Durán, often anglicized as Duran in North America, is the Spanish version of the French surname Durand which originated in Gers near Toulouse, France during the 13th century. The equivalent Portuguese name is Durão.

Places[link]

• Durán, Ecuador
• Duran, Gers, a commune in the Gers department in France
• Duran, a barangay in the municipality of Dumalag, Capiz, in the Philippines

People[link]

• Aaron Duran, American writer and media producer
• Agustín Durán, Spanish scholar
• Alejo Durán, Columbian composer, singer and accordionist
• Alfredo Duran, Cuban-born American lawyer
• Andrea Duran, American softball player
• Andrés Durán, Columbian rock historian, radio broadcaster and producer
• Antonio Durán, Spanish football player and manager
• Arkaitz Durán, Spanish racing cyclist
• Benjamín Durán, Salvadoran footballer
• Blanca Inés Durán Hernández, Columbian politician
• Carolus-Duran, French painter
• Cassius Duran, Brazilian diver
• Crisanta Duran, American politician
• Dan Duran (baseball), baseball player
• Dan Duran (broadcaster), television entertainment journalist and actor
• Desiree Durán, Bolivian model and beauty contestant
• Dianna Duran, American politician
• Diego Durán, 16th century chronicler of the Aztecs
• Dolores Duran, Brazilian singer and composer
• Eduardo "EJ" Duran, Dominican film and music video director
• Elena Duran, Mexican American flautist
• Elvis Duran, American radio host
• Enric Duran, Calatan anticapitalist activist
• Enver Duran, Rector of Trakya University Edirne
• Florencio Durán, President of the Senate of Chile from 1941 to 1944
• Francisco Manuel Durán, Spanish footballer
• Francisco Martin Duran, attempted to assassinate President Clinton in 1994
• Franklin Duran, Venezuelan entrepreneur
• Germán Durán, baseball player
• Germán García Durán, Colombian diplomat
• George Duran, American chef and entertainer
• Gustavo Durán, Spanish composer, soldier and diplomat
• Hilario Durán, Cuban jazz pianist
• Hugo González Durán, Mexican footballer
• Inés García de Durán, Columbian folklorist
• Ivan Duran, Belizian music producer and musician
• Jacob Duran, American cutman
• Jaime González Durán, Mexican drug trafficker
• Jane Duran, Cuban-born poet
• Jeff Duran, radio personality, comedian
• Joaquín Valverde Durán, Spanish composer, conductor and flautist
• John Duran, American politician
• José Durán (b.1947), Spanish boxer
• José Durán (b.1951), Spanish swimmer
• José María Pasquini Durán, Argentine journalist
• Khalid Duran, scholar of the Islamic world
• Lucy Durán, UK-based ethnomusicologist, record producer and radio presenter
• Luís Marcelo Durán, Uruguayan footballer
• Luisa Durán, former First Lady of Chile
• Manuel Agudo Durán, Spanish footballer
• Manuel Garcia-Duran, Spanish businessman
• Massimiliano Duran, Italian boxer
• Narciso Durán, Franciscan friar and missionary
• Profiat Duran, Catalan physician, philosopher, grammarian, and controversialist
• Rafael Durán, Spanish actor
• Roberto Durán, professional boxer
• Roberto Durán (baseball), baseball player born in the Dominican Republic
• Reuben Duran, American mixed martial artist
• Rubén Durán, Spanish footballer
• Salvador Durán, Mexican racing driver
• Sargon Duran, Austrian footballer
• Sergi Durán, Spanish tennis player
• Simeon ben Zemah Duran, Majorcan Rabbinical authority and medic
• Sixto Durán Ballén, former president of Ecuador
• Solomon ben Simon Duran, Algerian rabbi
• Tita Duran, Filipina film actress
• Tony Duran, member of the American band Ruben and the Jets
• Tony Duran (photographer), American photographer

Fictional characters[link]

• Duran (comics), a supervillain in the pages of DC Comics
• Samir Duran, a character in the Starcraft universe

Other[link]

• Duran, a range of borosilicate glass products manufactured by Schott AG and the Duran Group
• Duran Consent Decree, stipulated agreement to Duran v. King court case that resulted in federal oversight of the New Mexico state prison system in 1991
• Duran Duran, an English rock band

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Jenni Vartiainen
Jenni Vartiainen at the 2010 Ilosaarirock
Background information
Birth name	Jenni Mari Vartiainen
Born	(1983-03-20) March 20, 1983 (age 29) Kuopio, Finland
Genres	Pop, folk
Occupations	singer
Instruments	Vocals, piano,[1] Western concert flute,[1] kantele, organ[2]
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Warner Music Finland
Associated acts	Gimmel
Website	www.jennivartiainen.fi

Jenni Mari Vartiainen (born on March 20, 1983, in Kuopio, Finland)^[3] is a Finnish pop singer. Before her professional musical endeavours, she was a figure skater in her teen-age years and attended the Kuopio Senior High of Music and Dance. Vartiainen rose to publicity by winning the Finnish talent show Popstars in October 2002 with Susanna Korvala, Ushma Karnani (currently Olava) and Jonna Pirinen. The four formed the band Gimmel that released three studio albums, sold over 160,000 records^[4] and received three Emma Awards, accolades for outstanding achievements in music, awarded by the Finnish music industry federation, Musiikkituottajat. The band broke up in October 2004.

