Fredi (singer)

Fredi

Fredi & Friends at the Eurovision Song Contest 1976

Fredi (born Matti Kalevi Siitonen; 23 July 1942 in Mikkeli, Finland), is a Finnish comedic actor, musician, singer/songwriter and television presenter. Domestically he is best known as a founding member of the comedic variety ensemble Kivikasvot. Siitonen chose his stage name, Fredi, after a TV cartoon character, Fred Flintstone from "The Flintstones". In 1965 he recorded his first song, "Roskisdyykkarin Balladi" as Folk Fredi. A year later he dropped the Folk name and was simply known as Fredi. Internationally he represented his country at the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 in Vienna, Austria with the song "Varjoon - suojaan" ("To the Shadow – To the Safety"), which received three points and finished 12th of 17 entries. He is also the husband of the former mayor of Helsinki, Eva-Riitta Siitonen. They were married in 1969 and on November 13, 1970, Eva-Riitta gave birth to the late Hanna-Riikka Siitonen, who was a singer and actress. Fredi is also the stepfather of Petri, Eva-Riitta's son from a previous relationship.

Fredi returned to Eurovision in 1976 in The Hague, Netherlands, with the group Fredi & The Friends. Their song "Pump-Pump" received 44 points, finishing 11th out of 18. Coincidentally, both contests in which Fredi took part were won by the United Kingdom representatives - Sandie Shaw in 1967 and Brotherhood of Man in 1976.

In Finland Fredi has had more than 20 Top-10 Hit singles, and achieved Diamond status with many studio albums like Avaa sydämesi mulle (Open Your Heart to Me) and Rakkauslauluja (Lovesongs). In 1968, he did a Finnish cover of Tom Jones's "Delilah" as well as a beautiful cover of Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale", and 5 years later, did a cover of David Bowie's "Starman" and Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". In 1977, he released his first Christmas album, which contains covers of "Silent Night" and "White Christmas". In 1978 he released one of his most critically acclaimed albums Tänään Fredi (Today Fredi). It contained hit singles "Syntinen yö" ("Night of Sin"), "Elää mä sain" ("Stayin' Alive") a Finnish version of the Bee Gees song and Space cover "Magic Fly" with the Finnish title "Se outoa on" ("It's Weird"). The album reached over Gold status peaking # 5 in the Finnish Albums Chart. Fredi has sold over 177,000 certified records, which places him among the 50 best-selling male soloists in Finland.

In 2010, Fredi started presenting his own talk show, "Fredin Vieraana" or Fredi Visits. His shows included songs at the opening and closing of each episode, as well as Fredi interviewing Finnish musicians and singers such as Katri Helena and Titta Jokinen. Today he is still presenting his shows live in Finland.

Discography

• 1969 - Fredi (Gold)
• 1972 - Niin paljon kuuluu rakkauteen (Diamond)
• 1973 - Rakkauden Sinfonia (Gold)
• 1974 - Avaa sydämesi mulle (Diamond)
• 1975 - Rakkauslauluja (Diamond)
• 1976 - Laula Kanssain (Gold)
• 1978 - Tänään Fredi (Gold)
• 1980 - Elämä on ihanaa