In 2007, the band decided to fire Kärkkäinen after a long difficult era. Kärkkäinen filed a lawsuit against the band claiming they had no right to perform as Sunrise Avenue without him. The band won the court case on the first level court in Finland and after three years of…
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To finance the debut album On the Way to Wonderland , Haber introduced the “Sunrise Avenue Business Plan” to his friend, a copy machine sales man Mikko Virtala. Virtala financed most of the album’s recordings and a trip to Midem Music Expo in Cannes , France, to meet the European…
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Hohenthal left the band in 2002 as he wanted to focus on his own career. These days Hohenthal plays with his Finnish folk band Metrofolk. Heinänen introduced a new guitarist, his high school friend Janne Kärkkäinen to the band in 2002.
Between 2002 and 2005, Haber visited record companies and agencies 102 times in Finland and Sweden before they were finally signed to small Scandinavian label Bonnier Amigo Music . The answer was always the same: “Without black clothes and make-up, rock music can’t succeed.”
After four years in Spain and only a handful of performances at private Spanish events, Haber moved back to Finland. The band changed the name to Sunrise Avenue in October 2001 in restaurant Memphis in Helsinki at the “Sunrise world domination plan meeting.” By that time Tuomela had left the…
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Samu Haber established Sunrise together with Finnish singer-songwriter Jan Hohenthal in April 1992 in Espoo , Finland. They performed at a variety of pubs, small festivals and private parties until 1998, when Haber moved to Spain. The other band members at that time were Sami Heinänen (bass) and Antti Tuomela…
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