| Name | Tarja Turunen |
|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
|---|
| Birth name | Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen |
|---|
| Born | August 17, 1977Kitee, Finland |
|---|
| Instrument | Vocals, piano, drums, tranverse flute |
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| Genre | Symphonic rock, symphonic metal, classical, classical crossover |
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| Occupation | Singer-songwriter, musician |
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| Years active | 1995–present |
|---|
| Label | Universal, Spinefarm, Nuclear Blast, Roadrunner, NEMS Enterprises, Century Media, Drakkar Entertainment |
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| Associated acts | Nightwish, Beto Vázquez Infinity, Adrián Barilari, Noche Escandinava |
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| Url | tarjaturunen.com |
|---|
Tarja Turunen () (born 17 August 1977), full name
Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen Cabuli, is a Finnish
singer-songwriter and
composer, an operatic, full
lyric soprano. Her work includes three solo albums, and an 11 song EP. She is best known as an original member and the former lead vocalist of Finnish
symphonic metal band
Nightwish, founded by herself,
Tuomas Holopainen and
Erno Vuorinen in 1996. She was dismissed from the band on October 21, 2005.
In 2006, Turunen released her first independent album, a Christmas project called Henkäys Ikuisuudesta, with a support classical tour between November 25 and December 26 in Finland and Russia. In 2007, Turunen released My Winter Storm, an album with various styles, including alternative rock and symphonic metal;, the Storm World Tour, between 2007 and 2009. Turunen's third album, What Lies Beneath, was released on September 1, 2010, and between June and August Turunen performed several concerts in Europe, playing in famous metal festivals including the Graspop Metal Meeting and the Wacken Open Air, with more dates expected to be confirmed in the near future. She now Collected over 50 platinum and gold certificacion (with her solo career and Nightwish) and sold more than 5.2 million copies worldwide.
Personal life
Born in
Kitee, Finland, Turunen grew up with an older and a younger brother. She began playing the piano when she was six. At the comprehensive school, Turunen was notorious for performing as a singer in every project. Her teacher Plamen Dimov later explained that he had to give Turunen just one note, she immediately got it, while with other – nevertheless talented – pupils he would have had to practice a couple of times. At the school she had a tough time, for some girls bullied her because they envied her voice. To solve that problem, Dimov organized a lot of projects outside the school. At the age of fifteen Turunen had her first bigger appearance as a soloist on a church concert in front of a thousand listeners. Thus Turunen as a founding member was at the same time influential on the musical style of Nightwish.
In April 1997 Nightwish recorded a second demo with "more bombastic, dramatic" songs, with which Holopainen could finally convince the Finnish label Spinefarm Records to publish the debut album Angels Fall First. The success of the first album came as a surprise to everyone. As the album hit the top 40 of the Finnish charts, Nightwish started a first tour (The First Tour of the Angels). Due to her commitment in the band Turunen soon was not able to concentrate sufficiently on her academic activities anymore and finally interrupted her academic studies.
In the year 1998 Nightwish published their second album Oceanborn. This album lacked the earlier elements of folk music and ambience, instead focusing on Turunen's dramatic voice and including fast, melodious keyboard and guitar lines. Secondary to the Oceanborn Europe Tour Turunen sang solo in Waltari's rock-themed 1999 ballet Evankeliumi (also known as Evangelicum) in several sold-out performances at the Finnish National Opera. In 2000 and 2001 Nightwish recorded Wishmaster and Over the Hills and Far Away and toured Europe and South America (Wishmaster World Tour). Turunen met her husband and manager, Marcelo Cabuli, during a tour in Buenos Aires in 2000.
After that she enrolled in the German Music University Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe to gain a professional qualification as a soloist with further specialization in Art song. The reasons to go to Karlsruhe, were on the one hand the good reputation of the university, on the other, her increased awareness level in Finland and the fact that in the Finnish university some people did not take her seriously as a classical singer due to her commitment in a metal band. At Karlsruhe in contrast, she was accepted as a classical singer who sings in a metal band too. In particular, her professors did not think of it as a flaw. While there, she recorded vocals for Nightwish's 2002 album Century Child and for Beto Vázquez Infinity. As with the other albums before Holopainen wrote the pieces and then sent Turunen the lyrics and a demo recording of the prerecorded instrumental tracks by mail. With the help of the demo recording, Turunen designed her vocal lines and the choral passages to the melody. and started the supporting Once Upon a Tour throughout 2004 and 2005.
