NIGHTWISH (+TARJA TURUNEN)

Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic power metal musical group, formed in 1996 in the town of Kitee, in eastern Finland. Nightwish is considered one of the bands responsible for the development and rise in popularity of symphonic metal at the end of the 1990s, and the creation of the symphonic metal genre.

Although the band has been prominent in their home country since the release of their first single, "The Carpenter" (1997) and debut album Angels Fall First, they did not achieve worldwide fame until the release of the albums Oceanborn and Wishmaster, which were released in 1998 and 2000 respectively. Their 2004 album, Once, led to Nightwish video clips being shown on MTV in the United States and inclusion of their music in U.S. movie soundtracks. Their biggest U.S. hit single, "Wish I Had an Angel" (2004), made it onto three U.S. film soundtracks as a means to promote their North American tour.The band produced three more singles and two music videos for the album, as well as "Sleeping Sun", from the 2005 "best of" compilation album, Highest Hopes, prior to vocalist Tarja Turunen's dismissal.

The search for Turunen's replacement, during the course of which anyone could be considered by submitting a demo, ended in mid 2007. The former Alyson Avenue frontwoman Anette Olzon was revealed to be the new singer on May 24. The band recently released a new album, Dark Passion Play, which features the charity single "Eva", the single "Amaranth", and the single "Bye Bye Beautiful" on September 28, 2007.

Music

Tuomas Holopainen, writer of most of the band's lyrics and musical scores, says that he gets most of the inspiration for Nightwish's songs from film music. Songs like "Beauty of the Beast" (from Century Child) and "Ghost Love Score" (from Once) are examples of this influence. Other songs, such as "Romanticide" and "Wish I Had an Angel" (both from Once) have elements reminiscent of techno music. Holopainen has also said that film music is the music he listens to for leisure. He likes for example the musical scores to Van Helsing and Crimson Tide, and practically everything written by Hans Zimmer.

On the other hand, Nightwish has also been noted as a source of inspiration for other bands. Simone Simons, lead singer of Epica, stated that she began singing due to Nightwish. Ex-singer of Visions of Atlantis Nicole Bogner also acknowledged that Nightwish had greatly inspired them for their first album.Sander Gommans of After Forever said that Nightwish "will certainly influence us in creating new songs". Power metal band Sonata Arctica's lead singer Tony Kakko has explained how much of an influence Nightwish is to him.

Musical style

A precise definition for Nightwish's musical style is disputed. The band has been suggested as being part of the genres gothic metal, symphonic metal, and power metal. Tuomas Holopainen once described their music as "melodic heavy metal with a female vocalist".

In the beginning of Nightwish's career, Holopainen's idea of the band was to create a new but still old genre; the kind of acoustic music played by the open fire on hiking events, to confront radio and CD scene. As he realized that Turunen's voice would be much too strong for such a project, though, he abandoned it to instead focus on metal. Since, Nightwish's music has been very experimental, focusing on mixing genres and using material that is old, but new to the scene.

The definition symphonic metal is based on Nightwish's inclusion of instruments and vocal styles of classical music and film scores, because of this bassist / vocalist Marco Hietala has also called their music "film score metal" similar to the music of Rhapsody of Fire. The uplifting fantasy themes, epic atmospheres, high vocals, guitar and keyboard solos and fast melodic musical style of Nightwish's music, especially the first three albums, place them in the power metal genre similar to other Finnish bands such as Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius. The gothic metal tag is usually used by magazines such as Kerrang as many Nightwish songs have gothic elements.

A new era for Nightwish's musical style began with Century Child and was developed further with especially Once. The guitars were downtuned and simplified to a lower rhythmical sound closer to modern hard rock than the old melodic power metal style leads and Tarja's vocals lost some of their operatic edge, becoming closer to standard rock female singing. Male vocals from new bassist Marco Hietala added a new, rougher dimension to songs like Planet Hell and Wish I Had An Angel. Lead band member Tuomas Holopainen has said in an interview that Dark Passion Play will have a lot in common with the last album (Once). For example, the band will keep the new kind of harder songs (such as "Wish I Had an Angel" and "Planet Hell"), but there will as well be softer ballads (such as "Nemo). The new album includes lots of guest musicians and orchestral parts - in the same interview, Tuomas said that as they recorded Once they had 18 people in the choir, and still this wasn't enough.

