Michael Kiske

Michael Kiske joined Helloween as a teenager and definitively changed the band's reach. Their debut in Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part I (1987), followed by Part II (1988), gave European power metal one of its fundamental voices: crystal clear highs, power without excessive harshness and a phrasing capable of making songs like “Eagle Fly Free”, “Future World” and “I Want Out” epic. After the more experimental Pink Bubbles Go Ape and Chameleon, he left the group in 1993, ending a short, turbulent and decisive phase. Away from the stage for several years and critical of the metal industry, Kiske developed a less linear career. He released solo works, approached melodic hard rock with Place Vendome, shared vocals with Amanda Somerville and became a recurring presence on Avantasia. The effective return to performances took place with Unisonic, formed alongside Dennis Ward, Kosta Zafiriou and Mandy Meyer, later reinforced by Kai Hansen. The band returned Kiske to the heavy metal environment without trying to artificially reproduce the 1980s. In 2017, Kiske and Hansen returned to Helloween for the Pumpkins United tour, initially intended as a celebration of the past. The reunion became permanent and reunited Michael with Andi Deris, preserving the band's two great vocal eras rather than pitting one against the other. Kiske remains a reference not only for reaching high notes, a feat that the genre turned into a sport, but for the clarity, emotion and identity with which he helped establish the vocal standard of modern power metal.