For Christmas 2004, Turunen released the (solo) single "Yhden Enkelin Unelma" (One Angel's Dream), which sold gold in her native country, Finland. At Christmas 2005, it made a reentry at position one in the Finnish Charts. For the spring of 2005, she prepared a collaboration with Martin Kesici, the duet "Leaving You for Me", accompanied by a video.
Breakup
, Finland, on June 25, 2005.]]
The first change in the line up of Nightwish was in September 2001, when Sami Vänskä was asked to leave the band because his long-time friend Tuomas Holopainen was no longer able to continue working with him.
Another change was on the way, when in the following years the relationship between Tuomas Holopainen and Turunen's husband and manager Marcelo Cabuli deteriorated and affected the relationship between Holopainen and Turunen too. On December 2004 Turunen announced to the bandmembers that she wanted to leave the band after one more album (planned for 2006/2007) and the subsequent tour. According to her husband, Turunen had agreed to release her first solo album after the new studio album from Nightwish. After the last concert of the Once Upon a Tour on October 21, 2005 (End of an Era) Holopainen gave her a letter that was signed by the other band members too. With that letter, she was informed that the band did not want to work with her anymore. This letter was at the same time published on the website of the band. In this letter Turunen was criticized for too often having skipped the rehearsals and to have behaved like a diva. Her husband was considered responsible for her behavior too. Turunen responded through an open letter, which was posted on her website and some interviews in which she explained her view. She was especially concerned about the fact that after nine years of working together Holopainen had not found another way than to announce the separation by an open letter. She explained that she could not find herself in the allegations, and asked to keep her husband out of the debate. Because of the continuing media interest Marcelo Cabuli posted a message to her website in February 2006, addressing the situation, and asked for anyone who had questions to email him. Cabuli then posted a lengthy reply to many of the questions he had received in June 2006.
Despite the circumstances of the separation, the artistic appreciation remained. Holopainen explained that he did not search for a similarly trained singer as a successor for Turunen because in her way of singing she is extraordinarily good and therefore not replaceable. He also said that one day he would like to reestablish the friendship. In October 2007, Turunen said in an interview that she is very proud of her career with Nightwish, that she considers the remaining band members as extremely talented and that she wishes all the best for Nightwish.
Independent career
In December 2005, Turunen performed several Christmas concerts in Finland, Germany, Spain and Romania. Since Turunen expected to participate in another Nightwish album, there were just several Christmas concerts and the release of her Christmas album
Henkäys Ikuisuudesta (Finnish for "breath of eternity") scheduled for 2006. She made an appearance as soloist at the
Savonlinna Opera Festival. In November she performed the charity concert “Tomorrow's Child” with the Tapiola Choir, in favor of the
UNICEF Children's Fund. She was nominated for the Finnish
Emma Award as Best Soloist of 2006. She recorded vocals for her brother Timo Turunen's debut album.
On September 17, Turunen's solo dates were announced across Europe in Berlin, London, Moscow, Budapest, Athens, Cologne, Paris, Amsterdam and Zurich.
In October 2007 a street team endorsed by Universal Music and Spinefarm UK was launched for Turunen through UK-based company Worst Decision. The team's aim is to help promote Turunen's upcoming single, album and tour with the help of dedicated fans, the most dedicated of which will be eligible to receive free gifts for their work. While aimed mainly at the UK market, it was hoped that members from all over the world would join to help spread the word about Turunen throughout the UK, Europe and around the world.
Turunen's first independent album, My Winter Storm, was released in November 2007 and achieved gold status in Finland on its day of release. The album took the number 1 spot on the Finnish charts, went platinum in Finland and Russia. My Winter Storm has achieved gold in Hungary and in the Czech Republic. Turunen sings on the track "In The Picture" on Nuclear Blast Allstars' album Into The Light, 2007.
