Ville Valo

The Finnish vocalist Ville Valo has released a number of chart-topping albums in his homeland, both as a member of the gothic rock band HIM as well as a solo artist. He was born on November 22, 1976, in Helsinki, Finland. In 1991, the 15-year old Valo formed a band with Mikko "Mige" Paananen, although the group broke up in 1993. The band reformed two years later, changed its name to HIM, and released the debut album Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 in 1997. The record reached Number 2 in Finland, followed by chart-topping releases like 2000's Razorblade Romance, 2001's Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights, 2003's Love Metal, and 2005's Dark Light. HIM also enjoyed success in America, where Dark Light became the first album by a Finnish band to go gold. Serving as the band's vocalist and chief songwriter, Valo won a BMI Award in 2007 for "Wings of a Butterfly," one of seven songs from HIM's catalog to top the Finnish charts. That same year, he launched a solo career with a cover of Lee Hazlewood's "Summer Wine," which also reached Number 1 in Finland. Nearly a decade later, he released a cover of John Denver's "Annie's Song," which he performed in Finnish under the revised title of "Olet mun kaikuluotain." Released in 2016, the song was followed by Valo's collaboration with Agents, a schlager group that served as his backing band on the 2019 collaborative album Ville Valo & Agents. The record reached Number 1 in Finland, went gold, and spawned the hit single "Orpolapsi kiurun," which peaked at Number 3. Valo released a solo EP, Gothica Fennica Vol. 1, in 2020, then returned to the top of the Finnish charts in 2023 with his full-length solo album, Neon Noir.