Lea Laven 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...

 pop singer.

Laven grew up in meager circumstances in the small town of Haukipudas: she began singing in shows while in school and as a teenager began participating in talent competitions. After completing her schooling she lived for a time in Sweden where she worked as a domestic in hotels and nursing homes. In 1966 while back in Finland for an intended visit Laven attended a dance where Pentti Oskari Kangas

Pentti Oskari Kangas

Pentti Oskari Kangas is a Finnish singer popularized by a cover of the Rod Stewart song Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? featuring Seitsemän seinähullua veljestä. Also appears in a Finnish TV comedy series called Seitsemän seinähullua veljestä.-References:...

 was playing: Laven asked to sing with his band and the reaction resulted in her being recruited as a vocalist. When not performing with the band Laven worked at a textile mill in the town of Rauma

Rauma

-Other:* Rauma dialect* Rauma class missile boat, a class of Finnish Fast Attack Craft* HNoMS Rauma , the second ship of the Norwegian Otra class minesweepers...

 which was Kangas' home base.

In 1969 Laven began recording for EMI Columbia

Columbia Graphophone Company

The Columbia Graphophone Company was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Under EMI, as Columbia Records, it became a very successful label in the 1950s and 1960s...

 - later known as CBS Records - with a debut album Se Jokin issued in 1970: during this time Laven also had a "day job" as a secretary at the label's Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 office. For several years Laven typically recorded Finnish language cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

s of contemporary international hits with the 1974 double A-side single "Niin"/ "Tumma Nainen" - comprising Finnish renderings of "Sì

Sì (song)

"Sì" is the name of the Italian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, which finished second behind the Swedish entry "Waterloo" sung by ABBA.-Background:...

" and "Dark Lady

Dark Lady (song)

"Dark Lady" is an pop rock song recorded by American singer actress Cher from eleventh studio album, Dark Lady. Produced by Snuff Garrett, it was released as the album's first single in early 1974. The song became Cher's third solo U.S...

" originally by respectively Gigliola Cinquetti

Gigliola Cinquetti

Gigliola Cinquetti is an Italian singer, TV presenter and journalist.-Biography:At the age of 16 she won the Sanremo Music Festival in 1964 singing "Non ho l'età" , with music composed by Nicola Salerno and lyrics by Mario Panzeri...

 and Cher

Cher

Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...

 - affording Laven her career record with a #5 peak on the Finnish national charts.

In 1978 Laven took second place - in a tie - in the Finnish national preliminary round of the Eurovision

Eurovision Song Contest 1978

The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd of its kind, and was held on 22 April 1978 in Paris. With Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone as the presenters - the first time more than one presenter hosted the contest - the contest was won by Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta who represented Israel, with their...

 contest with the song "Aamulla Rakkaani Näin" which served at the title cut of Laven's seventh album which became Laven's first gold-certified album. Laven's subsequent recorded output was more focused on new material including the 1980 Syksyn sävel winner "Ei oo, ei tuu" although Laven still recorded Finnish-language covers including "Lahjan Sain" which as "Si la vie est cadeau

Si La Vie Est Cadeau

"Si la vie est cadeau" by Jean-Pierre Millers and Alain Garcia , was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, performed in French by French singer Corinne Hermès for Luxembourg....

" had won Eurovision 1983

Eurovision Song Contest 1983

The Eurovision Song Contest 1983, the 28th in the series, was held in Munich, then West Germany, on 23 April 1983. The presenter was Marlene Charell. Corinne Hermes was the winner of this Eurovision with the song, "Si la vie est cadeau". This was Luxembourg's fifth victory in the contest which...

. In 1984 Laven switched to Bluebird Records where her debut album Sanat murenevat - Laven's twelfth album release - became her sole platinum-certified album to date. In 1990 Laven debuted on the Polarvox label with the album Ali Baba which was Laven's seventeenth album release and her sixth album to be certified gold. Laven subsequently experienced a drop in her career profile but was afforded a major comeback in 1999 when she again won the Syksyn sävel and her winning song ""Nyt kun oot mennyt" reached #6 on the Finnish national charts. Laven's twenty-fourth album Tähdenlennon alla was issued in 2006.

Laven has resided in Naantali

Naantali

Naantali is a city in south-western Finland, known as one of the most important tourist centres of the country. The municipality has a population of , and is located in the region of Finland Proper, west of Turku....

since 1984.

External links

• Lea Laven official site (in Finnish)