Ari Koivunen

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Ari Koivunen

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Img_capt =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Ari Mikael Koivunen
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1984|06|07
Died =
Origin = Kouvola, Finland
Instrument = Singing
Genre = Hard Rock, Power Metal
Occupation = Singer
Years_active = 2007–present
Label = Sony BMG (2007–Present)
Associated_acts = Hanna Pakarinen, Ilkka Jääskeläinen, Anna Abreu
URL = [http://www.arikoivunen.fi/ak/index.php Official website]
Current_members =
Past_members =

Ari Mikael Koivunen (born June 7 1984, Kouvola) is a Finnish rock singer who rose to fame as the winner of the third series of the Finnish singing competition "Idols" in 2007. He has since gone on to become one of Finland's most popular and best-selling recording artists.

Biography

Early Life

Koivenen was born in Kouvola, Finland on June 7 1984, and throughout his life, he had a passion for music. In 2005, he won the Finnish Karaoke Championship, and later the same year, he placed third in the World Karaoke Championship. [http://www.kwc.fi/ Karaoke World Championships official Finnish website] ]

"Idols" 2007

In late 2006, Koivunen auditioned for the third season of the Finnish singing competition "Idols", which had had a prolonged break since 2005's second series. Prio to auditioning, he had been working as abartender. His strong and very distinctive voice impressed the panel of judges (Asko Kallonen, Nina Tapio and Jone Nikula) and he was passed through to the next round of the competition. He was then granted a place in the semi-finals, which would allow the public to decide which contestants would make it into the live final rounds. In his semi-final round, Koivunen receieved a massive public vote of 86%, thereby allowing him to breeze through to the live finals.

"Idols" Performances

*Audition: "Full Moon" by Sonata Arctica
*Semi-Finals: "Piano Man" by Billy Joel
*Top 7 Birth Year: "Perfect Strangers" by Deep Purple
*Top 6 Dedications: "The Evil That Men Do" by Iron Maiden
*Top 5 Kings and Queens: "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake
*Top 4 My Idols: "Rock and Roll" by Led Zeppelin
*Top 4 My Idols: "Hunting High and Low" by Stratovarius
*Top 3 Finnish Hits: "You Break My Heart" by Broadcast
*Top 3 Finnish Hits: "Sielut Iskee Tulta" by Kilpi
*Top 2 Grand Final: "Full Moon" by Sonata Arctica
*Top 2 Grand Final: "Black Hole Sun" by Soundgarden
*Top 2 Grand Final: "Still Loving You" by Scorpions
*Top 2 Grand Final: "On Top Of The World" by Ari Koivunen - "Declared 3rd Finnish Idol"

A resident of Lahti, Koivunen breezed into the finals after winning 86% of the public vote for his rendition of Billy Joel's "Piano Man". [http://www.stara.fi/?p=5060 "Ari Koivunen ylivoimaisesti Idols-finaaliin" 9. February 2007. Stara Magazine] ] On the first of March, 2007, Koivunen reserved himself a place in the second round of competition with his version of Deep Purple's " Perfect Strangers". [http://www.ess.fi/Article.jsp?article=135283 1. March 2007 Etelä-Suomen Sanomat] ]

Koivunen moved into the third round of competition on March 8 with his performance of the Iron Maiden classic "The Evil That Men Do". [http://www.iltalehti.fi/idols/200703095837181_id.shtml Iltalehti, 9 March 2007] ]

On the 15th of March, Koivunen made it into the fourth round of competition, singing the Whitesnake hit, "Here I Go Again". Despite some criticism from the judges for singing only heavy metal songs in the finals, Koivunen was unperturbed. "I don't see any reason to consider what people might like, since it seems they like the same thing I do," said Koivunen. [http://www.iltasanomat.fi/viihde/uutinen.asp?id=1336887 Iltasanomat 16.03.2007] ] At the end of the evening, Koivunen, the six other Idols finalists, and three of the semifinalists were presented with gold records for their album "Idols 2007", which sold over 15,000 copies in the two days after its release. [http://www.mtv3.fi/idols Idols Finland] ]

The fourth Idols final was held on March 22, and Koivunen chose to sing, in keeping with the week's theme, two songs by his own idols, the Led Zeppelin hit " Rock and Roll" and "Hunting High and Low" by the Finnish metal band Stratovarius.¹ The judges, however, were not pleased with Koivunen's continuance of the heavy metal line, and gave him an unprecedented four negative reviews. The voting public was of a different opinion, as Koivunen again made it into the next round without being in danger of elimination.

