Nightwish

The idea of Nightwish was 'born' in July 1996 at midnight when Tuomas Holopainen was spending a night with his friends around a campfire. The first three songs, which were acoustic mood music, were recorded between October and December 1996. At that time the band had three members: Tuomas, Tarja and Emppu. Originally, Tarja Turunen wasn't into metal at all. She was approached by the first two members at her school at the time and asked to join because they knew she was one of the best singers in the school.

Trivia: Tuomas Holopainen is a huge fanatic of Disney animation and he loves Disneyworld in Florida, USA. Nightwish has played some shows there at the Blues Club, and at that time, the Disney film "Finding Nemo" was in theatres, leading to the misconception that the song 'Nemo' has something to do with the movie. The truth is Nemo is Latin for 'nobody' and the name is a coincidence. At Nightwish live shows, it's been known for people to throw the Nemo fish character plush doll on stage to the band.

Former lead singer Tarja Turunen was fired with an 'open letter' by the 4 other band members on Oct. 22, 2005. It took until May 2007 for her replacement, Anette Olzon (of the AOR band Alyson Avenue) to be announced.

The band did 3 surprise gigs in Autumn 2007, pretending to be various Nightwish cover bands: Sep 22nd in Tallinn, Estonia as Nachtwasser, "the German cover band"; Sep 26th in Helsinki, Finland as Natuvissyset, "the Estonian cover band" and Sep 28th in Hamburg, Germany as Sushi Patrol, "the Japanese cover band".

During the band's 2012 American tour, singer Anette Olzon Blyckert fell sick and The Agonist's Alissa White-Gluz and Amaranthe's Elize Ryd had to fill in for one night as temporary live vocalists. This brought the ire of Olzon who expressed her anger on her blog. She was subsequently fired and the band brought in Floor Jansen of After Forever fame as a live vocalist.

Nightwish recorded a song 'Hilma ja Onni' for 'Pörsänmäen Sanomat � Tribuutti Jaakko Tepolle' album in 2009.

Current lineup:
Tuomas Holopainen - keyboards
Emppu Vuorinen - guitars
Marco Hietala - bass, vocals
Jukka Nevalainen - drums

Live members:
Floor Jansen - Vocals
Troy Donockley - Flutes, pipes, whistles 


NIGHTWISH
Country of origin : Finland
Location : Kitee
Status : Active
Formed in : 1996
Genre : Symphonic Power Metal
Lyrical themes : Love, Nature, Astrology, Religion, Fantasy, Beauty
Current label : Nuclear Blast
Years active : 1996-present

Source : http://www.metal-archives.com/