Can you die of horniness or voiko kiimaan kuolla? That's the punch line of Liekinheitin, the big favorite to win UMK 2026 by two artists that this blogger among many others have waited for years to take part and here they are, together. The story goes Linda was preparing her new pop album (that was rumored already a year ago but was postponed) and when asked who she would like to have on vocals she didn't hesitate: Pete! When calling him asking is he interested and when could they meet his quick answer was : is tomorrow soon enough? Liekinheitin was born during that first meeting along with writers Vilma Alina, Lauri Halavaara and Antti Riihimäki.
Linda Lampenius (55) is most likely the artist with the longest Wikipedia page ever. She toured the globe already as teenager as classical violinist favored even by Andrew Lloyd Webber. She's signed to both EMI Classics and pop oriented labels under alias Linda Brava.
She's been mannequin and model (and refused to do Miss Finland pageant several times), posed for Playboy being the cover girl (the money was too good to refuse, she said) She's starred in Baywatch and Fame LA (was also offered a role in Melrose Place) and even entered politics in Helsinki city council. She's also played the first violin in Helsinki opera's orchestra several years in early 1990's. She has played in various orchestras from Milan's La Scala to BBC, Irish national orchestra, worked with Jose Carreras.
She plays Gagliano violin from 1781, worth estimated 200.000 euros.
She's also been actress in film and theater and done tv.
She has her own cider in Finland that sold over 12 million bottles in 1997-2000. In 2025 she relaunched Linda Apple cider.
She has written two autobiography books published both in Finnish and Swedish.
She's been a certified rally driver.
She's done Dancing with stars in Sweden and been X Factor judge in Finland.
A docuseries of her life was shown on MTV3 in Finland in 2023.
She has collaborated with various Eurovision related artists over the decades from Alexander Rybak to Pernilla Wahlgren and late Ofra Haza featuring in her very last recording Taraab. She has also a flourishing career in Sweden as she lives there with her Swedish husband and children.
Pete Parkkonen (36) shot to the fame through Idols in 2008 even if he only placed 3rd after (already vanished) Koop Arponen and Anna Puu (whose career is going strong). He first released two albums in English, the debut one hitting #1 and selling Gold while the second one missed the Top-20 (#21).
After four years he released his third album, this time in Finnish (#20) and again after four years in 2018 his so far latest album (#8) including Kohta sataa, his most known song thanks to its very steamy video that caused quite a stir and made him the ultimate sex symbol of the season. Album also featured fellow UMK star Etta. Since that album he's been doing a lot of featurings and touring until last year when he has started to record his new album.
In 2014 he participated in Dancing with stars and won.
In 2016 he particiaptyed in Tähdet tähdet series where artists compete each week performing different genres. He passed week after week and eventually won.
In 2022 he starred as one of the artists in Vain elämää series where artists get together and cover each other songs while chatting about their lives.
He's also done dubbing for cartoons
Linda Lampenius has around 445.000 monthly listeners in Spotify, Pete Parkkonen has 508.000.
Chart performance:
Official singles chart: #1. / #1. / #2. / #4./ #6.
Official radio play chart: #20. / #32. / #7. / #6. / #4.
Debuted at #1 in Spotify daily charts with 212.716 streams, the second highest UMK debut ever (Erika Vikman being still #1 with 263.223)
Liekinheitin went straight to #1 in the Finnish charts and topped also Spottily daily charts were it remains high ever since. It also became the fastest video to reach one million views on Youtube in UMK's history, over 400.000 during the first 24 hrs alone, as well as one million streams and by the end of January already two million and was certified as gold single.It also won Iltalehti's poll by scoring 65% of the votes against runner up Antti Paalanen's 13%....
Liekinheitin ****
Linda Lampenius, Pete Parkkonen, Antti Riihimäki, Lauri Halavaara, Vilma Alina
As I have hoped and wished both of them in Eurovision for years the expectations were high. This said this is a kind of a song that lives or dies on stage thanks to staging. I hope UMK team has nailed it, otherwise it might be a bit messy. Not so keen on the ich komme style orgasmic finale but the vocals and violin are great. The melody.... well, I feel there's maybe a bit of a hook missing. If Etta stuck on my head right away and I have been humming it ever since I can't quite remember how this goes except a few violin bits.....
Below are some more music by them, enjoy!
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