Nightwish

Nightwish started as an acoustic project by Tuomas Holopainen of Nattvindens Grat, who wanted to do something different from what he had been playing before. So he came up with three songs just for keyboards, acoustic guitar and female vocals. Acoustic guitars were performed by his friend Emppu, who came up with the idea of using their friend Tarja, a student from Sibelius Academy, on vocals. The result was something they all had hoped for: Tarja's voice fit the music perfectly.

The self-titled demo was recorded during Dec.96 and Jan.97 at Kitee Huvikeskus Studio by their friend Tero Kinnunen. The tape, however, did not end up being distributed; it was only sent to some labels and magazines, which all gave the tape relatively good credit but the labels thought music was too narrow, and did not have enough variety. However, this first tape never reached the ears of Spinefarm.

In Apr.97 the band entered the same studio again to record seven new songs they had written, now including also electric guitars and drums. The line-up was still the same: Tarja handling the vocals, Emppu acoustic and electric guitars and bass, Tuomas the synths and some vocals. Drums and percussions were performed by their friend Jukka, the latest addition to their line-up.

After the recording they received offers from two labels and Spinefarm's proposal was accepted. Nightwish debut album Angels Fall First (SPI 47 CD) was released in Finland in October 1997 and for the rest of Europe in March 1998.

Angels Fall First featured 12 songs of atmospheric metalrock with incredible female vocals, a good load of gothic influences and with a great sound, with total running time of nearly 52 minutes.

The second album Oceanborn was released in December 7th. It went up to fifth place on the Finnish official album chart (and stayed on charts over 30 weeks!). Singles from Oceanborn, Sacrament of Wilderness and Walking in the air also ruled the charts. Actually Nightwish had three (3) singles at the top 10 at the time - also their first single The Carpenter returned to the single chart. Beat that!

After Oceanborn Nightwish started to do some serious touring around Finland. Even though they had done just couple of gigs before it was clear from the very beginning of tour that Night wish would take their audience just like that. Almost every venue and festival was packed with opera metal maniacs. Now it was time to go abroad. Autumn 1999 Nightwish toured European venues with German progressive metal gods Rage. Again, the feedback just excellent. No wonder since the German release Sleeping Sun EP had sold over 15000 copies in one month.

In early 2000 the band entered studio again for the recordings of our third album. A welcome interruption to the repetitive studio work became when we took part in the Finnish qualification of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Sleepwalker. Nightwish cleared the first round of the qualification but the final position was second despite an overwhelming win in the public televoting.

The newest album, Wishmaster, was released in May and it immediately was number one on the Finnish charts, kept the position for three weeks, and finally went gold just like its predecessor Oceanborn and all the singles released so far!

The idea of making a live Nightwish-recording took shape during the autumn of 2000, and that idea was made into reality on New Years Eve 2000-2001, when Nightwish played a gig at club Pakkahuone in Tampere, Finland. The gig was filmed and recorded, and that material was then made into a DVD and VHS. The Finnish fans also got an extra treat: a limited edition full-length Live CD for Finland only. All of these formats were released under the name "From Wishes to Eternity - Live", and every format proved to be a huge seller.

To relieve the pain the fans were feeling while waiting for Nightwish's next full-length CD, the band decided to release a Mini-CD called "Over the Hills And Far Away". The CD included a cover version of the title song, originally performed by Gary Moore, a re-make of "Angels Fall First"'s "Astral Romance" and two new songs. On the other hand to relieve the misery of the European fans who didn't get a live CD, Drakkar's version of "Over the Hills And Far Away" included a few of the Finnish Live CD's songs as a bonus.

After "Over the Hills and Far Away", some changes had to be made in the band line-up because there had been tensions. Holopainen even quitted the band for 2 weeks, but then realised it was a mistake and rejoined. Sami Vänskä was excluded from the band, and Marco Hietala was included.

Their 4th full-length CD came out in May 2002. It sold platinum in Finland and reached high chart positions in many countries. This album was followed by "Century Child World Tour 2002". Nightwish toured South America for the first time, and almost every concert there was sold out. After the tour they took a break.

In 2003, Nightwish received a double-platinum award for Century Child and gave around 20 concerts, only 1 of them to the Finnish audience. In 2003, the material for the End of Innocence DVD was put together and released in October.

The year 2004 was eagerly expected by both the fans and the band. The band released their first single "Nemo", which rapidly became a hit. This song earned Nightwish many new fans. Also a video was made for Nemo.
The 5th full-length studio album "Once" was released in May 2004. The album sold gold in Finland on the day of its release, as did the single "Nemo". Nightwish started a world tour of 130 concerts, which lasted until the end of 2005. This tour was the biggest in the history of Nightwish so far.
The second single from Once, "Wish I had an Angel", was released in Autumn 2004. The single gained great success and boosted the sales of the Once album. In august 2004, Nightwish finally made it to the USA.

In the beginning of 2005 Nightwish received many major Finnish awards.
In July, the 3rd single, a new version of "Sleeping Sun" was released to promote the forthcoming best-of album "Highest Hopes". The "Highest Hopes" collection has sold double platinum in Finland and gold in Norway by the end of the year 2005. Also a new video for Sleeping Sun was made, in which the band acts! During all this, the band was still touring. . During the Autumn 2005, Nightwish played several shows and performed in the legendary Hammersmith Apollo Venue for sold out seats. After a short festival tour in South America (in October), the Once World Tour was coming to an end. The final concert was played on 21 October for 11,500 people in Hartwall-Arena in Helsinki. The concert was also recorded to be released as an End of an Era live DVD.
By the end of 2005, "Once" has sold approx. 1,000 000 copies worldwide as well, it has sold triple platinum in Finland, platinum in Germany, and gold in Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Greece, and Austria.

After the last concert, Nightwish fired their frontwoman Tarja Turunen and her manager-husband Marcelo Cabuli. The reason for this was because during the Once Tour their attitude and actions had turned out to be against almost all that Nightwish represents. As one may guess, the news of the firing was followed by an incredible sensation and hullabaloo which didn't really stop until late summer in 2006 (more and more scandals within the bands relationships with Tarja Turunen were revealed, which caused the fuss to last that long).

In 2006-2007, the band recorded their sixth full-length studio album, Dark Passion Play.

On Thursday 24 May 2006, the 35-year-old Alyson Avenue lead singer Anette Olzon from Katrineholm, Sweden was announced to replace Turunen.

Dark Passion Play was released around Europe in the last week of September, 2007, in the UK on October 1st, and the United States on October 2nd.

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.

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.

According to Holopainen, this will be the longest tour the band has yet attempted, and will probably last about two and a half years.
In July, 2008, Holopainen claimed that he has started working on Nightwish's seventh studio album, probably to be released in late 2009 or early 2010.