Sahlene

Sahlene, or Anna Sahlin, is a singer from Sweden. She was born in the Swedish town of S?derhamn in 1976. She began her career at the young age of eleven when she had a role in the tv-series "The Children of Bullerbyn", based on a story by Astrid Lindgren. Seven years later she moved to Stockholm to start a musical career. She started to sing in a band called Rhythm Avenue. In 1998 she left Rhythm Avenue to appear as a backing singer for Swedish stars like Eric Gadd, Carola, Robyn and Charlotte Nilsson.

In 1998 she left Rhythm Avenue to appear as a backing singer for Swedish stars like Eric Gadd, Carola, Robyn and Charlotte Nilsson. This included a slice in the action when Nilsson won the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest in Jerusalem with the song Take Me To Your Heaven. Her first solo single in 2000 was called The Little Voice, just as the title track was.

Three videos were made for the album; Fifth Element, The Little Voice, landing in the top 5 of MTV Nordic's most played list, and Fishies, filmed on location in Sardinia, Italy. Unfortunately, The Little Voice album was never released due to EMG's buyout of Roadrunner Arcade Music and eventual fall into bankruptcy.

But this didn't mean the end of Sahlene's career. In Estonia they had a problem since one of their most famous singers, Ines, decided that she didn't want to sing the song Runaway in the national preselections for the Eurovision Song Contest. Sahlene accepted the offer and won the national finals. Thus, she once again participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, this time as a principal singer, and she secured third place for the host, Estonia. The song was very successful in the charts, not only in Estonia and Sweden but also in the other Scandinavian countries, as well as the Baltic States and even in Switzerland and France.

Finally most of the tracks from the Little Voice album were released on a new album in April 2003. The album of course also includes Runaway.

She participated in the first semi-final of the Swedish selection 2006, under the name Anna Sahlene, with the song This Woman. However, her fifth place in the semi-final killed her chances of representing her native country.

Eurovision Song Contest 2002 - Tallinn
Entry for Estonia

Performer: Sahl?ne
Song title: Runaway
Song writer(s): Jana Hallas
Song composer(s): Pearu Paulus, Ilmar Laisaar, Alar Kotkas

Sang in Position: 8
Final Position: 3
Total Points: 111

The small capital of Tallinn was the poud host of the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest. The rules for the 2002 contest stated that only 22 countries would be able to participate, but the European Broadcasting Union later changed this into 24 countries being allowed into the competition. Israel accepted the invitation as the first runner-up in the pool of countries that were initially doomed to stay at home. Portugal, the second runner-up declined to go to Tallinn, so Latvia was able to enter the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest. This was a rather peculiar situation, since Latvia ended up winning the whole contest in the end!

There was no clear favorite among the 24 countries competing. Sweden, Germany and the host country Estonia were tipped as winners, but it was Marie N (Marija Naumova) who was able to hold the trophy in her hands. Marie N had already tried to enter the 2000 and 2001 Eurovision Song Contests, but narrowly missed out both times. Her 2002 entry I Wanna had a stunning dress change gimmick as Marie started her song wearing a white suit - only to end it wearing a sexy red dress! This was the start of many more intriguing dress changes in the following Eurovision Song Contests. However, Marie N's I Wanna didn't prove to be a big success in the European charts as the single of it was only released months after the Latvian victory.

The tragic figure of the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest was the Danish singer Malene. Seen by many fans as one of the favorites to win, she ended up in the last position with just seven points in total. That was a severe blow to the Danish nation who won the contest in 2000 and who came 2nd in 2001, but would miss out on the 2003 competition in Riga.