Band history

Formation and demo (1996)

Nightwish was the brainchild of Tuomas Holopainen (later keyboardist of the band), conceived after spending a night around a campfire with friends. The band formed shortly after, in July 1996. Holopainen invited guitarist Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen, who was a fairly new acquaintance, and vocalist Tarja Turunen to the project, as she was renowned around the school they attended for her excellent vocal skills.

Their style at the time was based on the experimentations of Holopainen with using keyboards, acoustic guitars and the classical vocals of Tarja Turunen. The three musicians then recorded an untitled acoustic Demo from October to December of 1996. The name "Nightwish" derives from the first song they recorded together, and the demo included an eponymous song, "The Forever Moments" and "Etiäinen". The first idea of the band was to create music much like the music played around campfires. However, after this recording Holopainen decided that Turunen's operatic voice was too powerful for a project like this one, and decided to add in metal elements.

Angels Fall First (1997)

.In early 1997, drummer Jukka Nevalainen joined the band. At the same time the acoustic guitar was replaced by an electric guitar. Both the decision of including a drummer and for Vuorinen to change into electric guitar was of course part of Holopainen's idea of changing Nightwish's original style into a new take on metal, forming what Nightwish is today.

In April 1997, the band went into the studio in order to record seven songs; including an improved version of the demo-song "Etiäinen". These songs can be found on the limited edition of their later released debut album "Angels Fall First".

In May of the same year, they signed with the Finnish record label Spinefarm Records for two albums. "Angels Fall First" was released in November and reached number 31 on the Finnish album charts. A previously released single, "The Carpenter", reached number 3 on the Finnish singles chart. "The Carpenter" was a split with the two metal bands Children of Bodom and Thy Serpent.

The critical reception of Angels Fall First has been mixed. All Music Guide rated the album 2 out of 5 and sources like The Metal Observer stated that Nightwish's debut album paled drastically in comparison to their later work.However, on Encyclopaedia Metallum, which features listener reviews, the album scored an average rating of 91%.

December 1997 marked the band's very first concert, after over a year of existence, which was played in their hometown Kitee in Finland. During the winter of 1997–98, the band performed only seven more times because drummer Nevalainen and guitarist Vuorinen were fulfilling their obligatory military service and Turunen had not yet finished her studies.

By this time, Spinefarm Records had realized the band's potential, and extended their contract from two albums into three.

Oceanborn (1998–1999)

In 1998, the band got further extension as bassist Sami Vänskä, an old friend of Holopainen, joined the band. After shooting the band's first video clip ever, for the song "The Carpenter" from the debut album, they released Oceanborn, the successor of Angels Fall First. This album was more technical and progressive than their first release in terms of songwriting and arrangements.[9] The album also featured Tapio Wilska (ex-Finntroll) on two songs ("Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean" and "The Pharaoh Sails to Orion"), meaning much to Nightwish as this was their first guest vocalist. "Oceanborn" reached number 5 on the Finnish album charts and the first single from that album, Sacrament of Wilderness, went straight to number 1 on the Finnish single charts, where it stayed for several weeks. (sample).

The second single to come out was "Walking in the Air", a cover of Howard Blake's piece, part of The Snowman's soundtrack. It had been Holopainen's dream since he first saw "The Snowman", seven years old, to record a cover of it.

In 1999, they recorded the single "Sleeping Sun (Four Ballads of the Eclipse)", for the solar eclipse in Germany. This single sold 15,000 copies during the first month in Germany, and included the songs "Sleeping Sun", "Walking in the Air", "Angels Fall First" and "Swanheart". The song "Sleeping Sun" also led to the band's third music video. It is still known as one of Nightwish's greatest and most listened songs, together with the later releases "Nemo" and "Wish I Had an Angel". For the last half of 2007, it has remained Nightwish's third most listened track on Last.fm.

