- Taina Kokkonen
Taina Kokkonen (b.
15 May ,1975 inVantaa nearHelsinki ,Finland ) is a former award-winning Finnishsinger .She has performed on Italian TV, in
Brussels , and inArgentina andUruguay as part of the Tango 2000 educational tour.She first tried for the prestigious
Tangomarkkinat competition in 1995, but did not reach the semifinals. In 1996 she got through the Raisio semifinals and was one of the 10 best. She rather frightened herself with her success:"I was in a great panic. I thought, do I really want this? . . . . I secretly hoped I wouldn't get any further. I have watched my performance on video and it shows how inexperienced I was." (Nyman, p. 175)
She did not however reach the Seinäjoki finals, and
Saija Varjus became Tango Queen. Taina's third attempt was in 1998, when she reached the finals and became Tango Princess, losing the winning place toKirsi Ranto . After a record four attempts, she finally became Tango Queen in 1999.In 2002, taking advantage of the new rule that songs may be in any language, she composed an Italian-language entry for the
Eurovision Song Contest . This was Silenzio, and was performed byPertti Haverinen ; but it was not selected, and the Finnish entry for that year was the English-language "Addicted to You", sung by Laura, which came 20th with 24 points.In the spring of 2003 Taina announced that she was retiring from show business, saying that she wished to leave when at her peak. She moved to Italy, and in 2007 announced her engagement to Cemo Tinuel, and that the couple had moved back to Vantaa (Source: Iltalehti, 05/07/2007).
Taina Kokkonen the singer is not the same person as Taina Kokkonen the printmaker whose website is http://www.tainakokkonen.net.
Discography
* 2000 Vain taivas tietää
* 2001 Täätä ikuisuuteen
* 2003 20 hittiä (reissue)ources
* Marja Nyman, Tangokuninkaalliset, Revontuli 2002, ISBN 952-5170-27-6
* Tony Latva and Petri Tuunainen, Iskelmän tähtitaivas, WSOY 2004, ISBN 951-0-27817-3
* Asko Murtomäki, Finland 12 points!, Teos 2007, ISBN 978-951-851-106-2External links
* [http://www.tangomarkkinat.fi/english/etusivu/htm Tangomarkkinat]
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