Geir Rönning is a passionate Eurovision Song Contest fan. Since long he has been dreaming of participating in the contest one day. Five times he tried his luck in the Norwegian selections Melodi Grand Prix. When he moved to Finland he started taking part in the Finnish national selections too. At his third attempt he won the Finnish national final, held on 19th February 2005. Geir Rönning finally fulfilled his dream. With the song Why he will be representing Finland at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest.
Who is Geir Rönning?
I'm a 42-year old Norwegian musician. But I consider myself northlandish a little bit of everything.
You have had quite a busy time in your life lately and a lot of exciting times happened, isn't it?
Yes, finally, it was a dream come true to become a representative at the Eurovision Song Contest. My universe disappeared! But I like this new one! 🙂 A lot of things to do all the time but it's a lot of fun. It can never be too much, I have been waiting many years for this!
At the moment I do a big show at the Grand Casino in Helsinki with four other Finnish stars. I still do touring, but I don't have so much time at the moment. And we just got a child in the beginning of January, his name is Oliver, and he's the king!
Your overall career seems to have been very intense, you have released over 20 albums since 1996, that's a lot!
Yes, I've done a lot but as long as you love what you do the energy comes by itself.
You had a great career in various corners around the world. How come this happened?
Life is too short, I've been lucky enough to visit a lot of places.
What kinds of music do you like?
Any kind of good music.
You have lived in many places around Northern Europe and you once had a career in Stockholm, Sweden as well.
Sweden is a great country and music in Stockholm is good too, I loved working there. Sweden was fun, but I was on tour even then and met my lovely wife during that period of time in Finland. It was an easy decision to move here, (to Finland) cause there are excellent players here too.
