Terttu Anneli Orvokki Saaristo (born 15 February 1949, Jokioinen

Jokioinen

Jokioinen is a municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Tavastia Proper region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water...

) is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 singer and actress, best known internationally for her participation in the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

.

Early career

Saaristo spent the 1970s performing in singing competitions and worked as a dance orchestra singer. Her first album was released in 1980.

Eurovision Song Contest

Saaristo first entered the Finnish Eurovision selection in 1978 with the song "Sinun kanssasi, sinua ilman", which finished fourth. A second attempt in 1984 with "Sä liian paljon vaadit" ended in third place. Saaristo finally got her chance in 1989, when "La dolce vita

La Dolce Vita (song)

"La dolce vita" was the Finnish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1989, performed in Finnish by Anneli Saaristo...

" was chosen as the Finnish entry for the 34th Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 1989

The Eurovision Song Contest 1989 was the 34th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 6 May 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland. Switzerland gained the hosting rights after Celine Dion's victory in Dublin the previous year. The presenters were Lolita Morena and Jacques Deschenaux. Riva was the winner of...

, held in Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 on 6 May. A song with a distinctly Mediterranean sound and arrangement, "La dolce vita" finished in seventh place of 22 entries, representing Finland's best Eurovision placing for 14 years and making it at the time the country's joint second-highest placement. There was some degree of wry amusement in Finland that this had been achieved with such an un-Finnish sounding song.

Later career

Saaristo maintained her popularity in Finland and since 1980 has released 18 albums, most recently Uskalla Rakastaa in 2009. In 2005, she appeared in the historical film Shadow of the Eagle with Mikko Leppilampi

Mikko Leppilampi

Mikko Johannes Leppilampi is a Finnish actor and musician who is the son of Jukka Leppilampi , a Finnish gospel musician. Leppilampi is considered to be one of the most promising stars of Finland's movie industry in the new millennium...

, Helena Vierikko

Helena Vierikko

Helena Vierikko , is a Finnish actress.She starred in the 2005 film Kaksipäisen kotkan varjossa working with actors such as Mikko Leppilampi and Vesa-Matti-Loiri and director Timo Koivusalo....

 and fellow Eurovision veteran Vesa-Matti Loiri

Vesa-Matti Loiri

Vesa-Matti "Vesku" Loiri is a Finnish actor, musician and comedian, best known for his role as Uuno Turhapuro, whom he portrayed in a total of 20 movies between the years 1973 and 2004....

.

External links

• Official website (Finnish - includes albums discography at page 'Levytykset')