Hanna Pakarinen
| Hanna Pakarinen | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Hanna Helena Pakarinen |
| Born | April 17, 1981 |
| Origin | Lappeenranta, Finland |
| Genres |
Pop Pop rock Adult Contemporary |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Sony BMG (2004–present) |
| Associated acts | Jani Wickholm, Antti Tuisku, Ilkka Jääskeläinen, Ari Koivunen |
| Website | Official Website |
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. Since then she has represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007 on homeland, and has sold over 91,000 certified records in Finland, which places her among the top 50 best-selling female soloists in her home country.
Hanna was born in Lappeenranta, South Karelia (though she now resides in Helsinki she 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.
In the summer of 2003, a twenty-three-year-old Pakarinen auditioned for the inaugural 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 secured 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.
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