He achieved some notoriety outside Finland in 2006 when the music video for his 1978 duet with the late Armi Aavikko, "Tahdon olla sulle hellä", sung in English as "I Wanna Love You Tender", became an internet meme.

[1] Designed as a loose parody of the hit film Grease, the video's choreography was apparently intended to be "erotic and tantalizing" but in the eyes of many it principally succeeded in being hilarious.

He started his career with the band Islanders who released a couple of singles, among them Danny's first recording which was in English: East Virginia by Joan Baez in 1964.

During his national service Danny switched to his native Finnish and recorded two hits, "Kauan" ("Downtown" by Petula Clark) and "Piilopaikka" ("You've Got Your Troubles," originally by The Fortunes).

During the 1960s, he recorded a number of hits, among them "Kesäkatu" (Loving Spoonful's "Summer in the City"), "Vähän ennen kyyneleitä" ("El angel de la guarda"), "Tuuliviiri", "Rebecca" and "Se eikö todista että muutuin" ("If I Promise").