Mies Mauri Antero Numminen (born 12 March 1940 in Somero, Southwest Finland) is a Finnish artist who has worked in several different fields of music and culture.
In the 1960s, Numminen was known particularly as an avantgarde, underground artist, stirring controversy with such songs as Nuoren aviomiehen on syytä muistaa ("What a young husband should remember"; the lyrics of the song were taken directly from a guide to newly married couples, and included advice on foreplay) and Naiseni kanssa eduskuntatalon puistossa ("With my woman at the parliament house's park").
In his early days Numminen often successfully provoked people, for example with his interpretations of Franz Schubert's lieder, sung with his own idiosyncratically creaking voice, or creating a scandal at the Jyväskylän kesä festival of Jyväskylä in 1966 with his song lyrics taken from a sex guide.
He is known for his collaborations with composer and inventor Erkki Kurenniemi who built him a "singing machine" Numminen used to participate in a singing contest in 1964, and the electronic instrument Sähkökvartetti ("the Electric Quartet") in the late 1960s, the performance of which wreaked havoc in a youth festival in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Past members of the band include Aaro Kurkela, Kalevi Viitamäki, Jari Lappalainen and Heikki "Häkä" Virtanen.
As of 2020, the band's line-up consists of Numminen, Uhlenius, accordion player Pedro Hietanen and contrabassist Pekka Sarmanto.