Monica Aspelund

Monica Aspelund
Born (1946-07-16) July 16, 1946
Vaasa, Finland
Years active 1960–present
Associated acts Family Four, Aarno Raninen

Monica Aspelund (born 16 July 1946 in Vaasa) is a Finnish singer. She is the older sister of Ami Aspelund.

Life/ career

Born into a family of 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/ 1961), Lady Sunshine ja Mister Moon" ("Lady Sunshine und Mister Moon" - Conny Froboess/ 1962) and "En Ilman Häntä Olla" ("I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" - Petula Clark/ 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 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 comprising performances of nautical themed songs by Aspelund and Kai Lind.

Aspelund had been collaborating with Aarno Raninen from 1970 and in 1975 Aspelund had her first mainstream album release with Monica & Aaron Raninen Orkesteri which included "Fasten Seatbelts", Aspelund's first entrant in the Finnish national preliminary of the Eurovision Song Contest. After again competing in the Finnish national preliminary for Eurovision in 1976 with "Joiku", Aspelund won the Finnish national preliminary for Eurovision in 1977 with "Lapponia" which at the Eurovision 1977 final held May 7, 1977 placed tenth in a field of eighteen. The song's moderate Eurovision placing did not preclude its release in twenty European countries and also in Australia, Brazil, Israel and Turkey via the recordings Aspelund made of "Lapponia" in Dutch, English, French, German and Swedish as well as Finnish. "Lapponia" afforded Aspelund a #5 hit in Finland and also reached #20 in Sweden. Aspelund again competed in the Finnish national preliminary for Eurovision in 1978 with "Kultaa hopeaa" also competing with the same number in the Intervision Song Contest and also the Menschen Und Meer Song Festival taking first place in the last-named.

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: 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 in Helsinki. It was reported in 2010 that Aspelund had recently returned to Finland on a permanent basis.[1][2]

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

  1. ↑ Ilkar Blogilkar (2010-03-14). "Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision: Monica Aspelund - a comeback?". Ilkar.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  2. ↑ "Pomus - Pomus.net - Monica Aspelund". Pomus.net. 1946-01-16. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
Preceded by
Fredi
with Pump-Pump		 Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
1977 		Succeeded by
Seija Simola
with Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus
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