Koit Toome (born 3 January 1979), is an Estonian singer and musical actor.
He has twice represented
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Estonia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 27 times since making its debut in 1994. Its first appearance would have taken place in 1993 but a qualification round was installed for seven former Eastern Bloc countries hoping to make t ...
. In
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
he finished 12th with the song "
Mere lapsed
Estonia was represented by Koit Toome, with the song "Mere lapsed", at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May in Birmingham. "Mere lapsed" was chosen as the Estonian entry at the national final, Eurolaul, on 24 January.
Befo ...
". In
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
he sang a duet with
Laura Põldvere
Laura Põldvere (formerly Remmel; born 30 August 1988) sometimes known professionally as simply Laura, is an Estonian singer. She is said to be the most played Estonian artist on Estonian radio in the past decade. She is internationally known for ...
, entitled "
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
".
Career
Koit Toome was discovered in the music school in 1994 by the music producer
Mikk Targo who was initially planning to launch a solo career for Koit. It later turned out that Koit's schoolmate and initial backing vocalist
Sirli Hiius harmonized perfectly with Koit. Due to this, Koit's solo turned into a pop duo, Code One, which enjoyed a successful run of top hits that over the years have become evergreens. Toome and Hiius sometimes nevertheless perform together, despite having called the active years as a singing duo to an end years ago.
In 1998, Koit Toome represented Estonia at the
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
, held in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
. He finished 12th with 36 points with the song "''
Mere lapsed
Estonia was represented by Koit Toome, with the song "Mere lapsed", at the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May in Birmingham. "Mere lapsed" was chosen as the Estonian entry at the national final, Eurolaul, on 24 January.
Befo ...
''". The same year he recorded his debut solo album of mostly self-penned material on it. Toome has released five albums all together, both as a solo artist, and with Code One. His latest studio album, "Kaugele siit" ("Far from here") was released in March 2010.
In 2007, Koit Toome was declared as the winner of ''
Tantsud tähtedega
''Tantsud tähtedega'' ( Estonian: ''Dancing with the Stars'') is an Estonian television reality show that aired on Kanal 2 and season six on TV3. It debuted on 8 October 2006, and it became a popular television show in Estonia. It is based o ...
'' (''
Dancing with the Stars
''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...
'') with his partner on floor, Kertu Tänav.
Koit Toome has also embarked on a voice acting career, dubbing animated films. He provided the Estonian voice for
Lightning McQueen
Montgomery "Lightning" McQueen is a fictional anthropomorphic stock car who is the protagonist of the animated Pixar franchise ''Cars'', primarily voiced by actor Owen Wilson. His appearances include the feature films ''Cars'', ''Cars 2'', and ''C ...
in the
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
movie ''
Cars
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
'' among others.
In 2017, Koit Toome and
Laura Põldvere
Laura Põldvere (formerly Remmel; born 30 August 1988) sometimes known professionally as simply Laura, is an Estonian singer. She is said to be the most played Estonian artist on Estonian radio in the past decade. She is internationally known for ...
won
Eesti Laul
Eesti Laul (English: 'Estonian Song' or 'The Song of Estonia') is an annual music competition organised by Estonian public broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, ...
with the duet "
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
." They thereafter represented
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Verona" written by Sven Lõhmus. The song was performed by Koit Toome, who had previously represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 where he placed twelfth w ...
in
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
, Ukraine. The duo failed to advance to the Grand Final and finished in 14th place (placing 6th in the televoting & 17th with the juries), despite being a big fan favourite and seen as likely qualifiers beforehand, being 5th in the 2nd semi-final by odds and 5th by OGAE voting overall.
Toome attempted to represent
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song " The Lucky One" written by Uku Suviste and Sharon Vaughn. The song was performed by Uku Suviste. The Estonian broadcaster (ERR) organised the national final in order to sel ...
by participating in Eesti Laul 2021 with his song "We Could Have Been Beautiful". He placed fourth in the national final.
Musical theatre
Koit Toome is professionally active in musical theatre. As a leading actor, he has so far played the roles of the protagonists only with no exception in his native Estonia, and also with touring companies.
His debut, Alfred in ''
Tanz der Vampire
''Dance of the Vampires'' is a musical remake of the 1967 Roman Polanski film of the same name (known as ''The Fearless Vampire Killers'' in the USA). Polanski also directed this musical’s original German-language production (titled ). The mus ...
'' (Tallinn, 2000) was shortly followed by Marius of ''
Les Misérables
''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century.
In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...
'' (Tallinn, 2001), Chris in ''
Miss Saigon
''Miss Saigon'' is a stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera ''Madame Butterfly'', and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed rom ...
'' (Tallinn, 2002, reprised in
Helsinki City Theatre
The Helsinki City Theatre ( fi, Helsingin Kaupunginteatteri; sv, Helsingfors stadsteater) is a theatre located in Helsinki, Finland. Owned by the Helsinki Theatre Foundation, it calls itself a "modern popular bilingual repertoire theatre."
The ...
) and Tony in ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...
'' (Tartu, 2005). Leading roles in ''
Chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
'', ''
Rent
Rent may refer to:
Economics
*Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property
*Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production
*Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...
'' and ''
Hair
Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals.
The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...
'' were to follow in
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
and (Germany).
In
Endla Theatre
Endla ( et, Endla teater) is a professional theatre in city of Pärnu, Estonia.
The theatre was opened in 1911. The first performance was "Libahunt" ("Werewolf") by Estonian writer August Kitzberg. The Estonian Declaration of Independence was p ...
in
Pärnu
Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet o ...
, he played the lead in Peter Quilter's musical ''Boyband'', depicting the life of a fictional boyband Freedom. The show would stay on stage for a successful run of 100 performances, and for 5 seasons.
Koit Toome was starring as Raoul in ''
The Phantom of the Opera
''The Phantom of the Opera'' (french: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serial in from 23 September 1909 to 8 January 1910, and was released in volume form in late March 1910 by Pierr ...
'' in theatre
Vanemuine
Vanemuine () is a theatre in Tartu, Estonia. It was the first Estonian language theatre.
History ''1870–1906 The Beginning of the Beginning. Koidula’s Theatre, Wiera’s Theatre.''
On June 24, 1870 was the first day in Estonian theatre ...
(2014–2016), but he took over the leading role of "Phantom" from its originator, the Norwegian tenor Stephen Hansen for the final run of performances in 2016/2017 and 2020/2021. Koit Toome continues at the Vanemuine theatre for the Estonian revival of ''Les Misérables'', now cast as
Jean Valjean
Jean Valjean () is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. The story depicts the character's struggle to lead a normal life and redeem himself after serving a 19-year-long prison sentence for stealing bread to feed his ...
. It premiered in November 2017.
Personal life
Koit's uncle
Indrek Toome
Indrek Toome (born 19 September 1943) is a former communist Estonian politician and businessman. He served from 1988 to 1990, and was the last Prime Minister (head of the Council of Ministers) of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Early li ...
was the Prime Minister of Estonia from 1988 to 1990.
Discography
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Filmography
Dubbing
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toome, Koit
1979 births
20th-century Estonian male actors
21st-century Estonian male actors
Estonian male child actors
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Estonia
21st-century Estonian male singers
Estonian male musical theatre actors
Estonian male voice actors
Estonian pianists
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1998
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2017
Living people
Singers from Tallinn
Male actors from Tallinn
20th-century Estonian male singers
Male pianists
21st-century pianists
Eesti Laul winners