Favourite Female Vocalists: Tarja Turunen

Yep, another series. Since I listen to predominantly female-fronted bands, I thought I'd start off with my ultimate favourite metal singer, Finland's Tarja Turunen.

Most of us know that Tarja was the original singer for Nightwish, and she fronted this symphonic metal group for 10 years, until she was dismissed by the band in October 2005 by a nasty and backstabbing open letter. You must be living under a rock if you are unaware of the resulting drama, and the big division the hiring of Anette Olzon has caused between the old Nightwish fans, and the so-called New Nightwish fans. In the end, I don't give a crap about the drama; I just love to sit back and enjoy Nightwish's music (Tarja-era more often than not).

Without a doubt, Tarja helped pioneer a metal sub-genre and her voice is legendary. Her power is unparalleled. Here is one of my favourites, "Sleeping Sun", and the old video for it when Tarja was in her early twenties. The filming of this video out it the woods of Finland was apparently not fun as Tarja and the crew were relentlessly attacked by fiendish mosquitoes.

And here is Tarja's most amazing vocal performance, IMO, from Nighwish's Oceanborn CD, "Stargazers". Here she really shows off her range and operatic style, and the whole band shows off it's symphonic power metal chops.

Since the dismissal, Tarja has worked tirelessly on her solo career and has released one album, My Winter Storm. It was OK musically, but of course Tarja sounded her usual amazing self on it. Right now, she is working on her second album, What Lies Beneath, and it's not only on my list of most anticipated albums of 2010, but on many others' as well. According to Tarja's blog, this album will be released in August. Here is Tarja's first single from My Winter Storm, "I Walk Alone."

And here is the second single from My Winter Storm, "Die Alive", featuring nice big doggies!

I have a lot of admiration and respect for Tarja. Not only is she a huge talent, she is an amazing beauty, has such an elegant personal style, and she has made the most of a bad situation, spread her wings, and soared above it all with her classy personality. I think she is a great role model and I wish her all the best in the future!