"Oceanborn" was a certified gold in August the year after the release.

Wishmaster (2000)

in 2000, Nightwish participated in the Finnish qualification for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Sleepwalker" (later released on the Spinefarm special edition of their next album). They finished the contest in second place, winning the public televoting, but overruled by the jury (sample), and Finland was instead represented by Nina Åström. In 2006, as Lordi, another metal band won the entire competition for Finland with their song "Hardrock Hallelujah", Holopainen was asked in an interview if he thought that Nightwish could have done better if they have only gotten the chance. He answered that he didn't, instead, he was proud of Lordi.

In May they released their awaited third studio album Wishmaster which went straight to number 1 on the Finnish album charts, and remained there for three weeks. During those three weeks it was certified gold. Despite long-awaited releases from Iron Maiden and Bon Jovi, which happened simultaneously, Wishmaster was declared album of the month by the German magazine Rock Hard. The album was succeeded by a promotional single, "The Kinslayer", a song Holopainen had written especially about the Columbine high school massacre. The song features a dialog between Turunen and guest vocalist Ike Vil (of the band Babylon Whores).

Over the Hills and Far Away / Century Child (2001–2003)

In 2001 Nightwish recorded a cover of Gary Moore's "Over the Hills and Far Away" together with two new songs and a remake of Astral Romance. This was released as the EP Over the Hills and Far Away. The record counted with guest performances by Tony Kakko (from the power metal band Sonata Arctica) and Tapio Wilska. They also released a VHS, DVD and CD with live material recorded in a show in Tampere, on December 29, 2000. All of these were entitled From Wishes to Eternity. Shortly afterwards, Sami Vänskä was asked to leave the band, and Marco Hietala (Tarot, ex-Sinergy) joined the band, effectively leaving Sinergy. The bassist would, apart from playing his instrument, also perform male vocals. Tuomas has afterwords said that he and Sami still keep in touch, killing off rumours saying that they haven't met since. Though, they are not interested in making another project together.

Century Child, their fourth albumIn 2002 Nightwish released Century Child, and the singles "Ever Dream" and "Bless the Child". The main difference from previous albums is the use of a live orchestra from Finland on "Bless the Child", "Ever Dream", "Feel For You" and "The Beauty of the Beast", to get a more present feeling of classical music. An enduring favorite of fans, though, is the band's version of "Phantom of the Opera", from the famous musical of the same name by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Century Child was certified gold two hours after its release, and platinum two weeks afterwards. It set a record on the Finnish album charts as well; never before had the second been so distant from the first place. After the "Bless the Child" video, a second one was recorded, without any single support. The chosen track was "End of All Hope". The clip contains pieces from the Finnish movie, Kohtalon kirja (English: The Book of Fate).

In 2003, Nightwish released a second DVD, entitled End of Innocence that tells the story of the band in Holopainen and Nevalainen's words for two hours. The documentary also features bits of live concerts, exclusive footage, etc.

Vocalist Tarja Turunen also got married during the summer of 2003, and there were rumours that the band was about to be dissolved. These rumours were, at the time, proven to be false, as the band continued on to play concerts for another year and released another album. The marriage later meant a great part in Tarja's dismissal from the band in the autumn of 2005.

Once (2004–2005)

along with their first single, "Nemo" (Latin for "nobody"), from that album. The single topped the charts in Finland and Hungary, and reached the top ten in five additional countries. "Nemo" therefore remains their most successful single release to date.

Once utilizes a full orchestra in nine of the eleven songs on the album. Unlike Century Child, Nightwish decided to look for an orchestra outside of Finland this time, choosing the London Session Orchestra. It is also their second album to feature a full-length song in Finnish, "Kuolema tekee taiteilijan" (English: "Death Makes an Artist"). Once has sold triple platinum in Finland, platinum in Germany, gold in Sweden and reached #1 in the Greek, Norwegian and Hungarian album charts. The following singles were: "Wish I Had an Angel" (featured on the soundtrack of the Alone in the Dark film), "Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" (released only in Finland and Japan) and "The Siren". Besides the commercial success, Once was also accepted by critics, with many positive reviewers (such as Metalfan.nl and RockReport.be)drawing comparisons with Oceanborn. The success of the album allowed them to perform the Once World Tour, which enabled them to play in many countries the band had never visited before. Nightwish performed at the opening ceremony of the 2005 World Championships in Athletics, held in Helsinki, highlighting acclaim the band has recently gained.

