Paradise Oskar

Paradise Oskar
Background information
Birth name	Axel Ehnström
Born	23 October 1990 Kirkkonummi, Finland
Genres	Folk, folk pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	2011–present
Website	paradiseoskarmusic.com

Paradise Oskar was a stage name used by Axel Ehnström, a Finnish singer-songwriter (born on 23 October 1990 in Kirkkonummi, Finland) who represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf with the song "Da Da Dam".

Beginnings

Ehnström's family belongs to the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland. He lives in Evitskog, Kirkkonummi. He adopted the name Paradise Oskar from author Astrid Lindgren's children's book "Rasmus and the Vagabond", where Paradise Oskar is a vagabond who plays the accordion.^[1] Paradise Oskar is studying pop and jazz at the Helsinki Music Institute.

Eurovision Song Contest 2011

Oskar participated in the Finnish national selection Euroviisut 2011 with the song "Da Da Dam" to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 which was held in Düsseldorf, Germany in May 2011. The song tells a story of a boy who decides to make a stand to try to save the planet, gets universally ignored, but continues to persevere. Both lyrics and music are by the singer.

Oskar participated in the second semi-final of the national selection, and qualified for the final along with two other artists. In the final after the 10 artists performed their songs, Oskar along with Father McKenzie and Saara Aalto went through to the second round known as the "Super Final". Oskar was declared the winner, receiving the highest number of SMS and televotes with 46.7% of the votes.^[2]

Oskar won the Marcel Bezençon Press Award given to the best entry as voted on by the accredited media and press during the 2011 Eurovision event.^[3]

Debut album Sunday Songs 2011

Paradise Oskar signed a record deal with Finland’s leading record company Warner Music Finland. Paradise Oskar's debut album Sunday Songs was released digitally on May 2, 2011 across Europe. All songs on the album are written and composed by Paradise Oskar himself. The producer for the album is Leri Leskinen who has worked with major local superstars in Finland. The executive producer is Warner Music Finland´s newly appointed A&R manager Lasse Kurki.

2011-2014

After Eurovision, Ehnström has worked as a songwriter published by Elements Music.^[4] He's been involved with several gold and platinum certified albums and has worked with artists such as Isac Elliot, Anna Abreu, Christopher, and Kasmir.

Recently, Axel has worked in Germany for example with Blitzkids, Philipp Leu and I Heart Sharks and in the US with, for example, the Grammy nominated producers Kadis & Sean. He has also worked with Sofi De La Torre,^[5] of which the song ‘Vermillion’ is noted on Billboard as one of the best tracks of 2014.^[6] Axel has also worked with artists such as Madeline Juno and ROMN.

Discography

Albums

Album Title	Album details	Chart positions
		FIN [7]
Sunday Songs	Released: 2 May 2011 Label: Warner Music Format: CD, Digital download	4

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart position			Album
		FIN [7]	AUT [8]	GER [9]
2011	"Da Da Dam"	6	64	46	Sunday Songs
	"Sunday Everyday"	—	—	—

References

1. Evitskog laulaen maailmankartalle Verkkonummi 2011 (Finnish)
2. Schacht, Andreas. "Finland sends Paradise Oskar to Düsseldorf!". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
3. Schacht, Andreas. "Finland wins the Marcel Bezençon Press Award.". Eurovision. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
4. http://www.elementsmusic.fi/ Retrieved 2.2.2015
5. http://sofidltmusic.tumblr.com/ 2.2.2015
6. http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6236626/sofi-de-la-torre-vermillion-interview Retrieved 2.2.2015
7. "Paradise Oskar - Finnish Charts". finnishcharts.com/ Hung Medien.
8. "Paradise Oskar - Austrian Charts". austriancharts.at/ Hung Medien.
9. "charts.de - Paradise Oskar". charts.de/ Media Control.

External links

• Official Website (English)