Daði Freyr

Daði Freyr Pétursson (born 30 June 1992), known professionally as Daði Freyr or simply Daði, is an Icelandic musician living in Berlin, Germany. As the frontman of Daði & Gagnamagnið, he was due to represent Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Think About Things", before the event was cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, he represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "10 Years", finishing in fourth place. He performed a cover of Atomic Kitten's "Whole Again" during the intermission of the 2023 competition.
Early life
Daði was born in Reykjavík but grew up in Denmark until the age of nine, then his family moved to Iceland and settled in the Southern Region, first in Laugaland and later in Ásahreppur. Daði graduated from ("College of the Southern Region") in 2012 and received a BA in Music Management and Audio Production in Berlin in 2017.
Music career
In his youth, Daði practiced drums and studied piano and bass guitar. He co-founded the band RetRoBot with his friend Kristján Pálmi. Later, singer Gunnlaugur Bjarnason and guitarist Guðmundur Einar Vilbergsson, whom he had met at the South Iceland Multicultural School, joined the band. In 2012, the band RetRoBot won the Músíktilraunir ("Music Experiments") and Daði was chosen as the best electronic musician of the year. RetRoBot released one album, Blackout, a year later.
Söngvakeppnin and Eurovision
In 2017, Daði participated in Söngvakeppnin (competing to represent Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017) with the song "Is This Love?". In performances, he was supported on stage by a group consisting of his sister Sigrún Birna Pétursdóttir (backing vocalist), wife Árný Fjóla Ásmundsdóttir (dancer), and friends Hulda Kristín Kolbrúnardóttir (backing vocalist), Stefán Hannesson (dancer), and Jóhann Sigurður Jóhannsson (dancer)—known as "Gagnamagnið". Gagnamagnið, while translated to English as "the Data", literally means "the amount of data", and is the Icelandic word for "data plan". They were characterized by their signature teal green sweaters, which have pixel art portraits of themselves printed on them. He came in second place after Svala Björgvinsdóttir, who performed the song "Paper". In June 2019, Daði released his debut album, & Co., an avant-garde pop record that has drawn comparisons to French electronic duo Daft Punk for its retro disco sound.
Daði took part in the 2020 Söngvakeppnin with the song "Think About Things" (the alternate Icelandic version also titled "Gagnamagnið"). As in Söngvakeppnin 2017, he performed with his group Gagnamagnið, now collectively credited as Daði & Gagnamagnið. They won the 2020 Söngvakeppnin competition and were set to represent Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, but the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several countries that would have participated in the 2020 contest held their own alternative competitions, broadcasting the entries and crowning a winner. Daði og Gagnamagnið won six such competitions, in Austria (Der kleine Song Contest), Australia, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. On 23 October 2020, it was announced that Daði & Gagnamagnið would remain as Icelandic representatives at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest. They performed the song "10 Years", but a prerecorded performance from the second rehearsal was broadcast during both their semi-final and the final, due to a member of the group testing positive for COVID-19. Having qualified for the final, they finished fourth, with 378 points. He performed a cover of Atomic Kitten's "Whole Again" as an interval act during the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, held in Liverpool.
Personal life
Daði is married to musician Árný Fjóla Ásmundsdóttir. Their daughter, Áróra Björg, born in 2019, was the inspiration for the lyrics of the song "Think About Things". The couple's second daughter, Kría Sif, was born in 2021.
Daði is tall. He has his own app called "Neon Planets". His father was a bongo player for Katla Maria in Söngvakeppni 1993, and they placed ninth out of ten contestants with the song "Samba".
Discography
Studio albums
EPs
Singles
As featured artist
Remixes
Notes
References
External links
Living people
1992 births
Dadi Freyr
Dadi Freyr
Dadi Freyr
Dadi Freyr
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2020
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2021