A "best of" album was released in September 2005, containing songs from their whole discography. The compilation is entitled Highest Hopes, also featuring a live cover of Pink Floyd's song "High Hopes" (from the The Division Bell album). This song was the first in which Hietala performs the vocals by himself (sample). Besides High Hopes, a remake of "Sleeping Sun" (from Oceanborn) was put on the album, which was also released as a single. A new video for "Sleeping Sun" was shot, featuring a medieval battle, and can be found on the German release of the single and as a separate DVD released by Spinefarm.

End of an Era (2005–2006)

After the recording in the Hartwall Areena (Helsinki) on the 21st of October, 2005, of the new live DVD End of an Era (released June 2006), the four other members of Nightwish decided that it was best to continue Nightwish without Tarja Turunen, a feeling they expressed through an open letter which was given to Turunen by Tuomas Holopainen after the concert, and afterwards posted on the band's website. The main justification of Turunen's dismissal given in the letter was that the band felt that her husband Marcelo Cabuli, an Argentinian businessman, and commercial interests had changed her attitude towards the band.

Turunen responded to the incident, saying that her dismissal came entirely as a shock to her, given that she had not been notified before the letter was given to her. She felt that the personal attacks on her husband were unwarranted, and that playing the issue out to the public was "senselessly cruel". She expressed these feelings through her own open letter, which was published on her personal website,and through various TV, magazine, and newspaper interviews.

Dark Passion Play (2006 – 2007)

Anette_Olzon

In 2006, the band recorded their sixth full-length studio album, Dark Passion Play. The process began with drum recordings, then guitar, bass and demo keyboards. Orchestral and choir recordings took place in Abbey Road Studios. After those, the final synthesizers and vocals were recorded.

To find a replacement for Turunen as the female vocalist of the band, on March 17, 2006 the band allowed vocalists interested for the position to send in demo tapes as an audition for the spot. During this time, speculation began to emerge as to who would eventually succeed Turunen as the female vocalist for the band. In response to these and other rumors, the band stated on their website that fans should not believe any source other than the band itself for information regarding the new vocalist.

For the same reason, the identity of the new singer was to be published earlier, and on Thursday the 24th of May, then 35-year-old Anette Olzon from Katrineholm, Sweden was announced to replace Turunen.

Wikinews has related news:
Nightwish release 'Dark Passion Play', most expensive album in Finnish history‎"Eva" was announced as the first single from the new album in February, with a sample of the song being available on the band's website along with samples from three other songs from the upcoming album: 7 Days to the Wolves, Master Passion Greed, and Amaranth. It was originally scheduled for release on May 30, but due to a leak on a British music download site the single was released on May 25.

The second single from the album is "Amaranth", was released in Finland on August 22 and achieved gold status after less than two days in stores. In July, 2007 it was reported that the third would be "Bye Bye Beautiful", a song written about Turunen's dismissal.

On the 13th of June Nightwish released the title, Dark Passion Play, and artwork to the new album on their official website, as well as the name and the cover of the second CD-single, Amaranth. The forthcoming single will include a bonus track entitled "While Your Lips Are Still Red" written by Tuomas as the main theme track for the upcoming Finnish feature film "Lieksa!" Technically, it is not a Nightwish-track as it only features Marco on vocals and acoustic bass, Tuomas on keys and Jukka on drums. The song's video was officially released on June 15.

Dark Passion Play was released around Europe in the last week of September, 2007, in the UK on October 1st, 2007, and the United States on October 2nd, 2007. There are two separate releases: 1) a single-disc standard version and 2) a 2-CD Special Edition which will contain 1 bonus track on the 1st disc and a 2nd CD comprised of orchestral versions of every song on the album. Roadrunner are even releasing a limited edition 3CD version. U.S. citizens who pre-ordered Dark Passion Play through Newburycomics.com received a limited edition autographed cd booklet.

