Heidi Parviainen

Heidi Parviainen (born March 8, 1979) is a Finnish lyric soprano, and best known as the former lead singer of Finnish metal band Amberian Dawn. Before working with Amberian Dawn, she played keyboards and provided background vocals for a band called Iconofear. Shortly after leaving Amberian Dawn, Heidi launched her own musical project called "Dark Sarah".

Heidi's musical history started quite early in a children's music playschool. Later on, at a primary school, she went to a music-oriented class. She started taking piano lessons at the age of 11, but soon she said it became very clear that she wanted more than just classical piano playing. After various teachers, she quit taking piano lessons and has played by herself until recent years. At the age of 14, she started classical singing studies in a music institute with the diploma singer Raisa Lahtiranta whom she's still working with after these 14 years. During more than ten years she had also sung in various choirs and ensembles.

At the moment, she is following professional singing studies at the Conservatory of Helsinki.

Agonia, Iconofear (1997–2006)

The first contact with heavy music came in 1997 at high school, when a couple of high school heavy-metal guys asked her to sing on their EP. At that time, they played death metal and the band was called Agonia. After a while, Heidi joined the band as a keyboard player and backing vocalist. From 1997, the band changed its form, and its name to Iconofear. After years of classical singing studies, Heidi grew accustomed to the idea of being a vocalist and during the decade with Iconofear she also grew to like heavy music.

With Amberian Dawn (2006–2012)

Amberian Dawn performing at the Metal Female Voices Fest on their The Clouds of Northland Thunder tour.

So in the summer 2006, she started to look for a band, a metal band, because it seemed to be closest to her interests. The guys spotted her application, listened to her samples and called her, to set up a demo with her and the band. It turned out that she was exactly what they were looking for, due to her ability to both sing and contribute lyrics. This completed the band's lineup, now under the name of Amberian Dawn.

Most of the lyrics on the 4 albums the band released were contributed by Heidi depending on her mood and inspiration. They were often influenced by Finnish and Norse mythology, and many songs reference the Finnish national poem Kalevala. She undertook three European tours with the band and performed at several European festivals.

On November 19, 2012, the band announced that Heidi had parted ways with them. The decision was made in early 2012, thus meaning Amberian Dawn's appearance at Metal Female Voices Fest was their last show together with Heidi.

Heidi Parviainen and Kasperi Heikkinen with Amberian Dawn in 2009.

Dark Sarah (2012–)

A few days after her departure, on November 21, Heidi announced that she would start a new musical project with some "new promo pictures, website etc." On December 8, she revealed the name of her new project, "Dark Sarah". She said Dark Sarah "is making one of my dreams come true, a dream that had been sleeping for many years but now has finally awoken."

Heidi explained the concept:

Dark Sarah's story Behind the Black Veil tells a story about a young woman called Sarah. She is left at the altar by her husband and she almost has a mental breakdown but instead something wakes up inside her and she changes to another person, her meaner half: Dark Sarah.

The musical style combines elements of film music, metal music and music theater. On the album called Behind the Black Veil, which will feature several guest musicians such as Manuela Kraller, Inga Scharf (Van Canto) and Kasperi Heikkinen (U.D.O, Merging Flare). Dark Sarah consists of a talented band including musicians like: Erkka Korhonen (guitar) (Raskasta joulua, Northern Kings), Sami-Petri Salonen (guitar), Jukka Koskinen (bass) (Wintersun) and Lauri Kuussalo (drums).

Dark Sarah has so far released two songs. The first song, titled "Save Me," was released with a music video. The second song, "Memories Fall," features Manuela Kraller, ex-vocalist of Xandria.

Other works

Parviainen has performed with a few other bands in studio, with Eternal Tears of Sorrow on the song "Tears of Autumn Rain" from the album Children of the Dark Waters in 2009, and with Ensiferum on their album Unsung Heroes, providing the choir vocals.