Formed in 1996 by Tuomas Holopainen with guitarist Emppu Vuorinen and classical singer Tarja Turunen, Nightwish have sold over seven million records, making them Finland's most successful rock band ever. They had big ideas from the start, writing mythological songs and putting crashing heavy metal arrangements around them after discovering Taja Turunen's operatic voice was drowning everything else. The result was an original style that came to be dubbed "symphonic metal". They achieved early success in Finland in 1997 with the single The Carpenter and debut album Angels Fall First. Yet it was their next three albums Oceanborn, Wishmaster and Century Child, which established their fan base in the rest of Europe and, after their videos were shown on MTV, they cracked America with the 2004 album Once. Taja Turunen was sacked in 2007 after disputes between her Argentinian husband and the rest of the band, who replaced her with former Alyson Avenue front woman Anette Olzon, instantly making her mark on their explosive album Dark Passion Play. In 2010 they were working on a new album.Artist biography compiled by BDS/West 10. All rights reserved
