Tuomas Holopainen facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tuomas Holopainen
Holopainen performing with Nightwish in 2015
Background information
Birth name	Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen
Born	(1976-12-25) 25 December 1976 (age 48) Kitee, Finland
Genres	Symphonic metal power metal gothic metal progressive folk
Occupation(s)	Musician composer record producer
Instruments	Keyboards
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Nuclear Blast

Tuomas Holopainen (born December 25, 1976) is a musician, songwriter, and producer from Finland. He is most famous as the main songwriter, keyboard player, and founder of the band Nightwish. Tuomas says that music from movies inspires his songs.

Before starting Nightwish, he played in other bands like Darkwoods My Betrothed. He also worked with bands such as For My Pain... and Timo Rautiainen's band.

Tuomas has written songs for movies. For example, he worked with Marko Hietala, Nightwish's bass player, on "While Your Lips Are Still Red" for the Finnish film Lieksa! in 2007. He also helped write the music for Nightwish's own movie, Imaginaerum, which came out in 2012.

In 2014, Tuomas released his first solo album, Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge.

Early Life and Interests

Tuomas Holopainen was born in Kitee, Finland, on Christmas Day in 1976. His dad, Pentti Holopainen, was an entrepreneur. His mom, Kirsti Nortia-Holopainen, used to be a music and English teacher. Tuomas has an older sister named Susanna and an older brother named Petri.

Tuomas showed musical talent early on. His mom signed him up for piano lessons when he was seven. He later studied clarinet, tenor saxophone, piano, and music theory for twelve years at a music college. However, he stopped playing the clarinet and saxophone in the mid-1990s.

Originally, Tuomas 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!

Tuomas is a big fan of Disney, Tolkien, and Dragonlance stories. He is also a vegetarian. 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."

In 2015, Tuomas married Finnish pop singer Johanna Kurkela.

A new insect species, Sciophilia holopaineni, was named after Tuomas. This happened because a Finnish biologist, Jukka Salmela, discovered it and knew about Tuomas's love for nature.

Musical Journey

Starting Bands and Nightwish

Tuomas Holopainen joined his first bands in 1991. He played keyboards for several groups, including the black metal band Darkwoods My Betrothed. He also played with Dismal Silence, Nattvindens Gråt, and Sethian.

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, born around a campfire, led to Nightwish. 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 Emppu and drummer Jukka Nevalainen, Tuomas decided to make Nightwish a metal band.

Before becoming a full-time musician, Tuomas worked as a substitute high school teacher for two years in his hometown.

Nightwish's first album, Angels Fall First, came out in 1997. Their next album, Oceanborn, followed in 1998. In 1999, Tuomas and members from other Finnish metal bands started a gothic metal supergroup called For My Pain.... However, everyone was busy with their own bands, so the project was put on hold.

Nightwish's third album, Wishmaster, was released in 2000 and sold very well. In 2001, the idea for For My Pain... came up again, and the members started planning their first album.

Reaching World Fame

Tuomas playing keyboards during a Nightwish concert

For Nightwish's fourth album, Century Child (2002), Tuomas started working with symphony orchestras. This changed the band's music and Tuomas's songwriting style. It also allowed for more different instruments in their songs. Since then, orchestral sounds have been a big part of Nightwish's albums.

In 2003, For My Pain... released their first album, Fallen. In 2004, they released a single called "Killing Romance" with three new songs.

Nightwish's fifth album, Once, came out in 2004. This album helped them become very popular in the US. Their songs "Nemo" and "Wish I Had an Angel" were played on MTV. Nightwish then went on their biggest tour ever, the Once World Tour, visiting many countries for the first time.

Recent Music Projects

Tuomas performing with Nightwish in 2012

In 2007, Tuomas worked with Nightwish's bass player, Marko Hietala, to write a song for the Finnish film Lieksa!. The song, "While Your Lips Are Still Red", was the first song Tuomas wrote specifically for a movie. He has said that he would like to write more film music in the future. On this song, Tuomas played piano, Marko sang and played acoustic bass, and Jukka Nevalainen played drums.

Also in 2007, Tuomas played keyboards with the Finnish punk band Kylähullut on their EP Lisää persettä rättipäille. He also played on their next album, Peräaukko sivistyksessä. You can hear Tuomas singing in the chorus on both of these releases.

Nightwish's seventh album, Imaginaerum, was released in 2011. Nightwish then released their eighth album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, in 2015, and their ninth, Human. :II: Nature., in 2020. Their tenth album, Yesterwynde, came out in 2024.

Solo Work

Tuomas confirmed in 2012 that he was working on a solo project. He said he would spend February to April 2013 writing songs for it after Nightwish's Imaginaerum tour. In 2014, he released Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge. This album was based on the "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" comic book series by Don Rosa. The album featured Troy Donockley, who also plays with Nightwish, and other musicians who have worked with Nightwish.

In 2015, Tuomas shared plans to write a book of short fantasy and horror stories. He said he was inspired by authors like Neil Gaiman and Stephen King.

Tuomas also wrote the song "Lohtu" for the 2015 concert "Live Aid ULS2017".

Music Influence

Tuomas live with Nightwish in Paris, France, in 2008

Tuomas Holopainen is a source of inspiration for other bands, especially in symphonic, gothic, and power metal music. For example, Simone Simons, the lead singer of Epica, said she started singing because of Nightwish. The former singer of Visions of Atlantis, Nicole Bogner, also said that Nightwish greatly inspired her band's 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

See also

In Spanish: Tuomas Holopainen para niños