Sarah Dawn Finer

by Margaret Reges A pop idol whose soulful vocals and bold delivery put her in league with fellow Swedes Agnes Carlsson and Sonja Aldén, Sarah Dawn Finer shot to stardom in her homeland thanks to her strong showing at the 2007 Melodifestivalen competition. The daughter of an American dance therapist and a British medical journalist, Finer was introduced to the stage early on, landing a starring role on a Swedish TV show when she was only six years old. She continued to act well into her teens, and eventually went on to attend high school at the Stockholm Musical Conservatory Rytmus. She dropped out at 17 and pursued her music career in earnest, and over the course of the next few years she managed to land gigs as a backing vocalist for artists like the Teddybears, E-Type, Agnetha Faltskog, Peter Jöback, and Moneybrother. Finer eventually began performing gigs on her own, and in 2004 began collaborating with various songwriters (including Glen Scott) in an effort to generate her own material. Her efforts paid off, culminating in her self-released, self-titled debut EP, which came out in the fall of 2005. About a year later, Finer was selected to compete in the 2007 Melodifestivalen competition with the song "I Remember Love," a tune Finer had co-written with Peter Hallström. She made it all the way to the semi-finals and eventually finished fourth. Her debut full-length, A Finer Dawn, hit stores in May 2007, and went on to peak at number two on the Swedish charts.