Leena Peisa

Leena Peisa
Awa on stage
Background information
Birth name	Leena Maria Peisa
Also known as	Lady Awa, Lady Awa De Paysant, Lende Mielihyva
Born	16 March 1979
Origin	Vantaa, Finland
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal, power metal
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Keyboard, turntable, vocals
Years active	1994–2012
Associated acts	Lordi Dolchamar Punaiset Messiaat Sampsa Astala ja Qma

Leena Maria "Awa" Peisa (born 16 March 1979 in Vantaa, Finland) is a retired keyboard player. Peisa's former bands include Lordi, Punaiset Messiaat and Dolchamar.

Biography

Leena Maria Peisa was born in Vantaa although she spent her teenage years in Porvoo. She has been playing the piano since she was six years old. She took to playing the synthesizer in her teens. Her first band was Punaiset Messiaat which she joined in autumn 1994. While in Punaiset Messiaat she used the stage name "Lende Mielihyvä". Mielihyvä is the Finnish word for pleasure. After Punaiset Messiaat disbanded in 1998, Peisa concentrated on her education and studied Social Studies at the University of Helsinki. In 2003, she rejoined the band that now performed under the name Dolchamar, and in 2005 was invited to join Lordi by drummer Kita to replace the keyboardist Enary.^[1] In Lordi, she takes on the persona of an unearthly Vampire Countess. The name Awa comes from Be Aware. On the band's website she is said to have many other names.^[2] The British newspaper the Daily Mail wrongly credited a photo of a woman without make-up as being Awa. Her other band Dolchamar removed all photos from their website - this was perhaps a coincidence, or just to play along with the monster image. Some Greek television channels claim to have videos and photos of the band without stage make-up.^[3] On 25 July it was announced through the band's website that she is leaving the band after their concert on 11 August 2012.

Discography

With Punaiset Messiaat

Albums

• Back In Bu$ine$$ (1995)
• Lemmentykki ('Cannon of Love') (1996) Highest position #26 in the Finnish Official Top 40.
• Älä osta; varasta ('Don't buy; steal') (1997)

EPs

"Punainen Iktivisto" (1992)

• Punk on pop ('Punk is Hip') (1996)
• Tuu mun luo ('Come To Me') (1996)
• Hornan hovin häät ('A Wedding at the Abode of Evil Spirits') (1997; includes a horror comic book.)

Singles

• Onko tää rakkautta?! ('Is This Love?!') (1996)
• Oma rotta ('My Own Rat') (1996) A gold-selling single record in 1997.

With Dolchamar

Albums

• Rebela Sono (The Rebel Sound) (2005)

With Lordi

Albums

• The Arockalypse (2006)
• Deadache (2008)
• Babez For Breakfast (2010)

Singles and EPs

• Hard Rock Hallelujah (2006) FIN #1, GER #5, UK #25, IRL #4
• Who's Your Daddy? (2006) FIN #1, GER #33
• Would You Love A Monsterman? (2006) (2006)
• It Snows In Hell (2006)
• They Only Come Out at Night (2007) FIN #6
• Beast Loose In Paradise (2008)
• Bite It Like A Bulldog (2008)
• Deadache (2008)
• This Is Heavy Metal (2010)

External links

• ..::DOLCHAMAR::.. official website
• Lordi - The Official Website

References

1. Bmgfinland.com
2. Official Lordi Site
3. Eurovisionclub.com