After Gimmel, Vartiainen started her solo career, releasing her debut single "Tunnoton" in April 2007. In September of the same year, the single was followed by her debut album Ihmisten edessä, which peaked at number six on the Finnish Albums Chart, and its eponymous second single, both of which sold gold in Finland with over 65,000 and 16,000 copies, respectively. In late March 2010, Jenni Vartiainen released her second studio album Seili, after the arrival of its gold-selling debut single "En haluu kuolla tänä yönä". The sophomore album debuted at number one on the Albums Chart, while charting non-consecutively for over a year, and went on to sell over 130,000 copies (multi-platinum), becoming the best-selling album of 2010 in Finland. A combination of pop and ballads, Seili spawned another gold-selling single in August 2010, "Missä muruseni on", which dominated the top-three spots of the Finnish Singles Chart all the way to early 2011, and the gold-selling promotional single "Duran Duran".

Jenni Vartiainen has sold over 250,000 certified records in Finland during her solo career, which places her among the 70 best-selling recording artists of all time in the country.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} She has also received nine Emma Awards and the relatively successful career has also accrued Vartiainen's wealth—she earned almost €71,000 in 2008 from record sales,^[10] €47,000 in 2009^[11] and her company, through which she took care of her finances at the time, was reported to have made a profit of €44,500 in the fiscal year ending in October 2010.^[12]

Early life[link]

Jenni Mari Vartiainen was born on March 20, 1983, in Kuopio.^[3] She started to play classical piano at the age of six and she played it until she was 16,^[13] building her musical skills later on by attending Kuopio Senior High of Music and Dance.^[14] In her teen-age years, Vartiainen was also a figure skater, competing ultimately at Finland's senior level alongside future top Finnish skaters such as Susanna Pöykiö. In the summer of 1999, when she was 16, she was injured during a skating lesson and she developed a spinal disc herniation due to which she had to quit skating.^[15] In the spring of 2002, Vartiainen completed her matriculation examination at the Senior High and moved to Helsinki. She was about to travel abroad, but her plans changed as she saw an advertisement of Popstars, the first Finnish season of the New Zealand-based casting show format.^[15]

Career[link]

2002–2004: Gimmel[link]

In the autumn of 2002, Vartiainen entered Popstars. When interviewed by the magazine City in October 2007, she said she was not very seriously participating in the contest and that it was a "half accident", which led her to "finding herself".^[14] Along with Ushma Karnani (currently Olava), Susanna Korvala and Jonna Pirinen, she won the contest in October and the quartet formed the band Gimmel.^[16] However, Jonna Pirinen left the band after two weeks.^[17] Gimmel's debut single "Etsit muijaa seuraavaa" sold gold with over 17,000 copies in 2002, placing in the top 70 of the best-selling singles of all time in Finland.^[4][8][9] The band's debut album Lentoon (2002) debuted at number one on the Albums Chart,^[18] sold multi-platinum with over 98,000 copies and was the best-selling album of 2002 in Finland.^[19][20] With Lentoon, the band won three Emma Awards in 2003: for New Pop/Rock Artist of the Year, Debut Album of the Year and Best-Selling Album of the Year.^[21] The second album Kaksi kertaa enemmän (2003) peaked at number two on the Albums Chart and managed to sell platinum with over 50,000 copies,^[4][22] but the third album Pisaroita ja kyyneleitä (2004), debuting at number three on the chart, charted for only six weeks and did not exceed the gold limit.^[4][23] During the Gimmel era, Vartiainen studied psychology at an open university.^[14] In the 2007 interview with City, she said that Risto Asikainen, who wrote songs for the band, did not allow the trio inside the studio so that "they would not boss around". Vartiainen thought the decision was right, saying "three different girls have so different opinions" and adding that they were "newbies who knew nothing about anything". Vartiainen also considered Gimmel "a face to other people's project", saying that they could not focus on the content because they did not have time for that.^[14] In an August 2010 interview with Me Naiset, Vartiainen said that she also learned from Gimmel "how it feels like when records don't sell and there are only ten people at a gig", adding that "an artist has to develop all the time and work like a maniac".^[15]

