DJ Ötzi

Early life

DJ Ötzi was born as Gerhard Friedle in St. Johann, Tirol, and is the son of DJ Anton Friedle. Shortly after birth, his mother, age 17-years at the time, gave him up for adoption. He was raised by foster parents and later by his paternal grandparents in the nearby village of Erpfendorf in Tirol. At a young age he suffered from epilepsy, at age 16, his avulsion from home, landed him for a short time homelessness living on the streets. His career arose gradually, first working as a student cook, then on being discovered at a karaoke competition, went on to work as an entertainer (animateur), disc jockey and singer in discothèques around Austria, as well as tourist destinations Majorca and Turkey. Since childhood, he has endured several setbacks in his life, which continued in recent years with doctors diagnosing testicular cancer, that he defeated, only to be confronted in 2002, before the birth of his daughter, with a severe form of conductive hearing loss.

Musical career

His first song, which propelled his career in 1999, titled "Anton aus Tirol", became a successful hit in the German-speaking regions. The song remained No. 1 in the Austrian Charts for 75 weeks, followed soon after by "Hey Baby" in the English-speaking regions, a cover version of Bruce Channel's 1962 song.

He released a cover version of "A Ram Sam Sam", called the "Burger Dance", which peaked No. 1 in Germany and No. 3 in Austria.

In 2006 he found success with the Volksmusik-hit "Sieben Sünden", which became a No. 2 hit in Austria and "I Am the Music Man" under the pseudonym DJ Ötzi Junior, which peaked at No. 1 in Japan.

DJ Ötzi's stage name comes from Ötzi the Iceman, the name given to the 5,300-year-old frozen remains of a mummified man discovered 1991 in South Tyrol's Ötztal Alps.

He is one of the most successful Austrian musicians (having sold ~15 million records), together with Udo Jürgens (~100 million records), Falco (~60 million records) and Peter Alexander.