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 timehomelessness 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, disc jockey and singer in discothèques around Austria, as well as tourist destinationsMajorca 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.
In 1999, he was featured on the single, "Anton aus Tirol" by Anton. The song was a massive hit in German-speaking countries, reaching number-one in Austria and Germany, while it peaked at number two in Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The song spent 75 weeks in the Austrian charts and was number-one for ten weeks. The success of this single propelled the release of the Anton album, Das Album in 2000.
In July 2000, he released a cover version of Bruce Channel's 1962 song "Hey Baby". This single reached number-one in several English-speaking countries, including Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. He followed up this release with a cover version of "Do Wah Diddy".
Continued success
In 2003, he released a cover version of "A Ram Sam Sam", called the "Burger Dance", which reached number-one in Germany, number 3 in Austria and number 7 in Switzerland. In 2006, he found success with the Volksmusik-hit "Sieben Sünden", which became a number 2 hit in Austria and "I Am the Music Man" under the pseudonym DJ Ötzi Junior, which reached number-one in Japan. In 2007, he released "Ein Stern " with Austrian schlager singer Nik P.. It reached number one in where it stayed for 13 weeks and Austria, number 2 in Switzerland, and number 5 in the European Union, despite the fact that at the time of its release, some of the most popular radio stations in Austria and Germany declined to play the song because its genre did not fit their programme style. The single has sold more than 2 million copies. Spending 106 weeks on the German Singles Chart, it is the first song to be on that chart for two years or longer, and the longest running song ever on that chart.
