva sold moonshine to support them.
Aaltonen got his nickname "Remu" in his youth. The nickname most likely comes from the Finnish verb remuta, meaning to make a lot of noise.

Aaltonen was 16 years old and already playing in various bands when he received his first prison sentence for burglaries and other property crimes in 1964.
He has also received convictions for drug possession.

Aaltonen was inspired by blues music from the United States already in his youth. Although his formal musical training was limited to music lessons at school, by the early 1970s he had already been playing with various other artists, such as the brothers Kirka and Sammy Babitzin.

After Aaltonen had been fired from his band Kalevala because of a prison sentence, he founded a new band called Hurriganes together with bass player Cisse Häkkinen and guitarist Albert Järvinen. Aaltonen is the only remaining original member of the band.

In 1974, Hurriganes had to pause their tour for a few months while Aaltonen was in prison.
Aaltonen has said that his music career saved him from a life of crime.