Saara Aalto

Saara Aalto is a 24-year-old singer-songwriter from Helsinki who describes her music as epic love pop. Originally Saara was born in the north of Finland, Oulunsalo and she has always wanted to sing, compose and perform. She composed her first song at the age of 5.
When Saara was 7 she wanted to have piano lessons in order to learn more about making music. Piano became an important part of Saara's life and in addition to practicing she also sang in choirs, went to dance lessons and composed. In 1998 she won a singing competition and composing competition in Kotka at the age of 11.
After her childhood years she studied in Madetoja Music High School in Oulu and kept on practicing her singing and playing and started doing various gigs. In 2004 16-year-old Saara took part to Finland's National Selections of the Eurovision Song Contest with the group Heidi Kyrö & just and she represented Finland in an International Golden Star - Singing Festival in Romania.
After the high school Saara moved to Helsinki to study music and got closer to her dreams. In 2007 19-year-old Saara made it to top three in Finland's Got Talent TV-show by singing her own songs. After Talent she played the role of Kelsi Neilsen in High School Musical on Stage 1 & 2 –musicals in Helsinki City Theater.
In 2008 and 2009 took part to Finland's National Selections of the Eurovision Song Contest this time as a background singer for Hanna Marsh and Riikka. In 2010 was qualified to the Finland's open contest of the Eurovision with her own song that made it to top 10 but wasn't qualified to the national semifinals. At the same time Saara auditioned for the musical Wicked and was chosen to play the roles of Dorothy and Phannee in Helsinki City Theater in 2010-2011.
In addition to performing at gigs and musicals Saara is dubbing movies, cartoons and commercials into Finnish, for example "Princess Pea" in the Tale of Despereaux, "Alice" in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and "Molly" in a musical TV-show Bubble Guppies.
In 2011 Saara was qualified to the open contest of the Finnish Eurovision again and this time she made it through the semifinals to the finals with her own song Blessed with Love. Saara melted people's heart but in the end came second in the whole contest.
In the spring 2011 Saara has been working on her debut album which will be published on 11.5. The album is named after her Eurovision song and her philosophy of life and it's called Blessed with Love.