Hanna Pakarinen

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Hanna Pakarinen


Img_capt =
Img_size =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Hanna Helena Pakarinen
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1981|4|17
Died =
Origin = Lappeenranta, Finland
Instrument = Vocals
Genre = Pop Pop rock Adult Contemporary
Occupation = Singer, Songwriter
Years_active = 2004–present
Label = Sony BMG (2004–present)
Associated_acts = Jani Wickholm, Antti Tuisku, Ilkka Jääskeläinen, Ari Koivunen
URL = [http://www.hanna-pakarinen.com/en Official Website] [http://www.myspace.com/hannapakarinen Official MySpace]
Current_members =
Past_members =

Hanna Helena Pakarinen (born April 17, 1981 in Lappeenranta, Finland) is a Finnish pop and pop rock singer who rose to fame as the winner of the first series of the Finnish singing competition "Idols" in 2004. Her notority throughout the rest of Europe grew considerably in 2007, when she participated in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Biography

Early life

Hanna was born in Lappeenranta, Eastern Finland (though she now resides in Helsinki she and still proudly speaks the local dialect of the region. Throughout her early twenties she worked as a forklift driver, an unusual occupation for a female, and was part of a local Finnish band named Rained.

"Idols" Series 1

In the summer of 2003, a twenty-three-year-old Pakarinen auditioned for the inaugral season of the Finnish singing competition "Idols" in the country's capital, Helsinki. Her powerful and emotion-filled vocals impressed the panel of judges and she was unanimously passed through to the next round of the contest, before making it through to the live finals. From the outset of the live shows, Pakarinen was considered a hot favourite to win. She received consistent high praise from the judges, and on one occasion she was even hugged by one of them. On numerous occasions they described her as, "the first "real" singer in the competition".

On January 3 2004, Pakarinen secutred a place in the top two grand finale of the contest, alongside Jani Wickholm. During the finale, broadcast a week later on January 9, Pakarinen performed Tina Turner's "The Best", the Bangles' "Eternal Flame" and the coronation song made especially for the "Idols" winner, "Tulin Voittamaan ("I Came to Win")". She also made an English version of the song titled "Love is Like a Song". Later that night, it was announced that Pakarinen had secured 60% (or 413,000) of the viewers' votes, thereby defeating runner-up Jani Wickholm, who had received 40% (or 282,000) of the public vote. Pakarinen was crowned as the first Finnish Idol and was given an advanced payment of €30,000, along with a recording contract with Sony BMG.

Post-"Idols" Career

2004-2005: "When I Become Me"

Immediately after winning "Idols", Pakarinen signed a recording contract with Sony BMG and she released her debut single "Love Is Like A Song", which debuted at number one on the Finnish singles chart, a position it held for four non-consecutive weeks. Her debut album "When I Become Me" was released in June 2004, five months after her win on "Idols", and debuted at number two on the Finnish albums chart. Although it held the number two spot for a total of five weeks and stayed within the top five for ten weeks, the album did not manage to reach the number one position. However, it was still a huge success and to date has been cerified double platinum for the sale of 60,000 copies in Finland alone. Although a second single was not released commercially from the album, the songs "Heaven", "Fearless", "How Can I Miss You" and the title track "When I Become Me" were released as promotional singles in order to support the album, with "How Can I Miss You" becoming Pakarinen's first music video. Pakarinen also embarked on her first nationwide tour as a recording artist named the "When I Become Me Tour", which received excellent reviews and sold out at every venue.

2005-2006: Stronger

In the late summer of 2005, Pakarinen returned to the music scene with her second commercial single "Kiss Of Life", which would serve as the first single to be taken from her sophomore album "Stronger". The song debuted and peaked at number four on the Finnish singles chart, and when the album was released in September, it (like her first album) debuted and peaked at number two. "Stronger" was not as successful as her first album, falling to number ten within its first two weeks, however it still managed to sell 25,000 copies to be certified gold. The songs "Stronger Without You" and "Damn You" were chosen as promotional singles, the first of which was accompanied by a music video. To further support the album, Pakarinen travelled across Finland on her "Stronger Tour", performing many songs from the new album as well as several from her previous record.

2007: "Lovers" and Eurovision

In January 2007, after a short break from the music industry, Pakarinen released the song "Go Go" as a promotional single from her highly anticipated third studio album. The song was accompanied by a music video which became extremely popular, and when "Lovers", the third album was released on February 14, it debuted at number three on the chart. Although it placed lower than her previous record, "Lovers" went on to become more successful in terms of sales and weeks spent on the albums chart. It was certified platinum and has to date sold 45,000 copies in Finland alone. The album also marked Pakarinen's personal debut as a songwriter. She is credited on six of the album's eleven original tracks.

On February 17, 2007, it was announced that Pakarinen had been chosen to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki with the song "Leave Me Alone", the first commercial single from her new album and her third commercial single overall. During the live finals, the song received 53 points and finished in 17th place. However, the contest allowed Pakarinen to gain a much wider European audience, and "Leave Me Alone" and its music video became very popular, especially in Sweden. Here, the song topped the radio chart for three consecutive weeks and peaked at number eight on the Swedish singles chart. In the UK, the song charted at number one-hundred-and-twenty-two on downloads. Back home in Finland, the song peaked at number eleven.