In this album, perhaps because of former female vocalist Tarja's dismissal, male vocalist Marco Hietala gets more freedom in his vocals, singing at least back up in every single song of the album with the exception of "Amaranth", and singing exclusively (excepting back up by Anette Olzon) in several songs, such as "The Islander", "Master Passion Greed", "While Your Lips Are Still Red" and "Reach" (both latter from Amaranth CDS), and singing chorus in songs such as "Bye Bye Beautiful" and "7 Days to the Wolves".

Several magazines, including Kerrang! have noted how the departure of Tarja Turunen seems to have released the band from their shell and how restraint has been left to other bands. The use of some 175 additional musicians for the orchestral and solo parts of the album has resulted in the band now being described as "Epic Metal" by many people - especially in 14 minute album opener "The Poet and The Pendulum". The album was awarded 5/5 (classic) by Kerrang! magazine.

The New Era (2007–)

On September 22, 2007, the band hosted a secret concert at Rock Café in Tallinn, Estonia, disguising itself as a Nightwish cover band called "Nachtwasser". Their first official concert with the new singer was in Tel Aviv, Israel on October 6, 2007. The Dark Passion Play tour has now visited the United States, Canada, most of Europe, and have (as of December 18, 2007) a planned tour in parts of Asia and Australia, a second tour in North America, Europe and more.

The third single of the album was first reported to be "Bye Bye Beautiful", and a music video to this song was recorded together with "Amaranth"'s, and released in September, 2007. However, changed minds resulted in the third single being "Erämaan Viimeinen", a previously unreleased vocal version of the instrumental song "Last of the Wilds". It was released in Finland only on December 5, 2007. On this song, Jonsu of the Finnish pop/rock band Indica performs the Finnish vocals.

On December 13, 2007, Nightwish opened an official account on YouTube, linked to from their official website. On this, they've uploaded live filmings from their concerts.

"Bye Bye Beautiful", the fourth single, was released on February 15, 2008 in two versions; DVD and CD. Within a week after the release, the fifth single was announced to be "The Islander", to be released on May 21.

According to Holopainen, this will be the longest tour the band has yet attempted, and will probably last about two and a half years. As of February, 2008, tour dates are booked until May, 2008, with several summer/fall dates in Europe added. Nightwish has confirmed that they will do a third US tour in 2008's second semester. They will also be performing at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park in June 2008 and at EXIT festival on July 10.

On March 3, 2008, Nightwish lost by a single vote to the American Metal band Kamelot, in the Metal Storm Awards 2007. Both Nightwish and Kamelot were among the nominees for Best Power Metal Album of 2007 ( Dark Passion Play, and Ghost Opera respectively). They suffered another loss to Kamelot in the category for Best Music Video, their nominated video being for the song Amaranth. They, however won both Biggest Surprise of 2007 and Biggest Letdown of 2007.

1996

Tuomas Holopainen - Keyboards
Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen - Guitar, bass
Tarja Turunen - Vocals

"Demo" (1996)

1997

Tuomas Holopainen - Keyboards
Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen - Guitar, bass
Tarja Turunen - Vocals
Jukka Nevalainen - Drums

"Angels Fall First" (1997)

1998–2001

Tuomas Holopainen - Keyboards
Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen - Guitar
Tarja Turunen - Vocals
Jukka Nevalainen - Drums
Sami Vänskä - Bass

"Oceanborn" (1998)
"Wishmaster" (2000)
"Over the Hills and Far Away" (2001)

2001–2005

Tuomas Holopainen - Keyboards
Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen - Guitar
Tarja Turunen - Vocals
Jukka Nevalainen - Drums
Marco Hietala - Bass, vocals

"Century Child" (2002)
"Once" (2004)

2005–2007

Tuomas Holopainen - Keyboards
Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen - Guitar
Jukka Nevalainen - Drums
Marco Hietala - Bass, vocals

