(born 16 January 1946) is a Finnish singer. She is the older sister of
Ami Aspelund
Ami Aspelund (born Anne-Marie Aspelund on 7 September 1953) is a Finnish singer. She is the younger sister of singer Monica Aspelund.
Career
Born in Vaasa, Ami Aspelund released her first single in 1973 called "Apinamies", which is a Finnish ...
.
Life and career
Born in
Vaasa
Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Swedish speaking Finns, Aspelund danced and sang in talent shows from an early age, making her recording debut at age fourteen with "Katso, kenguru loikkaa" a children's song recorded in the autumn of 1960. Aspelund's subsequent singles included Finnish language covers of international hits such as "Tahdon kaikki kirjeet takaisin" (" I'm Gonna Knock on Your Door" -
Eddie Hodges
Samuel "Eddie" Hodges (born March 5, 1947) is an American former child actor and recording artist. His 1961 cover of the Isley Brothers' single " I'm Gonna Knock on Your Door" reached number 1 in Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden and Australia, ...
, 1961), Lady Sunshine ja Mister Moon" ("Lady Sunshine und Mister Moon" -
Conny Froboess
Cornelia Froboess (; born 28 October 1943) is a German actress and a teen idol of the 1950s and early 1960s. During that time, Froboess appeared in many West Germany, West German and Austrian musical films, especially after the rock and roll wav ...
, 1962) and "En ilman häntä olla voi" ("
I Couldn't Live Without Your Love
"I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" is a 1966 single written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent and recorded by Petula Clark. It was inspired by the affair the songwriters were having at the time. Clark has cited "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" ...
" -
Petula Clark
Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...
, 1966). As a young woman Aspelund worked as a commercial artist not embarking on a full-time singing career until 1973 when her recordings included a Finnish cover of the
Ireen Sheer
Ireen Sheer (born 25 February 1949) is a German-English singer. She had her first major hit in 1970 with ''Hey Pleasure Man''. She had a top five hit on the German singles chart with "Goodbye Mama" in 1973. She went on to finish fourth at the E ...
hit "Goodbye Mama". Also in 1973 Aspelund spent time in Sweden as a member of the group Family Four. In 1974 Aspelund had her first album release, ''Valkoiset laivat – Sininen meri'', a specialty recording commissioned by the
Silja Line
Silja Line is a Finnish shipping company and cruiseferry brand owned and operated by the Estonian shipping company AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden.
The former company Silja Oy—today Tallink S ...
comprising performances of nautical themed songs by Aspelund and .
Aspelund had been collaborating with
Aarno Raninen
Aarno Raninen (27 April 1944 – 3 September 2014) was a Finnish singer, songwriter and musician. His main instrument was piano but he has also mastered violin, cello and accordion.
Born in Kotka, Raninen began his musical studies at a young ...
from 1970 and in 1975 Aspelund had her first mainstream album release with the Monica & Aaron Raninen Orkesteri. The album included "Fasten Seatbelts", which was Aspelund's first entry in the Finnish national preliminary of the
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...
. Aspelund again competed in the Finnish national preliminary for Eurovision in 1976, with the song "Joiku". Aspelund finally won that competition in 1977, with "
Lapponia Lapponia ('Lapland') may refer to:
* Lapland (disambiguation), various regions in northern Scandinavia
* Lapponia (book), ''Lapponia'' (book), a 1673 ethnographic account of Lapland by Johannes Schefferus
* Lapponia (train), a Finnish express passen ...
", which at the Eurovision 1977 final held on 7 May 1977, was placed tenth in a field of eighteen. The song's moderate Eurovision placing did not preclude its release in twenty European countries, as well as Australia, Brazil, Israel and Turkey, via the recordings Aspelund made of the song in Dutch, English, French, German and Swedish as well as Finnish. "Lapponia" afforded Aspelund a number 5 hit in Finland and the record also reached number 20 in Sweden. Aspelund again competed in the Finnish national preliminary for Eurovision in 1978 with "Kultaa hopeaa", and with the same song in the Intervision Song Contest and also the Menschen Und Meer Song Festival, taking first place in the last-named competition.
On 30 September 1978, Aspelund was a passenger aboard Finnair Flight 405, which was hijacked by a lone gunman. Aspelund and the rest of the passengers and crew were freed when the hijacker departed from the plane.
Circa 1980 Aspelund, who had just been divorced, relocated with her two-year-old son to
Lake Worth, Florida
Lake Worth Beach, previously named Lake Worth, is a city in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located about north of Miami. The city's name is derived from the body of water along its eastern border known as the Lake Wort ...
. She performed locally and on Caribbean cruise ships making periodic visits to Finland and Sweden, notably in 1986 when she headlined in the stage musical ''
Cats
The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...
'' in Helsinki. It was reported in 2010 that Aspelund had recently returned to Finland on a permanent basis.
Discography
Albums
* ''Valkoiset laivat – Sininen meri'' (Silja Line 1974, )
* ''Monica ja Aarno Ranisen orkesteri'' (RCA, 1975)
* ''Credo – minä uskon'' (RCA 1975,
Ami Aspelund
Ami Aspelund (born Anne-Marie Aspelund on 7 September 1953) is a Finnish singer. She is the younger sister of singer Monica Aspelund.
Career
Born in Vaasa, Ami Aspelund released her first single in 1973 called "Apinamies", which is a Finnish ...