Following the Eurovision Song Contest, Pakarinen returned to her music and embarked upon her "Lovers Tour", again playing to sell-out audiences and receiving rave reviews for her powerful voice and stunning stage performances. On October 17 2007, she appeared on the soundtrack of the Finnish movie "Musta Jää". Pakarinen sang the title song "Black Ice", for which she made a music video to promote the movie.

2008-Present: Upcoming Fourth Studio Album

Since mid-2007, Pakarinen has been writing and recoding material for her as-yet untitled fourth studio album. Although few details have been revealed, Sony BMG have announced that the record will be released in either the last quarter of 2008 or the first quarter of 2009.

Discography

Infobox Artist Discography
Artist = Hanna Pakarinen
Logo =


Caption =
Studio = 3
Compilation =
Live =
Video =
Music videos = 5
Singles = 12
Option = 3
Option name = B-sides
Option color = crimson
1Option =
1Option name = Other Charted Songs
1Option color = chartreuse
2Option = 1
2Option name = Collaborations
2Option color = violet
3Option = 3
3Option name = Tours
3Option color = orange
References =
Ref link = Notes and references

The following is a complete discography of every album and single released by Finnish pop/pop rock music artist Hanna Pakarinen.

Albums

as Guest Musican

*2007 feat. Eicca Toppinen the song "Black Ice" from "Musta Jää" (Black Ice) soundtrack.
*2007 feat. Michelle Darkness the song Love Will Tear Us Apart from the Album Brand new Drug. [http://www.stormbringer.at/reviews.php?id=2081]
*2008 feat. Apocalyptica the song S.O.S (Anything But Love) live at Emma-gaala on 8 March 2008.

Album Track Listings

"When I Become Me" (2004)

# "When I Become Me" (Sarin) - 5:03
# "Run" (Elofsson/Thornally/Venge/Wennerberg) - 3:12
# "Fearless" (Finneide/Rydningen/Ziggy) - 3:21
# "How Can I Miss You" (Röhr/Swede) - 3:59
# "Ejected" (Asikainen) - 3:42
# "Love's Run Over Me" (Asikainen) - 4:44
# "Don't Hang Up" (Nylén/Rose) - 3:51
# "Save My Life Tonight" (Fridh/Leonard) - 4:25
# "Sorry" (Björk/Malm/Eklund) - 3:46
# "Heaven" (Adams/Vallance) - 3:53
# "Superhero" (Finneide/Eide) - 3:42
# "Love Is Like A Song" (Elofson/Kolehmainen/Lipp) - 4:02

"Stronger" (2005)

# "Out Of Tears" (Aldeheim/Leonard) - 3:25
# "Stronger Without You" (Landin/Larsson/Junior) - 3:27
# "Wasted" (Elofson/Kvint/Lindvall) - 3:32
# "Falling Again" (Eklund/Björk/Malm) - 3:42
# "Tears In Your Eyes" (Eriksson/Molin/Funemyr) - 3:55
# "We Don't Speak" (Hansson) - 3:41
# "Damn You" (Ringqvist/Gibson) - 4:17
# "Kiss Of Life" (Johansson/Lipp) - 4:00
# "Paralyzed" (Eriksson/Björk) - 3:57
# "One Way Or The Other" (Björk/Eklund/Krabbe) - 3:18
# "Run (Acoustic Studio Jam 2005)" (Elofsson/Thornally/Venge/Wennerberg) - 3:56 [Bonus Track]

"Lovers" (2007)

# "It Ain't Me" (Magnusson/Rämström/Vuorinen) - 3:35
# "Go Go" (Lofts/Wermerling) - 3:03
# "Leave Me Alone" (Vuorinen/Huttunen/Pakarinen) - 3:34
# "Tell Me What To Do" (Kurki/Pakarinen) - 3:53>
# "You Don't Even Know My Name" (Laine/Vuorinen) - 3:43
# "Heart Beating Steady" (Kurki/Pakarinen) - 3:24
# "Tears You Cry" (Korkeamäki/Kettunen) - 3:05
# "Free" (Kurki/Pakarinen) - 3:33
# "It Ain't Gonna Happen" (Korkeamäki/Pakarinen/Kettunen) - 3:09
# "Lovers" (Laiho/Kurki/Pakarinen) - 3:48
# "Hard Luck Woman" (Rake) - 4:18
# "Stronger Without You" (Landin/Larsson/Junior) - 3:27 [Bonus Track]
# "Love Is Like A Song" (Elofson/Kolehmainen/Lipp) - 4:02 [Bonus Track]

External links

* [http://www.hanna-pakarinen.com/ Hanna Pakarinen's official website]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhZjh1EHPWo Video of song "Leave me alone"]
* [http://ice-pearls.net/hanna Hanna Pakarinen's fanlisting]
* [http://www.freewebs.com/hanna-pakarinen1/ Hanna Pakarinen's Fan Site]