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.
This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (March 2016) |
Pete Parkkonen | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Pete Eemeli Parkkonen |
| Born | (1990-02-08) 8 February 1990 (age 32) Pihtipudas, Finland |
| Genres |
|
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels |
|
Parkkosen auditioned with "Mies jolle ei koskaan tapahdu mitään", a song by J. Karjalainen. during the competition, he interpreted various songs, most notably "Queen City" and "I Kissed a Girl". In the semi-finals, he sang songs from Foo Fighters, Danko Jones and Eppu Normaali 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 winning the title and Anna Puustjärvi as runner-up.
After Idol, Parkkonen received a recording contract from Sony BMG 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".
Parkkonen has also taken part in a number of reality television shows including season 2 of Livenä vieraissa (2009) where he sang "Womanizer" from Britney Spears and "Girl In A Uniform" his single. He also took part in Kuorosota, the Finnish version of Clash of the Choirs and broadcast on Nelonen station coming second and donating 20,000 Euros to charity.
Albums
| Year | Album | Peak positions |
|---|---|---|
| FIN [1] | ||
| 2009 | The First Album | 1 |
| 2010 | I'm an Accident | 21 |
| 2018 | Pete | 8 [2] |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIN [1] | |||
| 2009 | "Girl in a Uniform" | 5 | |
| 2016 | "Mitä Mä Teen" (featuring JVG) |
3 [3] |
|
| 2018 | "Myyty" | 14 [4] |
|
| "Mä haluun sut tänään" | 16 [5] |
Other songs (in local charts)
Featured in
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| FIN [1] | |||
| 2014 | "Etenee" (JVG feat. Pete Parkkonen) |
11 | JVG album Voitolla yöhön |
Parkkonen was born into a musical family,[6] and his brother Ville Eetvartti [fi] is also a singer.[7] His paternal grandfather was Pierre Rassin, a black French musician from Martinique, who met Parkkonen's paternal grandmother in Äänekoski in 1953 when he worked for the traveling carnival Suomen Tivoli [fi].[8] Parkkonen has spoken openly about the childhood bullying he had experienced because of his dark skin color that he inherited from his father, Kari.[9][10][11]
Parkkonen has a son (born in 2015) with singer Johanna von Hertzen, a second cousin of the Von Hertzen Brothers.[12][13]