Fredi was born in Mikkeli. In 1965 he recorded his first song, "Roskisdyykkarin Balladi" as Folk Fredi. A year later he dropped the Folk name and was simply known as Fredi. Internationally he represented his country at the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 in Vienna, Austria with the song "Varjoon - suojaan" ("Into the shadow--into shelter"), which received three points and finished 12th out of 17. Fredi returned to Eurovision in 1976 at The Hague, Netherlands, with the group Fredi &amp; Friends. Their song "Pump-Pump" received 44 points, finishing 11th out of 18.