Heidi Parviainen

Heidi Parviainen (born 8 March 1979) is a Finnish professionally educated classical lyric soprano and a singing teacher. She is best known from her cinematic metal band Dark Sarah and as the former lead singer of Finnish power metal band Amberian Dawn. Before working with Amberian Dawn, she played keyboards and provided background vocals for a band called Iconofear.

Heidi Parviainen
Heidi Parviainen with Dark Sarah 2020
Background information
Born (1979-03-08) 8 March 1979
Espoo, Finland
OriginFinland
Genressymphonic metal, gothic metal, power metal
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter
InstrumentsVocals, piano
Years active1997–present
Associated actsAmberian Dawn, Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Ensiferum, Dark Sarah, Manuela Kraller
Websitedarksarah.com

Early life

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. At the age of 14, she started classical singing studies in a music institute with the diploma singer Raisa Lahtiranta. During more than ten years she had also sung in various choirs and ensembles.[1]

Musical career

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.[1]

Heidi started to write lyrics which 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 19 November 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.[2]

Heidi Parviainen and Kasperi Heikkinen with Amberian Dawn in 2009.

Dark Sarah (2012–)

A few days after her departure, Heidi announced that she had started a new musical project called "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."[3]

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).[3]

Dark Sarah has released 3 albums so far, after an initial EP. The first album, Behind the Black Veil, was released in 2014. This was followed by The Puzzle (released 2016), and The Golden Moth (released 2018). The Violent Roses EP was released in 2014.[3]

In 2020 the band announced their signing to Napalm Records and a new studio album called "Grim".

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.

Discography
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References
  1. "Parviainen Heidi (Amberian Dawn)- Musician Profile". Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 June 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Dark Sarah Official – About". Darksarah.com. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
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