The fifth Idols final was held on March 29, and Koivunen won over the judges completely with his version of the Broadcast ballad "You Break My Heart". For his second song, Koivunen sang the Finnish hit "Sielut iskee tulta" by the heavy metal band Kilpi.¹. With these performances, Koivunen made it to the Idols final which was held on April 6, 2007 in the Helsinki Ice Hall, where he defeated his fellow competitor Anna Abreu by gaining 57% of the public vote. Koivunen sang the Sonata Arctica song "FullMoon" (which he also sang in the auditions), the Soundgarden hit "Black Hole Sun" (chosen by the judges), the Scorpions ballad "Still Loving You" and the song "On the Top of the World" which was composed for the Idols winner.

As his reward for winning Idols 2007, Koivunen received a recording contract with Sony BMG, and an advance payment of 30,000 Euros. His first solo single was "On Top Of the World", the song composed for the Idols winner. he had already sung with the other Idols finalists on the single "Pop-musiikkia"

Post-Idol Career

Koivunen's debut album, "Fuel for the Fire", was officially released on the 30th of May, although the album had already been released for download sale on the 21st of May. The first single from that album, "Hear My Call", was released on May 11th. During the first week of sales "Fuel For The Fire" jumped immediately to the top of the official album chart, and by June 7, 2007 it had already achieved platinum status with over 40,000 albums sold. Koivunen's album is one of the fastest selling records in Finnish music history, with over 10,000 copies sold in the first week of sales. "Fuel For The Fire" remained the number one album in Finland for twelve weeks after its release. The album reached double-platinum status (60,000 units)in October 2007. [http://www.arikoivunen.fi arikoivunen.fi] ]

As the year 2007 came to a close, Koivunen finished his first tour of Finland and joined in the "Raskasta Joulua" (Heavy Christmas) tour.

On June 11, 2008, Ari Koivunen published his second album "Becoming". The album was once again produced by Nino Laurenne and Pasi Heikkilä.

[http://www.myspace.com/arikoivunen MySpace.com - Ari Koivunen - All - Metal / Rock - www.myspace.com/arikoivunen ] ]

Discography

Infobox Artist Discography
Artist = Ari Koivunen
Logo =


Caption =
Studio = 2
Compilation =
Live =
Video =
Music videos = 4
Singles = 6
Option = 2
Option name = B-sides
Option color = crimson
1Option =
1Option name = Other Charted Songs
1Option color = chartreuse
2Option =
2Option name = Collaborations
2Option color = violet
3Option = 2
3Option name = Tours
3Option color = orange
References =
Ref link = Notes and references

The following is a complete discography of every album and single released by Finnish heavy rock/power metal music artist Ari Koivunen.

Albums

ingles

*"On The Top Of The World" (April 06 2007)
*"Hear My Call" (May 28 2007)
*"Fuel For The Fire" (August 27 2007)
*"Angels Are Calling " (2007)
*"Give Me A Reason" (May 5 2008)
*"Tears Keep Falling" (2008)

References

External links

* [http://www.arikoivunen.fi Ari Koivunen's official site.]
* [http://www.arikoivunen.net Ari Koivunen support site.]
* [http://www.myspace.com/arikoivunen Ari Koivunen´s official MySpace page.]
* [http://www.myspace.com/arikoivunennightelves Ari Koivunen´s Night Elves - MySpace Support-page.]
* [http://geocities.com/arisnightelves Ari´s Night Elves - link list / resource-page in English.]