In late 2007 Turunen was nominated for two awards, an Echo as best newcomer and an Emma for best Finnish artist. She was confirmed to headline day one of the 2008 Metal Female Voices Fest in Wieze, Belgium. On May 9, 2008, Turunen embarked on a long European tour to promote My Winter Storm, Storm Tour. She chose to open the tour by performing at Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig, Germany. Turunen has told fans via her My Winter Storm blog that she is relocating to Antigua to work with the same producer as before, and that she has many ideas for her third album, currently in progress.
In July 2008, she announced two tracks in the My Winter Storm blog: "The Crying Moon" for the new album, and "Enough", for one special edition of My Winter Storm. In August 2008 she played "Enough" in her Storm Tour, in South America 2008. On September 10, 2008, a Spinefarm UK representative announced that they would be releasing an EP for Turunen on December 1 which would include new material. In December 2008, the EP The Seer was released in the U.K. and the new extended edition of My Winter Storm released on January 2, 2009.
On November 18, the Finnish charity Christmas album Maailman kauneimmat joululaulut (Finnish for "The World's Most Beautiful Christmas Songs") was released, containing three songs featuring Turunen's vocals. In December 2009 she recorded her part of the duet with Klaus Meine which is part of the final Scorpions album Sting in the Tail. The song is called "The Good Die Young".
Turunen recorded her third album, What Lies Beneath, between 2009 and 2010 and it was released on September 1, 2010. The first single, "Falling Awake", was released on July 19. The second single, "I Feel Immortal", was released on August 27, 2010, and a music video for it has already been uploaded to YouTube. Another single, "Until My Last Breath", was released on August 30 with an accompanying video released on September 24, 2010.
Singing style
Parallel to visiting the music school in Savonlinna, Tarja Turunen began her classical vocal training at the age of 15. Her singing teacher trained her in the
vocal range soprano. After school, she began studying music (with specialization in singing and piano) at the
Sibelius Academy. Due to her commitment with Nightwish she had to interrupt her academic studies.
From 2001 to 2003 she studied at the Music Academy Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe where she was trained as a soloist with further specialization in Lied. Turunen originally applied for a choir singer training, however at the audition she aroused the attention of professor Mitsuko Shirai. Shirai immediately realized that Turunen put much feeling in the vocals, therefore she encouraged Turunen to apply for a soloist training.
As a classical singer Turunen always sings with classical technique. She explained that in the beginning of Nightwish it was difficult, to combine classical vocal technique with metal sound in a way that on the one hand she had liberty of action and on the other hand her vocal chords did not get damaged. The classical technique helped her to play with her voice therfore she decided not to take extra training in rock/pop singing.
Towards the turn of the millennium the combination of hard and fast guitar riffs with classical female lead vocals attracted a great deal of attention in the metal scene. The new music style of Nightwish quickly aroused enthusiasm by critics and audience. This symphonic metal style soon was being labeled as Opera Metal. The term "Opera Metal" is misleading in respect to the fact that Turunen does not see herself as an opera singer. She already sang excerpts from operas at the Savonlinna Opera Festival but she stresses that singing opera can not be performed as a side project and that she would have to train her voice to perfectly sing an entire opera without a microphone. Sometimes it is stated that her voice is too trained or operatic for metal music, but even critics who do not like classical voices admit that her voice suits the kind of metal songs she sings unusually well.
Until the end of the cooperation Turunen was the trademark of Nightwish, while band leader Holopainen was the soul, Turunen was seen as a key to Nightwish's success. She is respected and is hugely influential to other metal bands and singers in the genre. For instance, Simone Simons names her as her inspiration to study classical music and apply that style vocally to a metal band.
The media closely covered the very public separation from Nightwish, and Turunen's character became a subject of many media discussions. The band members stated that she had become greedy.
Marcelo Cabuli answered fans questions related to this topic, stating that the band had agreed on the distribution of earnings in a contract at the formation of Nightwish. Based on that contract, other members got a higher share of royalties, which Turunen has never aggrieved.
Turunen receives most of her media attention in her homeland of Finland. In December 2003 she was invited by Finnish president Tarja Halonen to celebrate the Finnish Independence Day in the presidential palace together with other local celebrities. The event was televised for 2 million Finnish viewers by the Finnish television station Yle. In December 2007 she performed different versions of the Finnish national anthem Maamme (Finnish: "Our country") accompanied by the Tapiola Sinfonietta to celebrate the 90th Anniversary of Finnish independence. The concert was televised live by the Finnish television station Yle.
