Pete Eemeli Parkkonen (born 8 February 1990) is a Finnish singer singing in both Finnish and English. He took part in the Finnish ''Idol'' competition in its fourth season finishing third. After ''Idol'' he launched a solo career releasing albums ''The First Album'' in 2009 that topped the Finnish Albums Chart followed by ''I'm an Accident'' in 2010.

Career

;In ''Idol'' Parkkosen auditioned with "Mies jolle ei koskaan tapahdu mitään", a song by

J. Karjalainen Jukka Tapio "J." Karjalainen (born 1 April 1957) is a Finnish singer-songwriter. His first album came out in 1981 and he has been called the "Bruce Springsteen of Finland." He states that his music is a mix of "Blues, Rock´n´roll, Folk, Countr ...

. during the competition, he interpreted various songs, most notably "Queen City" and "

I Kissed a Girl "I Kissed a Girl" is the debut single of American singer Katy Perry from her second studio album, ''One of the Boys'' (2008). It was released on April 28, 2008, by Capitol Records as the lead single from the record. Perry co-wrote the song with ...

". In the semi-finals, he sang songs from

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

Danko Jones Danko Jones is a Canadian hard rock trio from Toronto. The band consists of Danko Jones (vocals/guitar), John 'JC' Calabrese (bass), and Rich Knox (drums).Eppu Normaali Eppu Normaali is one of the most popular rock bands in Finland. The band formed in 1976 in Ylöjärvi, a small town near Tampere. The band is the best-selling music artist in Finland, with certified sales of nearly two million records, and it h ...

making it to the Final 3. The season finals were held on 9 November 2009 with Parkkonen considered the favourite to win. However, he was unexpectedly eliminated in the Final 3 phase finishing third. The grand finale was held on 14 December with

Koop Arponen Koop Juho Alexander Arponen (born 20 April 1984 in Lappeenranta, Finland) is a Finnish singer and the winner of the fourth series of the '' Idols'' in 2008. Biography Koop Arponen was born in Lappeenranta, Eastern Finland to a Finnish father and ...

winning the title and Anna Puustjärvi as runner-up. ;After ''Idol'' After ''Idol'', Parkkonen received a recording contract from

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

and was the first season 4 contestants to release an album. Appropriately titled ''The First Album'', he debuted at number 1 in its first week of release. The album went on to sell just over 24,000 copies and was accredited a gold award. Parkkonen's second studio album, ''I'm an Accident'' was released on 18 February 2010, but failed to gain the same commercial success peaking at number 21. He is preparing a third album in 2014 in Finnish language. Preliminary single releases from the prospective album include "Mitä minä sanoin" and "Mun". ;In popular culture Parkkonen has also taken part in a number of reality television shows including season 2 of ''Livenä vieraissa'' (2009) where he sang "

Womanizer Womanizer may refer to: * "Womanizer" (term), a promiscuous heterosexual man * "Womanizer" (song), a 2008 song by Britney Spears * "Womanizer", a 1977 song by Blood, Sweat & Tears from '' Brand New Day'' * ''Womanizer'', a 2004 album by Absolute ...

" from

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and "Girl In A Uniform" his single. He also took part in ''Kuorosota'', the Finnish version of ''

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'' and broadcast on

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station coming second and donating 20,000 Euros to charity.

Discography

Albums Singles Other songs (in local charts) *2009: "The Final Day" *2009: "Minute Is a Lifetime" *2010: "I'm an Accident" *2010: "In Too Deep" *2013: "Mitä minä sanoin" *2014: "Mun" Featured in

Personal life

Parkkonen was born into a musical family, and his brother is also a singer. His paternal grandfather was Pierre Rassin, a black French musician from

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

, who met Parkkonen's paternal grandmother in

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 ...

in 1953 when he worked for the traveling carnival . Parkkonen has spoken openly about the childhood bullying he had experienced because of his dark skin color that he inherited from his father, Kari. Parkkonen has a son (born in 2015) with singer Johanna von Hertzen, a second cousin of the

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.Tässä hän on! Pete Parkkonen julkaisi ensimmäisen kuvan lapsestaan
MTV.fi

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parkkonen, Pete 1990 births Living people 21st-century Finnish male singers Finnish rock singers Finnish pop singers LGBT singers from Finland People from Pihtipudas Idols (franchise) participants Warner Music Group artists English-language singers from Finland Finnish people of Martiniquais descent