# Marko Saaresto > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Marko_Saaresto > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Marko_Saaresto.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marko_Saaresto > Source revision: 1341735476 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Marko Saaresto** (born 5 December 1970) is a Finnish musician. He is the lead vocalist, primary songwriter and one of the founding members of the [alternative rock](/source/Alternative_rock) band [Poets of the Fall](/source/Poets_of_the_Fall). ## Early life Saaresto was born in [Helsinki](/source/Helsinki). He was actively involved in music from a very young age and wrote several of his songs as a teenager. "Change", from the band's fourth number-one album *[Twilight Theater](/source/Twilight_Theater)*, was written by Saaresto in 1990. "Maybe Tomorrow is a Better Day" from *[Carnival of Rust](/source/Carnival_of_Rust)* is even older, dating back to 1988. Saaresto took up a course in graphic design and worked as a graphic designer until he was in his early thirties.[1] Saaresto has a [bass-baritone](/source/Bass-baritone) vocal range.[2] ## Career Main article: [Poets of the Fall](/source/Poets_of_the_Fall) Saaresto formed a band called Playground in 2001 and wrote several songs with them. The songs were compiled into an album but they were unable to find a label to distribute it, and hence called it quits. Playground's primary members were Saaresto and Pohjoinen Syke jazz guitarist Olli Tukianen. In early 2002, Saaresto was approached by [Sam Lake](/source/Sam_Lake), the writer of the *[Max Payne](/source/Max_Payne)* series of video games, to write the lead single for the second installment in the series, *[Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne](/source/Max_Payne_2:_The_Fall_of_Max_Payne)*. Saaresto agreed. Lake gave Saaresto a poem he had written and asked him to make a song out of it. Saaresto modified it, and along with former Playground bandmate Tukiainen, wrote the now-famous single "[Late Goodbye](/source/Late_Goodbye)". To assist them with production, Lake offered them the services of industrial musician [Markus "Captain" Kaarlonen](/source/Markus_Kaarlonen). Together, they recorded the song, and upon the release of the game, it garnered cult status. Thousands of requests were made by players all around the world to own a physical copy of the song. They then decided to formally create the band and named it Poets of the Fall. ## Discography ### With Poets of the Fall Main article: [Poets of the Fall discography](/source/Poets_of_the_Fall_discography) - *[Signs of Life](/source/Signs_of_Life_(Poets_of_the_Fall_album))* (2005) - *[Carnival of Rust](/source/Carnival_of_Rust)* (2006) - *[Revolution Roulette](/source/Revolution_Roulette)* (2008) - *[Twilight Theater](/source/Twilight_Theater)* (2010) - *[Temple of Thought](/source/Temple_of_Thought)* (2012) - *[Jealous Gods](/source/Jealous_Gods)* (2014) - *[Clearview](/source/Clearview_(album))* (2016) - *[Ultraviolet](/source/Ultraviolet_(Poets_of_the_Fall_album))* (2018) - *Ghostlight* (2022) - *Rebirth – Greatest Hits* (as Old Gods of Asgard, 2023) ### With Playground - *Playground* (unreleased, 2001) ### As a featured artist Year Song Artist Album 1999 "Millennium Of Insight" Lauri Järvilehto Twilight Cinema[3] 2008 "I Saved the World Today" Various Artists Non-album single for Plan International Finland charity[4] 2009 "Lucky Star" Phoenix Effect Cyanide Skies "King See No Evil" "Taking a Vacation from Me" Bright Lightning Taking a Vacation from Me[5] 2017 "Striven" Jay Ray Self-Resonance[6] "Feliz Navidad" Tarja From Spirits and Ghosts (Score for a Dark Christmas) 2022 "Upside Down" Larry Sandman More Than Free[7] **Audiobooks** - *Words into Worlds* by Flamelight (2021)[8] ## References 1. ["'It feels good to be here'"](https://www.deccanherald.com/content/274337/it-feels-good-here.html). *Deccan Herald*. 26 August 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2022. 1. ["On a quest to find new music: Marko @YlexRadio"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170616125801/http://www.poetcountyjail.com/wordpress/on-a-quest-to-find-new-music-marko-ylexradio.html). *poetcountyjail.com*. 11 April 2011. Archived from [the original](http://www.poetcountyjail.com/wordpress/on-a-quest-to-find-new-music-marko-ylexradio.html) on 16 June 2017. 1. ["Marko Saaresto Discography | Discogs"](https://www.discogs.com/artist/775216-Marko-Saaresto) 1. ["PLAN - I Saved The World Today"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsdn9ZpOUn0). – via www.youtube.com. 1. ["Taking a Vacation from Me by Bright Lightning on Apple Music"](https://music.apple.com/nz/album/taking-a-vacation-from-me/1676683812). 26 January 2009. – via music.apple.com. 1. ["Jay Ray - Striven feat. Marko Saaresto of @PoetsOfTheFallBand (Official Music Video)"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbBByd5UgzQ). *[YouTube](/source/YouTube)* 1. ["Larry Sandman Featuring Marko Saaresto - "Upside Down" (Official Music Video)"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG_enP9o8H0). – via www.youtube.com. 1. ["Flamelight – Audio Poetry Project"](https://flame-light.com/) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Marko Saaresto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marko_Saaresto) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marko_Saaresto?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.