Aleksandr "Sammy" Babitzin (11 July 1948 – 29 April 1973) was a Finnish popular music singer, the brother of

Kirka Kirill "Kirka" Babitzin (22 September 1950 – 31 January 2007) was one of the most commercially successful Finnish musicians. His career spanned from the late 1960s until his death in 2007. Previously associated with Ilkka Lipsanen's The Isla ...

and Muska. Babitzin was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. He started his professional career in a band called The Stealers. Its line-up also included Remu Aaltonen. Babitzin sang in the group of

Leo Lindblom Leo or Léo may refer to: Acronyms * Law enforcement officer * Law enforcement organisation * '' Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky * Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Arts a ...

under the pseudonym "Sammy-boy". Sammy Babitzin released his first single in 1966. Many of his songs were duets recorded together with his brother. Babitzin won the "Syksyn Sävel" song contest (

MTV3 MTV3 ( fi, MTV Kolme, sv, MTV Tre) is a Finnish commercial television station. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Yle TV1 (from Yle) took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV (literally "Advertiseme ...

) in 1972 with the song "Daa-da daa-da". Other successful hits included "Kuin tuhka tuuleen" (orig. Don't Pull Your Love by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds), "Kukat Kauniit Sulle Toisin" (orig. If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind" by

Cilla Black Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her ...

) and "Pikku-Kallen päivän huuli" . He never released a studio album before his death in 1973. In 1967, he married Riitta Kilpala, and their son, Mikael, was born three months after the wedding. However, the two got a divorce in 1969. Babitzin's career was cut short when he was killed in a car crash. An Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV owned by Babitzin and driven by his friend lost control on a slippery bridge surface near

Äänekoski Äänekoski () is a town in Finland. It is located in the Central Finland region, about north of Jyväskylä. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Neighbouring municipalities ...

at a speed of around 160 km/h (100 mph; the road had no speed limit at the time of the accident), careered off the road and struck an embankment. None of the four people (Babitzin, his friend, his girlfriend and a young hitchhiker they had picked up) were wearing seat belts and the first three were ejected from the car when it crashed. All four were taken to the

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capit ...

hospital, where Babitzin died of his injuries, aged only 24. His friend and his girlfriend were also killed, and the hitchhiker was the only survivor. Before the accident, he had been a Eurovision Song Contest candidate with his song "Riviera".

References

1948 births 1973 deaths 20th-century Finnish male singers Singers from Helsinki Finnish people of German-Russian descent Road incident deaths in Finland {{Finland-singer-stub