- "End of an Era" (2006)
This release still featured Tarja Turunen

2007

Tuomas Holopainen - Keyboards
Erno "Emppu" Vuorinen - Guitar
Anette Olzon - Vocals
Jukka Nevalainen - Drums
Marco Hietala - Bass, vocals

"Dark Passion Play" (2007)

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http://www.tarjaturunen.com/

Born in Kitee, Finland, Turunen began to study music at age six, and moved to the city of Kuopio at 18 to study at the Sibelius Academy. She became a founding member of Nightwish in 1996 when her classmate Tuomas Holopainen invited her to join his new musical project. That year Turunen also performed with the Savonlinna Opera Festival. However, she did not become internationally famous until the release of Nightwish's successful follow-up album, Oceanborn, in 1998.

Turunen sang solo in Waltari's rock-themed 1999 ballet Evankeliumi (also known as Evangelicum) in several sold-out performances at the Finnish National Opera. She continued to tour and record with Nightwish through 2000 and 2001, after which she enrolled in the Music University in Karlsruhe, Germany. While there, she recorded vocals for Nightwish's 2002 album Century Child and for Beto Vázquez Infinity.

In 2002, Turunen toured South America, performing in the classical Lied concert Noche Escandinava (Scandinavian Night), again to sold-out houses. Following this and an exhausting world tour in support of Century Child, Nightwish took a hiatus and Turunen returned to Karlsruhe.

Finnish President Tarja Halonen and her husband invited Turunen to the President's Palace in Helsinki in December 2003 for the Finnish Independence Day Party, Finland's biggest social event, where the viewers of Finnish television station Yle named her the most impressively dressed lady, among honors given by several newspapers and magazines.

After the hiatus, Turunen rejoined Nightwish for the album Once and supporting world tour throughout 2004-2005, and embarked on a second Noche Escandinava tour in the spring of 2004. For Christmas 2004, she released the single Yhden Enkelin Unelma (One Angel's Dream), which sold gold in her native country, Finland. For the spring of 2005, she prepared a collaboration with Germany's Martin Kesici, the duet 'Leaving You for Me', also accompanied by a video. On October 21, 2005, Turunen was asked to leave Nightwish in an open letter by the other members of Nightwish, over a dispute that involved "a changed attitude" and increased financial interest. She responded through another open letter, which was posted on her website in both Finnish and English (although the letter can no longer be found on her website, it is available on a fan page). In February 2006, Tarja's husband Marcelo posted a message to her website addressing the situation, and asked for anyone who had questions pertaining to the issues between Tarja and the rest of the band to email him. Marcelo then posted a lengthy reply to many of the questions he had received in June 2006.

Solo career
In December 2005, she performed several Christmas concerts in Finland, Germany, Spain and Romania. 2006 was not a break year for Turunen, who has recorded a Christmas album and vocals for her brother, Timo Turunen's debut album. She will also be making an appearance at the Savonlinna Opera Festival.

On September 16th Tarja attended a Meet and Greet session / Listening Party with some fans in London to help launch the Spinefarm UK label . At the event the fans were given the opportunity to be the first in the world to listen to 8 of the songs from her upcoming album My Winter Storm as well as ask Tarja questions. Overall the reaction was good. Tarja confirmed at the event that there would be some solo dates at the end of the year, including London.

The following day, September 17th Tarja's solo dates were announced across Europe. The currently confirmed cities are Berlin, London, Moscow, Budapest, Cologne, Paris Amsterdam and Zurich.

In October 2007 a Street Team endorsed by Universal Music and Spinefarm UK was launched for Tarja through UK based company Worst Decision. The aim of the team is to help promote Tarja's upcoming single, album and tour with the help of dedicated fans, the most dedicated of which will be eligible to receive free stuff for their work . While currently aimed mainly at the UK market it is hoped that many members from all over the world will join to help spread the word about Tarja throughout the UK, Europe and around the world.

Tarja's first solo album, 'My Winter Storm', was released in November 2007 and achieved gold status in Finland on the day of release. My Winter Storm took the number 1 spot in the Finnish charts. Tarja also sings on track "In The Picture", composed by Rage guitarist Victor Smolski, on Nuclear Blast Allstars' album Into The Light, 2007.