[edit] 2005–2008: Ihmisten edessä

In 2005, Vartiainen signed a record deal with Warner Music Finland. The production of her debut album together with producer Jukka Immonen took so long that Vartiainen ran out of money, which led her to ask for cleaning jobs at Warner studios and ultimately she worked at a company, processing consumer complaints.^[15] Vartiainen's first solo single "Tunnoton" was released in April 2007 and the debut album Ihmisten edessä in September 2007. The album spawned two later singles, "Ihmisten edessä" and "Mustaa kahvia", of which "Ihmisten edessä", dealing with difficulties faced by LGBT people, was the biggest hit, peaking at number two on the Singles Chart and selling gold with over 16,000 copies.^[5] Selling over 61,000 copies and peaking at number six on the Albums Chart, her debut album went on to reach the Finnish platinum certification.^[5] Vartiainen was on the magazine cover for the December 2007 edition of the Finnish Cosmopolitan^[24] and the March 2008 edition of the Mexican Cosmopolitan.^[25] With Ihmisten edessä and its title track, Vartiainen won the Award for Debut Album of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2008 Emma Awards and the album was nominated for Pop Album of the Year.^[26][27]

[edit] 2010–present: Seili and touring break

Vartiainen's second album Seili was released in March 2010 and it charted for 62 non-consecutive weeks on the Albums Chart—with 15 weeks at number one^[28]—and sold over 130,000 copies (multi-platinum),^[5] becoming the best-selling album of 2010 in Finland with sales of 95,000 copies in that year.^[29][30] Three singles were released from Seili, "En haluu kuolla tänä yönä", "Nettiin" and "Missä muruseni on" along with two promotional singles, "Duran Duran" and "Eikö kukaan voi meitä pelastaa?". "En haluu kuolla tänä yönä" and "Missä muruseni on" sold both platinum with over 11,000 copies and 16,000 copies, respectively, while "Duran Duran" sold gold with over 5,400 copies.^[5] "Missä muruseni on" was also the major chart hit from the album, topping the Singles Chart in its fourth week and staying atop for 11 weeks in 2010 and 2011.^[31] Met with mixed to positive critiques, on the one hand for its vocals and combination of pop and dark piano ballads, on the other hand for lack of peculiarity,^{[32][33][34][35]} the album and its singles earned Vartiainen a record-breaking^[36] seven Emma Awards in February 2011; the Awards for Female Soloist of the Year, Live Performer of the Year, Album of the Year, Pop/Rock Album of the Year, Best-Selling Album of the Year, Song of the Year ("En haluu kuolla tänä yönä") and Music Video of the Year ("Missä muruseni on"). In addition, her producer Jukka Immonen won the Award for Producer of the Year.^[37] "Dumbfounded" by her success with Seili, she said in an interview at the Emma Awards that "the way music starts to live its completely own life in the audience after being produced", makes her feel humble.^[38] Vartiainen was also nominated for Best Finnish Act at the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards.^[39] Amid her busy concert tour around Finland in the spring of 2011, she denied some tabloid rumors that she would have canceled interviews due to stress and exhaustion.^[40] In May 2011, she announced she would take a long break after her upcoming summer concerts, to relax and prepare for a new album.^[41] Vartiainen's last concert before the break took place on the Main Stage at the Finnish National Theatre in Helsinki on August 28, with the specialty that the concert was broadcast live at Finnkino film theaters in 11 other localities around Finland, for the first time in the history of the theater.^[42] The tickets to the concert were sold out within a couple of hours.^[43] Due to technical difficulties, the concert could not be broadcast in Lahti and Kuopio.^[44] In an August 2011 interview with the radio station Iskelmä, Vartiainen said she was planning to spend her touring break by graduating as a singing teacher by August 2012.^[45] In late January 2012, Vartiainen was about to perform briefly at a fundraising concert for the presidential campaign of the Green League's Pekka Haavisto, but she was forced to cancel due to high fever and gastroenteritis.^[46]

Personal life[link]

Jenni Vartiainen, who is known for keeping a very low profile on her private life,^[15] was reported on March 28, 2009, to have started a cohabitation with her producer Jukka Immonen.^[47] Since May 2008, he has had a Pumi dog named Urho Kepponen.^[1] In August 2008, Vartiainen bought an apartment worth €400,000 in Laajasalo neighborhood in Helsinki.^[48] During the summer of 2011, Vartiainen was a subject of pregnancy rumors in the media, due to her loose concert outfits, a slightly more rounded belly and the post-summer break the length of which was not specified. Vartiainen's spokesperson Carla Ahonius stated on the rumors to MTV3 that "the record label has nothing to report on the issue" and that "[Vartiainen] will comment on the subject on Facebook if necessary".^[49]

Discography[link]

Jenni Vartiainen in 2008.

• Ihmisten edessä (2007)
• Seili (2010)

Awards and nominations[link]

Emma Awards[link]

MTV Europe Music Awards[link]

See also[link]

• List of best-selling music artists in Finland

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jenni Vartiainen

• Jenni Vartiainen's Official website