Tuomas Holopainen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tuomas Holopainen
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Holopainen performing with Nightwish in 2015
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen |
| Born | 25 December 1976 Kitee, Finland |
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| Instruments | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1991–present |
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Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen (born on December 25, 1976) is a Finnish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the main songwriter, keyboard player, and a founding member of the symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has shared that his music writing is inspired by the grand, orchestral music often heard in movies.
Before starting Nightwish, he played in a band called Darkwoods My Betrothed. He later recorded another album with them in 2020. He also worked with the gothic metal band For My Pain... and the band of Timo Rautiainen.
Holopainen has written songs for movie soundtracks. One example is "While Your Lips Are Still Red" for the Finnish film Lieksa! in 2007. He wrote this song with Marko Hietala, who was Nightwish's bass player and male singer. Holopainen also helped write the music for Nightwish's own movie, Imaginaerum, which came out in November 2012.
His first solo album, Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge, was released in 2014.
Contents
Early Life and Interests
Tuomas Holopainen was born in Kitee, Finland, on Christmas Day in 1976. His mother was a music and English teacher. He has an older sister and an older brother. His talent for music and writing showed early in school.
His mother enrolled him in piano classes when he was seven. He later studied clarinet, tenor saxophone, piano, and music theory for twelve years. However, he stopped playing the clarinet and saxophone in the mid-1990s. Tuomas originally wanted to be a biologist. He wasn't interested in metal music until a friend took him to see Metallica and Guns N' Roses in America. After that, he loved it.
Holopainen is a big fan of Disney, Tolkien, and Dragonlance. In 2006, he said he is "not religious, but an open-minded, thinking individual." He believes that "religion is not bad, but how humans understand it can be."
He married Finnish pop singer Johanna Kurkela on October 28, 2015. Tuomas is also a vegetarian.
A new insect species, Sciophilia holopaineni, was named after Tuomas Holopainen. This happened because of his deep love for nature. A Finnish biologist discovered the insect.
Music Journey
Starting Bands and Nightwish
Tuomas Holopainen joined his first bands in 1991. He played keyboards for three albums with the black metal band Darkwoods My Betrothed. He also played with other groups like Dismal Silence and Nattvindens Gråt.
In July 1996, when he was 19, Tuomas thought about starting his own band. He wanted to write the music and play keyboards. This idea led to the creation of Nightwish around a campfire. He asked Emppu Vuorinen and his classmate Tarja Turunen to join. At first, it was an acoustic project. But after hearing Tarja's powerful voice and seeing the metal influences of Vuorinen and drummer Jukka Nevalainen, Tuomas decided to make Nightwish a metal band. Before becoming a full-time musician, Holopainen worked as a substitute high school teacher for two years.
Nightwish's first album, Angels Fall First, came out in 1997. This was followed by Oceanborn in 1998. In 1999, Holopainen and members from other Finnish metal bands formed a gothic metal supergroup called For My Pain.... However, because everyone was busy with their own bands, the project was put on hold.
Nightwish's third album, Wishmaster, was released in 2000. This album sold even better than the previous ones. In 2001, the idea for For My Pain... came up again, and they started planning their first album.
Global Success with Nightwish
For Nightwish's fourth album, Century Child, released in 2002, Holopainen started working with symphonic orchestras. These orchestras were from Finland and the United Kingdom. This changed the band's music and Holopainen's way of writing songs. It also allowed for more instruments to be used. Orchestral sounds have been a part of Nightwish's albums ever since.
In 2003, For My Pain... released their first album, Fallen. In 2004, they released a single called "Killing Romance."
Nightwish's fifth album, Once, came out in 2004. This album helped them become well-known in the United States. Their songs "Nemo" and "Wish I Had an Angel" were played on MTV. Nightwish then started their biggest tour ever, the Once World Tour. They visited many countries, including Japan, for the first time. After their last concert in October 2005, Nightwish's singer Tarja Turunen left the band.
Current Music Projects
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In 2006, Holopainen went through a difficult time. He felt worried and sad, partly because of rumors about him and Nightwish in the news. These feelings also inspired him when he wrote Dark Passion Play, Nightwish's sixth album.
After the band Trio Niskalaukaus broke up, singer Timo Rautiainen released his first solo album, Sarvivuori. Tuomas Holopainen played keyboards on this album and wrote one song for it.
In April 2007, Holopainen worked with Marko Hietala from Nightwish to write a theme song for the Finnish film Lieksa!. The song was "While Your Lips Are Still Red." This was the first song he wrote specifically for a movie. Holopainen has said he would like to write more film music in the future.
In 2007, Holopainen played keyboards for the Finnish punk band Kylähullut on their EP. He also played keyboards on their next album.
The new singer for Nightwish was announced in May 2007. She was Swede Anette Olzon. She appeared on Dark Passion Play, which was released in August 2007. In 2008, Holopainen produced the fourth album for the Finnish pop/rock band Indica, called Valoissa.
Nightwish's seventh album, Imaginaerum, was released in November 2011. Their eighth album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, came out in March 2015. Their ninth album, Human. :II: Nature., was released in April 2020. Their tenth album, Yesterwynde, was released on September 20, 2024.
Solo Work
Holopainen confirmed in 2012 that he was working on a solo project. He said he would focus on writing songs for it in early 2013. In 2014, he released his solo album, Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge. This album was based on the comic book series "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" by Don Rosa. The album featured Troy Donockley, who also plays with Nightwish, and musicians from London.
In November 2015, he shared plans to write a book of short fantasy and horror stories. These stories would be inspired by authors like Neil Gaiman and Stephen King.
Holopainen also composed the song "Lohtu" for a 2015 concert called "Live Aid ULS2017."
Musical Influence
Tuomas Holopainen is a source of inspiration for other bands, especially in symphonic, gothic, and power metal music. Simone Simons, the lead singer of Epica, has said that she started singing because of Nightwish. The former singer of Visions of Atlantis, Nicole Bogner, also said that Nightwish greatly inspired her band, especially for their first album.
Sander Gommans from After Forever mentioned that Nightwish "will certainly influence us in creating new songs." Tony Kakko, the lead singer of the Finnish power metal band Sonata Arctica, has worked with Nightwish. He has often explained how much Nightwish has influenced him.
Discography
Solo Albums
- Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge (2014)
Nightwish Albums
Other Band Albums
- Darkwoods My Betrothed:
- Heirs of the Northstar (1995)
- Autumn Roars Thunder (1996)
- Witch-Hunts (1998)
- Angel of Carnage Unleashed (2021)
- Nattvindens Gråt:
- A Bard's Tale (1995)
- Chaos Without Theory (1997)
- Auri:
- Auri (2018)
- II – Those We Don't Speak Of (2021)
- III – Candles & Beginnings (2025)
- For My Pain...:
- Fallen (2003)
See also
In Spanish: Tuomas Holopainen para niños
