Nightwish

Nightwish formed in 1996 in the small eastern Finnish town of Kitee by keyboardist and composer Tuomas Holopainen, who has remained the band's songwriter, conceptual architect and only constant creative voice throughout its history. Conceived initially as an acoustic mood-music project with guitarist Emppu Vuorinen and vocalist Tarja Turunen, the group quickly turned electric, and its fusion of classically trained operatic soprano vocals with heavy metal riffing and orchestral arrangement became one of the defining templates of symphonic metal. The debut Angels Fall First (1997) was followed by Oceanborn (1998) and Wishmaster (2000), records that made Nightwish a major act across continental Europe. Century Child (2002) introduced bassist and co-vocalist Marco Hietala and a fuller orchestral sound recorded with real strings, and Once (2004) — carried by the worldwide hit "Nemo" and "Wish I Had an Angel" — broke the band internationally, topping charts across Europe and selling in the millions. The Tarja Turunen era ended abruptly and publicly. On 21 October 2005, immediately after the final show of the Once tour in Helsinki, Turunen was handed an open letter signed by her bandmates, which was simultaneously published online, informing her that she was out of the group. The letter accused her of letting business interests and outside management eclipse the band's spirit; the story dominated Finnish media for weeks, and Holopainen has since called the decision the hardest thing he has ever done. Swedish singer Anette Olzon was chosen from hundreds of applicants and debuted on Dark Passion Play (2007), the band's most commercially successful album to that point, followed by Imaginaerum (2011) and its companion feature film. Olzon's tenure ended just as suddenly: in October 2012, mid-way through the Imaginaerum world tour, she parted ways with the band overnight after a series of illnesses and disputes, with the split announced while the tour was still in progress. Dutch vocalist Floor Jansen, of After Forever and ReVamp, stepped in on 48 hours' notice to finish that tour and was made a permanent member in October 2013. Her range, spanning operatic soprano to full rock belt, proved an ideal fit, and the Jansen-fronted albums Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015), inspired by Darwin and Richard Dawkins, Human. :II: Nature. (2020) and Yesterwynde (2024) have all been critical and commercial successes. Alongside line-up changes — drummer Jukka Nevalainen's withdrawal and Kai Hahto's arrival, and Hietala's 2021 departure — Nightwish has sold roughly nine million records, headlined festivals worldwide, and stands today as one of the biggest and most influential symphonic metal bands in the world.