Irina Saari better known by her stage name Irina, 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. Her style is pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 and suomirock. She currently lives in Heinola

Heinola

Heinola is a town and a municipality of inhabitants located in the Province of Southern Finland. Heinola is perhaps best known for its summer activities such as the Sauna-sitting World Championships.-History:...

.

All of the songs on Irina's debut album were written by Toni Wirtanen

Toni Wirtanen

Toni Juhana Wirtanen is a Finnish musician, best known as the vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Apulanta....

 of Apulanta

Apulanta

Apulanta is a Finnish rock band, founded in 1991 when its members were in their mid-teens. Initially playing various forms of rock such as punk, ska, and metal, they soon shifted to a catchier, more radio-friendly style, and have been fluctuating between these extremes and many others since...

 except for the cover song "Katujen kuningatar" ("Queen of the Streets"). For some of the lyrics in the songs, she is noted as a co-writer. For her second album Älä riko kaavaa (Don't Mess With the Formula), Knipi and Ville Pusa contributed to the songwriting in addition to Wirtanen. Irina wrote all of the lyrics for her third album.

In 2005, Irina received Emma awards

Emma-gaala

The Emma-gaala is a Finnish music gala arranged yearly by Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland, awarding the most distinguished artists and music professionals of the year. It has been arranged since 1983, except for the years 1988–1990....

 for best new pop artist of the year and debut album of the year.

Irina has mentioned that her favourite artists are Coldplay

Coldplay

Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

, Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters

Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...

, Sting, Robbie Williams

Robbie Williams

Robert Peter "Robbie" Williams is an English singer-songwriter, vocal coach and occasional actor. He is a member of the pop group Take That. Williams rose to fame in the band's first run in the early- to mid-1990s. After many disagreements with the management and certain group members, Williams...

, Harry Connick Jr., Egotrippi

Egotrippi

Egotrippi is a Finnish pop group, founded in the early 1990s. Among their hits are "Älä koskaan ikinä", which is featured on the soundtrack of the Finnish movie Nousukausi and "Matkustaja", which reached #11 on the Finnish Top 20 and featured on the soundtrack of the movie Kukkia ja sidontaa...

 and Sara.

During her career, Irina has sold over 150,000 certified records in Finland, which places her among the top 30 of the best-selling female soloists in Finland.

Career

Before her first album, Irina was in the music business for about a decade. She toured for six years in a band called Playa, played both in rock bars and nightclubs and sang everything from Finnish pop to rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 and soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

. She was also a member of the so-called therapy band Redux.

In August 2002, her friend Toni Wirtanen asked her to sing a song he wrote for a television series. The song was for the show Juulian totuudet ("Juulia's Truths"). After the project ended, Wirtanen and Irina decided to continue to work together and did the songs "Öiden kruunu" ("The Crown of the Nights") and "Hiirenloukku" ("Mousetrap"). In autumn of the same year, the songwriting continued and out of these songs came Irina's debut album.

The performance of her first album was on 17 March 2005 in Lahti

Lahti

Lahti is a city and municipality in Finland.Lahti is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about north-east of the capital Helsinki...

. The album, Vahva (Strong), came out on 22 March 2004 and it stayed in the Finnish charts for 24 weeks. A gold edition of this album came out in October 2004 which had two previously unreleased songs.

Her second album, Älä riko kaavaa, was released on 26 October 2005. Her third album, Liiba laaba, was released on 28 March 2007 and sold gold.

Band

The members of Irina's band are:

• Antti Pitkäjärvi (keyboards, vocals, guitar)
• Janne Kasurinen (guitar)
• Miika Colliander (guitar)
• Jussi Saxlin (bass, vocals)
• J Salonen (drums)

Albums

• Vahva (22 March 2004)
  • FIN #6; (platinum)
• Älä riko kaavaa (26 October 2005)
  • FIN #5; (platinum)
• Liiba laaba (28 March 2007)
  • FIN #1; (platinum)
• Miten valmiiksi tullaan (14 October 2009)

Singles

• "Juulian totuudet" (2002) (promo)
• "Vastaukset" (23 February 2003)
• "Vahva" (2004)
• "Kuurupiiloa" (2004) (promo)
• "Katujen kuningatar" (2004)
• "Älä sano mitään" (31 August 2005)
• "Hiljaisuus" (25 January 2006)
• "Kymmenen kirosanaa" (2006)
• "Älä riko kaavaa" (2006) (promo)
• "Pokka" (2007) (promo)
• "Miksi hänkin on täällä" (2007)
• "Selkä selkää vasten" (2007) (promo)
• "Liiba laaba" (2008) (promo)
• "Et huomaa" (13 July 2009 - promo)
• "Näe minut tässä" (2009 - promo)
• "Jälki" (2010 - Promo)
• "Kunnon syy (2010)" (feat. Maija Vilkkumaa
  Maija Vilkkumaa
  Maija Johanna Vilkkumaa a Finnish pop rock singer-songwriter. Beginning her musical hobbies playing piano at an age before school, Vilkkumaa studied in high school where she and her friends set up the band Tarharyhmä in 1990, which broke up in 1995...
  
  , 2010)

Music videos

• "Juulian totuudet"
• "Vahva" (directed by: Miika Saksi, assistant director: Tommi Karvinen)
• "Hiljaisuus"
• "Kymmenen kirosanaa"
• "Pokka"
• "Miksi hänkin on täällä"
• "Näe minut tässä" (directed by: Tuukka Temonen)
• "Jälki"

External links

• Official homepage (in Finnish)
• Irina at Myspace
  Myspace
  Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....