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Estonia's Koit Toome and Laura are lost in Verona

11 April 2017 at 12:00 CEST
Koit Toome & Laura will represent Estonia in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. Kalle Veesaar (Moonwalk)
Koit Toome and Laura are pop royalty in Estonia and both are returning to the Eurovision Song Contest. Koit represented Estonia in the competition in 1998 whilst Laura participated as part of Suntribe when the contest was last held in Kyiv in 2005. Their song for 2017 is called Verona and is described as a modern take on Romeo and Juliet.

The song Verona was inspired by songwriter Sven Lõhmus' recent trip to the city of the same name. He has worked with both singers before, but this is the first time that the ambitious duo will unite for a specific project.

Koit Toome rose to fame as a member of boyband Code One. He finished 12th in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 with Mere Lapsed. Koit has released five albums in total, both as part of Code One and as a solo artist. In 2007 he won the Estonian version of Dancing with the Stars. In recent years Koit has enjoyed success in the world of musical theatre.

Laura's big break came in 2005 when she represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest as part of Suntribe. In 2007 she returned to the Estonian national selection with the song Sunflowers where she placed third. She participated again in 2009 with the song Destiny and returned once more in 2016 with Supersonic. Laura has released several singles over the years as well as three albums and is the the current head of the Estonian Jazz Union.

According to reports in the Estonian media, Laura will wear a dress costing more than €5,000! The embroidered dress was made by three people over a month and can even be carried in hand luggage. Laura stipulated that it should be white, long and effective on-camera both up-close and from afar. Beauty doesn't come cheap! 

Both Laura and Koit have long dreamed of one day returning to the Eurovision Song Contest. After more than a decade of waiting, they finally found a song and team that made it happen.