Nightwish 4v4b2b

1996 PRESENT

1996 Beginning of an Era

Facts - Formed in a small town called Kitee in Finland during 1977.

Tuomas Holopainen (1976) Keyboard - player / Founder

Forms the band at a camp fire in the summer of 1996 with the ambition of creating moody and atmospheric music with acoustic Instruments. His inspiration comes primarily from movie soundtrack composers such as Hans Zimmer, fairytales and Walt Disney whom which he loved.

Tarja Turunen (1977)

Vocalist ( 1996 2005 )

- Recorded a 3track acoustic demo at their school with help from their music teacher. - Was negatively received by the press, being criticized as having “ no commercial potential”.

1997 Release of “Angels Fall First”

Facts -Tuomas is pursued by the music label Spine Farm to take the project in a heavier direction, then signs the band shortly after receiving their “Angels secondFall demoFirst . ” gets released nationally . -First album -The press remains sceptical calling them “Farmer-kids attempting metal”. -The first single “The Carpenter” hits number 15 on the Finnish radio charts . their first gig in their hometown of Kitee with -They play an audience of 400 people. From the right, band consisting of Tarja Turunen (Vocals ), Tuomas Holopainen (Founder , keyboardist , music and lyrics-writer), Jukka Nevalainen (Drums) and Emppu Vuorinen (Guitars )

1998

Release of “Oceanborn ”

Facts - Bassist Sami Vänskä s the band. -The first single “The Carpenter” hits number 8 on the Finnish radio charts and the album “Angels Fall First” reaches number 31. -A low-budget music video is filmed for “The Carpenter” in Norway. -Their second album “Oceanborn” is released and is claimed to be their technically most difficult album to work on and Tarja cried alot as she did not have enough experience to perform what Tuomas asked of her. This album pushed back their limits introducing faster beats, increasing quavers and tripled fickleness. - The band starts touring and a video for their second single “Sacrament of the Wilderness” is recorded which is considered a total failure by the band.

1999

Success after the hard work

Facts -“Oceanborn” turns out to be highly popular. -Tuomas is moved by the tragedy in Columbine, thus wrote and dedicated to it, the song “The Kinslayer” which is played throughout the big Finnish festivals. -Tuomas writes the song “Sleeping Sun” which is dedicated to the solar eclipse that took place throughout most of Europe. -Oceanborn became a gold record and Nightwish was asked to bigger bands on their touring.

2000

Release of “Wishmaster ”

Facts -The band released their third album “Wishmaster ” which was heavier than any of their previous albums abandoning most of their acoustic sound. -The band took part in the Finnish Eurovision where the audience placed them as number 1 but the jury placed them number 3, preventing them from being chosen to represent Finland in the contest. -Nightwish begins to tour internationally. -Nightwish receives a platinum disk for the album. -The first live-concert DVD and VHS is released out of a concert in Tampere.

2001

Sami leaves, Marco s.

Facts -Sami departs from the band due to musical differences. -The band goes through some hard times. -Metal-veteran Marco Hietala s the band as the new bassist. -The band does a successful cover and music video of Gary Moore’s “Over the Hills and Far Away”. -They keep on attending major festivals throughout Europe.

Sami Vänskä (1976) Bassist (1998-2001)

Marco Hietala(1966) Bassist and vocalist (2001 – Present)

2002

Release of “Century Child”

Facts -“Century Child” received very good ratings from the press. -The band was feeling excellent, thanks to Marco . -The single “Ever Dream ” was made platinum in Finland. -The band toured across Europe.

2003

The DVD “End of Innocence ” is released

Facts -The band tours Slovenia and America for the first time. -A live-concert DVD named “End of Innocence” was released to illustrate the band’s transformation from being in-experienced musicians from a small town to a popular metal band touring the world. -

2004

“Once” is released

Facts -The orchestral parts on the album were done by the London Studio Orchestra which consisted of 52 musicians conducted by Pip Williams who also worked on the soundtrack for Lord of The Rings. -Tuomas ed John Two - Hawks, a native American descent, asking him to play the flute and do some backing vocals on the song “Creek Mary’s Blood” which was dedicated to the native Americans. -“Once” made Nightwish reach new heights, they changed their record label from Spine Farm to Nuclear Blast and the singles “Nemo” and “I Wish I Had An Angel” was very well received, even being used in some films. Nightwish followed the release with a massive tour that took them through Europe, America and Asia.

2005

End of an Era

Facts -Nightwish releases a “best of” album named “Highest Hopes” and records a new version of “Sleeping Sun” in order to promote the album. -Nightwish wins the band of the year award in Finland. -The band records their biggest live-concert at Hartwall Arena, Helsinki in front of 11500 people for a future DVD. -After the concert Tarja is dismissed from the band, the reason being a change of attitude and values towards the band.

2006

The DVD “End of an Era” and Nightwish’ biography “Once Upon a Nightwish” is released

Facts -The DVD “End of an Era” gets released in Europe , immediately earning a gold record. -Nightwish ’ biography written by Mape Ollila is released and Tarja ’ s husband threatens to censor it. -Tarja goes solo.The relationship between Tarja and Nightwish is tense. -Emppu starts working on other musical projects . -Tuomas is searching for a new singer and is feeling depressed thus resulting in some of his darkest lyrical creations.

2007

The new vocalist is announced and “Dark ion Play” is released

Facts -Anette Olzon from Sweden is announced as the new vocalist for the band. -The band turns to a more mainstream approach, abandoning the operatic vocals. -Their sixth album “Dark ion Play” is -According to Last.fm "Dark ion Play" is their most played album, and its successful single "Amaranth" has as of February, 2009 been holding the position of most played song since its release. -“Dark ion Play” is also Nightwish fastest and highest selling album. -

2009

Facts -Nightwish is touring the world, ending with a concert at Hartwall Arena where they haven’t played since 2005. -The band releases it’s third live-concert DVD entitled “Made in Hong Kong” which features material from their concert in Hong Kong. -They are currently working on a new album to be released during late 2009.