In Europe her popularity is mainly limited to the hard rock and metal scene. She had a broader exposure on 30 November 2007, when she was invited to open the farewell fight of Regina Halmich with her performance of "I Walk Alone" televised live by the German television station ZDF for 8.8 million viewers.
Live performances
at August 6, 2010.]]
Tarja performed live for the first time at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Savonlinna, Finland, in 1996, singing songs from
Richard Wagner e
Verdi. Since 1997 she toured the World beside Nightwish playing in all the continents, except
Africa. With Nightwish, Turunen played in some of the most important
heavy metal festivals, like
Wacken Open Air,
Lowlands Festival,
Download Festival and
Tuska Open Air. In her solo career she mainly performs at metal festivals like
Metal Female Voices Fest,
Gods of Metal or
Wacken Open Air.
Turunen is famous as a metal singer, but she still has her classical career; every year Turunen plays a Christmas tour in Finland, occasionally with dates in Russia, but in 2005 Turunen hosted some classical concerts in some European countries. In 2006, she played a successful tour in Finland, singing several songs from Finnish culture, and singing songs like "Walking in the Air", "Ave Maria" and "You Would Have Loved This". On December 6, 2006, Turunen performed a big concert at the Sibelius Hall in Lahti, Finland; it was live broadcasted by the Finnish channel YLE TV2 for 450,000 viewers.
In July 2006, Turunen played again at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, at that time as the main act; Turunen sung beside the Finnish tenor Raimo Sirkiä and was supported by the Kuopio Symphonic Orchestra. Turunen performed classical arias like "O mio babbino caro" by Puccini, and some songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber, e.g. "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "Phantom of the Opera", among other songs.
Discography
Henkäys Ikuisuudesta (2006)
My Winter Storm (2007)
What Lies Beneath (2010)
References
External links
Official homepage
Tarja Turunen microsite at
Universal Music Group
Category:1977 births
Category:1990s singers
Category:2000s singers
Category:2010s singers
Category:Living people
Category:People from Kitee
Category:Female metal singers
Category:Finnish female singers
Category:Finnish heavy metal singers
Category:Finnish singer-songwriters
Category:Finnish sopranos
Category:Nightwish members
![Jyväskylä (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈjyvæsˌkylæ]) is a city and municipality located in Central Finland, 147 kilometres (91 mi) north-east of Tampere and 270 kilometres (170 mi) north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. It is the capital of Central Finland. The site of many education-related firsts in Finland, Jyväskylä is known as a city of schools, the Athens of Finland. It is also famous for its many buildings designed by Alvar Aalto. The city hosts Neste Oil Rally Finland, which](http://web.archive.org./web/20110510070419im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/c1/61/89a10305160d3c996388a482f095_grande.jpg "Jyväskylä (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈjyvæsˌkylæ]) is a city and municipality located in Central Finland, 147 kilometres (91 mi) north-east of Tampere and 270 kilometres (170 mi) north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. It is the capital of Central Finland. The site of many education-related firsts in Finland, Jyväskylä is known as a city of schools, the Athens of Finland. It is also famous for its many buildings designed by Alvar Aalto. The city hosts Neste Oil Rally Finland, which")
![Jyväskylä (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈjyvæsˌkylæ]) is a city and municipality located in Central Finland, 147 kilometres (91 mi) north-east of Tampere and 270 kilometres (170 mi) north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. It is the capital of Central Finland. The site of many education-related firsts in Finland, Jyväskylä is known as a city of schools, the Athens of Finland. It is also famous for its many buildings designed by Alvar Aalto. The city hosts Neste Oil Rally Finland, which](http://web.archive.org./web/20110510070419im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/c1/61/89a10305160d3c996388a482f095_thumb.jpg "Jyväskylä (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈjyvæsˌkylæ]) is a city and municipality located in Central Finland, 147 kilometres (91 mi) north-east of Tampere and 270 kilometres (170 mi) north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. It is the capital of Central Finland. The site of many education-related firsts in Finland, Jyväskylä is known as a city of schools, the Athens of Finland. It is also famous for its many buildings designed by Alvar Aalto. The city hosts Neste Oil Rally Finland, which")
