17 August 1945: Katri Helena born



Katri Helena Kalaoja (née Koistinen) was born on 17 August 1945. She released her first songs in 1963 and has since sold over 630,000 certified records, which makes her the second-best-selling female soloist in Finland behind Madonna and places her also among the top 20 best-selling music artists in the Finnish market. She has represented Finland twice in the Eurovision Song Contest: in 1979 with her song 'Katson sineen taivaan' and in 1993 with 'Tule luo'.

Katri Helena has been married three times. She had two daughters and a son with her husband Timo Kalaoja, who died of a heart attack in 1988. His death affected her so much that she withdrew from public view and stopped performing and recording for four years. Her only son, Juha Kalaoja, died at age 33 on 29 April 2009.

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