Nightwish

Nightwish is a symphonic metal band from Finland. They formed in July 1996 and played acoustic mood music. The band's keyboardist and composer Tuomas Holopainen had the idea of forming a band. He asked Tarja Turunen to sing and Emppu Vuorinen to play guitar.

Nightwish
Nightwish live in Melbourne, Australia, on 30 January 2008
Background information
Origin	Kitee, Finland
Genres	Symphonic metal, Alternative metal, Gothic metal, power metal
Years active	1996 – present
Labels	Spinefarm, Nuclear Blast, Roadrunner, NEMS Enterprises, Century Media, Drakkar Entertainment
Website	www.nightwish.com
Members	Floor Jansen Tuomas Holopainen Emppu Vuorinen Kai Hahto Troy Donockley
Past members	Tarja Turunen Sami Vänskä Anette Olzon Jukka Nevalainen Marco Hietala

At the beginning of 1997, the band started playing stronger music. Jukka Nevalainen joined the band to play the drums. Vuorinen used an electric guitar instead of an acoustic guitar. In May 1997, Nightwish signed a contract (binding agreement) with Spinefarm Records and they released their first album 'Angels Fall First'.

In 1998, Sami Vänskä joined the band to play bass guitar. The same year Nightwish released 'Oceanborn', which was quite different to 'Angels Fall First'.

In May 2000 they released 'Wishmaster', which was similar to 'Oceanborn'. They also entered the contest to be Finland's representatives for the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song 'Sleepwalker'. They won the phone vote but the judges disagreed so they came second.

The other band members asked Tarja to leave the group in 2005 after their "End of an Era" tour. Tuomas wrote an open letter to her, stating the reasons why she had to leave. He then put the letter on the official website. In 2007, Swedish singer Anette Olzon became the new singer, and Nightwish released a single, 'Amaranth'. A few months later, they released the album 'Dark Passion Play'.

Albums

• Angels Fall First (1997)
• Oceanborn (1998)
• Wishmaster (2000)
• Over the Hills and Far Away EP (2001)
• Century Child (2002)
• Once (2004)
• Dark Passion Play (2007)
• Imaginaerum (2011)
• Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015)
• Human. :II: Nature. (2020)

Singles

• The Carpenter (1997)
• Sacrament of Wilderness (1998)
• Walking in the Air (1999)
• Sleeping Sun (Four Ballads of the Eclipse) (1999)
• Deep Silent Complete (2000)
• Ever Dream (2002)
• Bless the Child (2002)
• Nemo (2004)
• Wish I Had an Angel (2004)
• Kuolema tekee taiteilijan (2004)
• The Siren (2005)
• Eva (2007)
• Amaranth (2007)
• Erämaan Viimeinen (2007)
• Bye Bye Beautiful (2008)
• The Islander (2008)
• Storytime (2011)
• The Crow, the Owl and the Dove (2012)
• Élan (2015)
• Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015)
• Alpenglow (2015) (promo)
• My Walden (2016) (12)
• Noise (2020)
• Harvest (2020)

Nightwish Media

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  Tuomas Holopainen (left) and Emppu Vuorinen (right), two of the band's founding members.

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  Former bassist and vocalist Marko Hietala, replaced Sami Vänskä in late 2001 and performed with the band until his departure in 2021.

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  Nightwish at signing session in Hamburg, 2007

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  Nightwish live in Paris, France, on April 6, 2008

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  Nightwish performing in Denver, Colorado with Elize Ryd and Alissa White-Gluz, who filled in for Anette Olzon, who parted ways with the band afterwards.

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  Nightwish performing in Oberhausen, Germany, in November 2015

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  Jansen, Holopainen and Donockley during the Festival de Nîmes concert in July 2022

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  The use of keyboards are an important part of Nightwish's original music.

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  A part of Nightwish's original sound was the soprano vocals of Tarja Turunen, until her dismissal from the band in 2005.