Laura

Laura Voutilainen, widely recognized simply as Laura, earned her foremost fame by representing Finland at the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest. Across the 1990s and early 2000s she ranked among her country’s most successful iskelmä artists, repeatedly topping domestic charts. Born in Jyvaskyla in 1975, she started formal musical instruction while still in kindergarten and assembled her own group, Kevytlinja, upon turning 15.

Her recording career opened in 1993 with the single “Muuttanut Oot Maailmain” (You Changed My World), which was promptly followed by “Kerran” (Once). That second release climbed to number one on the Finnish charts and cleared the path for her self-titled debut album the next year, an Emma Award winner. Two years later she issued the sophomore set Kaksi Karttaa (Two Maps); it reached gold status inside three days and earned her a second Emma Award.

After an intense stretch of touring and studio sessions she delivered Lumikuningatar (Snow Queen), her first Christmas album, and supplied the Finnish voice of Meg in Disney’s Hercules. In 1999 she released her fourth album, Etelan Yossa (In the Southern Night), while also hosting the television series Laura Wou!!

Two further years of live work preceded the charting singles “Neonvalot” and “En Mielestain Sua Saa” as well as her fifth studio album, Puolet Sun Auringosta (Half of Your Sun). The following year she entered the Finnish Eurovision semifinals, prevailed, and represented the nation with the bouncy disco single “Addicted to You.” The entry finished twentieth, thereby barring Finland from the subsequent contest. Undaunted, she released her fifth studio album, 2003’s Paivakirja (Diary), which produced another Top Five hit. Her sixth album, Tassa Hetkessa (In This Moment), appeared in 2005, after which she maintained a steady schedule of appearances at the Helsinki Grand Casino throughout the next year.