VAIN ELÄMÄÄ 4: ANSSI KELA

Anssi Kela is one of those artists who shot to the fame and success with his debut album, then sales and popularity dropped by each album until he was dropped by his label. A break, new label, still a lot of loyal fans in social medias got him back on top last year. And now he gies his song repertoire to other artists to cover and he sure has a lot to choose from. And it will be interesting to see what he makes of the songs of the others, having quite a personal style. He says he hopes the other artists will make his songs as different as possible, showing also him a new side of them. On the other hand he says sky's the limit in his own versions, as there's no need to think they would fit into any album context or whatever - they can be anything!

Anssi comes from a musical family so it was natural he would take that road, too. After being in a band playing gospel music at 13, the band changed name and repertoire. The band got some notoriety but their debut albul flopped and they split soon enough and Anssi went solo.

His debut album Nummela sold 4 x platinum and among the top-15 best selling albums ever in Finland and scored hits like Mikan faijan BWM, Kaksi sisarta, Puistossa and Nummela. Milla was added to the triple platinum re-release of the album and is claimed to be the best selling single ever in Finland (couldn't find any truth to that, Ed.note). Second album sold platinum and included another megahit, 1972. Third one still sold gold but no major hit came out of it. Fourth album was a concept one and didn't cause much of an attention, except Aamu that became a minor hit. His story with Sony was sealed with a release of a greatest hits album that didn't sell so well either. It seemed like his story was over.

Four years later with a new label he released Levoton tyttö, that became one of his biggest hits ever. Miten sydämet toimii also was a hit and two more singles were released from it. His latest one is Nostalgiaa.

He had always written all his songs, but now he also plays all the instruments on the new album (except a sax solo). He's back thanks to his loyal fans on social medias who kept him going while he had no music to offer. He has also written three books and is a succesful Formule 3 driver.

I personally liked his debut album and its songs a lot, the rest not so much. It will be interesting to see what songs the others pick.....

In this series also: Pave Maijanen, Virve Rosti, VilleGalle, Antti Tuisku, Sanni, Maija Vilkkumaa

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ESC 2016 WISH LIST: MARGARET FOR POLAND

Małgorzata Jamroży aka Margaret has also been tipped for Eurovision and apparently she did turn it down but she'd be perfect. She's got a look and persona you can't unnotice nor forget, she's got hit songs, she has been voted or nominated for everything from Trendy artist to the Hope of the Year, Fashion Icon and Glamour Woman of the year besides the usual best video, song, album, debut..... Oh she's also a fashion designer! She's very clever with social medias and would surely use it to her advantage if selected for Stockholm 2016. Her debut album is titled Add the blonde , do we need to say more? Except it includes mostly Swedish written pop tunes like Tell me how are ya , Wasted , Start a fire and Heartbeat . And of course her debut single and internationally noticed Thank you very much that you can enjoy below with all its anti-textil feel. I think she's Eurovision perfection, she's cheeky and fun, can we have her?

SONGS OF THE YEAR 2015: #5 KRISTA SIEGFRIDS - ON & OFF

Krista Siegfrids is delivering nice pop tunes one after another and this one is particularly catchy and soon you will be singing along..... Hopefully her Melodifestivalen entry will be equally good!

ESC 2016 BELARUS: NAKED WITH WOLVES?

Today's funniest Eurovision related story comes from Belarus. Some sources claim Ivan wants to perform on stage naked and with live wolf or wolves. It surely would be a first on Eurovision stage! We have seen some forgotten underwear over the years, and some cardbox animals though..... Is it time to take things a bit further? No, according the rules live animals are not allowed, and Eurovision being a family show nudity won't do either. (It seems to be ok to be half naked if you are a dancer though..... )

Russia recycles the video

Here is the video for Alexey's previous hit Бам Бам! and here is the video for his Eurovision 2011 entry Get you as Alex Sparrow as he likes to be called now abraod. Looks like he potreys the new rich Russia well.... The only problem is that he can't play the bad part convincingly not even a second. And did I say the song is crap? And of course as he is a Russian star he must have nude fotos of him flotaing around internet trying to be sexy and he fails there, too, big time. If you are not bad nor sexy you shouldn't push it. Maybe he should stick to singing jolly little numbers like the Kalinka rip off instead....

Regina Lund - naked and censored

Regina Lund's new video Jag är osynlig was censored by Youtube only minutes after it had been uploaded. In the video she was playing a female Jesus who gets crusified in the end. "I was shocked!" she says. "There's nothing more naked in it as in every church! It's ok to have naked man hanging on the wall but my nakedness is too much on internet? ". Oh well, no comment. She's prepairing a new album Dare Regina Lund and we of course remember her from her Melodifestivalen 2007 adventure with Rainbow star .

CAROLA'S BOOBS STEAL THE SHOW, SVT APOLOGIES

Update! Another thing got Swedes talking last night: Carola's boobs when she was giving away an award. This is not the first time her boombs cause headlines; her misfortunate adventures in the 80's in Japan wer explained with her boobs being too big for Japanese market. Ok.... Or was it the song ? Anyways, Carola apologies and says she thinks the dress is stylish and elegant (even her friends said so) and she's a mature woman in her 40s, not a 16-year-old girl and looks like one. The Swedish Oscars, Guldbagge awards were given out last night. Carola was there as a guest star to sing Barbra Streisand's The way we were when honoring the movie stars who passed away during 2012. However, the cameras were too much on Carola, not on the stars showed in photos in the background and that upset many viewers as that part of the show was to celebrate them, not Carola. Oh well... The producer of the show tells in Aftonbladet the part of the show was made the sam

TIM SCHOU AND HIS NAKED GRAVITY

Tim Schou has a pretty good solo career going since he left his friends in London. He's travelling the world and relesing songs and videos. The latest one is a great track and comes with a steamy video that kinda takes away from the song really. But who's complaining. If you got it, flaunt it. Enjoy the video below. This post coming after the other Dane, Rasmus Seebach as wishlist for Eurovision. To think about it, Tim would do nicely, too. Maybe he should give it another go?

GREECE: HELENA PAPARIZOU HITS AGAIN WITH HAIDE

Eurovision song contest 2005 winner Helena Paparizou has been enjoying Top-5 hits every year since 2003 with the exception of 2010 and 2014, this latest one being already her 27th! And Haide is charting also in Bulgaria and Finland, of all places. The catchiness of her hits has changed less over the years than her face.... Here's the English version , below the Greek version.

CZECH REPUBLIC: MARTINA BÁRTA PRESENTS MY TURN

Czech Republic's internally chosen Martina Bárta has released her entry My turn for the Eurovision as well today. Not sure if I managed to keep my attention level very high for very long when listening to it.... Shame.

Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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