Tarja Turunen
Tarja Turunen, former Nightwish front woman and singer supreme, has started the countdown to her second studio album ’neath the ‘Tarja’ banner with a major collaboration, recently appearing on Europe’s foremost TV show ‘Wetten Das’ alongside hard rock legends, the Scorpions.
Tarja provides guest vocals on brand new Scorps track ‘The Good Die Young’ – the first single from the German band’s latest (and final) studio album ‘Sting In The Tail’, which went straight into the Top 5 in the domestic charts, so it was only natural that she should join the five for this high-profile foray in front of the cameras.
“It was such an honour to be invited to take part in the Scorpions last album,” says Tarja. “I am sure they will keep this particular record in their hearts the same way the fans and I will.”
Meanwhile, Tarja has been hard at work on her latest studio album, ‘What Lies Beneath’, the follow-up to 2007’s ‘My Winter Storm’ opus – a record that has now sold in excess of 250,000 copies in Germany alone, picking up gold & platinum awards along the way. With production handled by Tarja herself and selected tracks set to be mixed by UK producer Colin Richardson (famed for his work with Machine Head, Bullet For My Valentine & Slipknot, amongst others), ‘What Lies…’ looks set to take Tarja’s unique musical mix of drama ‘n’ decibels to a whole new level of success.
“We worked on 33 songs this time around from which I decided to record 17,” Tarja explains. “It has been great to have the freedom to produce my own record for the first time; these sessions have been such a gift, a real learning process and a true joy. In many ways, it feels like the first time…”
The lead single from ‘What Lies Beneath’, title to be confirmed, is currently being discussed for an early August release, with the full album to follow later that month.