Marko Hietala | |
---|---|
![]() Hietala in 2019 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Marko Tapani Hietala |
Born | Kuopio, Finland | 14 January 1966
Genres | Heavy metal, symphonic metal, power metal |
Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, producer |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, bass, guitar |
Years active | 1984–present |
Member of | |
Formerly of |
Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala (born 14 January 1966) is a Finnish heavy metal vocalist, bassist and songwriter. Internationally, he is best known as the former bassist, male vocalist and secondary composer to Tuomas Holopainen, of the symphonic metal band Nightwish. [1] He is also the vocalist and bassist as well as composer and lyricist for the heavy metal band Tarot. [2]
He is also a member of the supergroup Northern Kings, and portrayed one of the main characters in Ayreon's 2013 album The Theory of Everything .
Marko Hietala was born in Kuopio, [3] and is the youngest child of the Hietala family. Hietala lived in Tervo until the age of 15, after which he moved to Kuopio to study classical guitar, vocals and musical theory in high school. In 1984, he and his brother Zachary formed the heavy metal band Tarot under the name Purgatory. In 1986, Tarot received a deal for their first album and went on tour. [4] Before becoming a full-time musician, he worked as a live and studio sound engineer. [5]
While on tour with Tarot in 1998, Marko had met the members of the band Nightwish in Siilinjärvi as they were an opening act for his band. Marko recalled having watched their performance: "I watched their show and thought their music was actually quite good at times. They had all this force and drama, so maybe some day they would successfully combine the two. But goddamn, they looked absolutely horrible on stage. Shorthaired guys just standing there – Tarja was a pretty girl but just as petrified, shrieking in the middle of the stage in her leather pants. Honestly, I assumed them to be just a momentary fad and thought they will fade away after six months or so. Luckily, of course, I was so wrong." [6]
Hietala joined Nightwish in 2001 when Tuomas Holopainen and the band's manager called him and said that there would be a place in the band for a vocalist and a bass player. [7] Century Child was his first Nightwish album, following the departure of previous bassist Sami Vänskä. [8] He was a prominent guest musician in Delain, a project involving many members of the gothic and symphonic metal community. [9] He also participated in the recording of Invitation, by Altaria, providing backing vocals. [10] Hietala has also been part of the bands Sinergy and Northern Kings. [11]
Upon his arrival to Nightwish, several songs were written to contain duets with then Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen, allowing songwriter and band leader Tuomas Holopainen to take advantage of Hietala's distinctive raucous voice to add a new dimension to the band. A famous example is Nightwish's cover of "The Phantom of the Opera", from the album "Century Child".
During Nightwish's shows, Turunen would take a break halfway through the set. Before Hietala joined the band, the band would perform an instrumental song during this time. After Hietala joined the band, they performed covers of well-known songs, with Hietala singing the lead vocal part in this break. The band has performed Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train", W.A.S.P.'s "Wild Child", Dio's "Don't Talk to Strangers", Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction" and Pink Floyd's "High Hopes". Some of these songs have been put up for sale as well on various Nightwish album releases. Following Turunen's departure from Nightwish, Hietala was much more involved with the production of Dark Passion Play , which was released in September 2007. He sang some songs, completely, and wrote the music for the song "The Islander", on which he also plays acoustic guitar instead of bass. Hietala is also credited alongside Holopainen for co-writing the song "The Crow, the Owl and the Dove" from Nightwish's 2011 album, Imaginaerum .
In Delain, Hietala played bass for the album Lucidity and was also the main male vocalist on the album with featured vocals on the song The Gathering. He is also featured as vocalist in two of the songs on Delain's second album April Rain and two songs from Delain's fourth album The Human Contradiction .
In March 2009, Hietala joined the band Sapattivuosi. They cover Black Sabbath songs in Finnish. [12] In this band, however, Hietala does not play bass; he only performs vocals.
On 1 April 2010 it was said that Hietala would leave the band to concentrate on a choir career. This was identified as an April Fool's joke, but was also a reference to his participation in Kuorosota (the localized Finnish version of Clash of the Choirs ) in 2010. Hietala was the master of the Kuopio choir in the program's second season. He came second in the contest, losing in the finals to the Joensuu choir, headed by pop rock singer Ilkka Alanko. Tarot's single "I Walk Forever", from the Gravity of Light album, was performed for the first time by Hietala, Tommi Salmela and the Kuopio choir during Kuorosota 2010; other songs performed included "The Phantom of the Opera", which Hietala has covered with Nightwish as well.
In June 2010, Hietala joined the heavy metal supergroup HAIL! on two occasions, performing Black Sabbath's Neon Knights with Ripper Owens, Andreas Kisser, James LoMenzo and Paul Bostaph at two of their shows in Finland. [13]
On 14 August 2013, Hietala was the first singer to be confirmed by Arjen Lucassen to guest on Ayreon's new album The Theory of Everything. [14] In 2017 he joined Ayreon on stage for three shows at 013 Poppodium in Tilburg, the recording of these shows was later released as Ayreon's live album Ayreon Universe – The Best of Ayreon Live.
Hietala released his first solo album Mustan sydämen rovio in May 2019. He released the album under his birthname Marko Hietala and will be using the name also in his other projects in the future. Hietala has described his solo material as "hard prog". [15] An English version of the album, titled Pyre of the Black Heart (Nuclear Blast), followed in January 2020. [16] Joining him on the albums are drummer Anssi Nykänen, keyboardist Vili Ollila and guitarist Tuomas Wäinölä with whom he also toured in Finland in the summer and autumn of 2019. [15] The band embarked on a European tour in February 2020. [16]
In 2020, he participated in and won the Finnish edition of Masked Singer. [17]
In December 2020, Hietala told Nightwish he had decided to leave to focus on other projects. He had been suffering from several mental disorders, including depression, for a decade. Despite medication, he had kept on getting worse. After the recording of Human. :II: Nature. and in part due to the respite brought by COVID-19 pandemic, Hietala finally reached the conclusion that leaving the band would prevent his illnesses from worsening. [18] On 12 January 2021, Hietala made his departure public and announced his withdrawal from the public eye. [19] Ten days later, Swedish symphonic metal band Therion released a music video for the song "Tuonela" that featured Hietala. [20]
On 18 June 2022, Northern Kings made a comeback that ended their 12-year hiatus and Hietala's 17-month break from the public. The band played at the 'Tuhdimmat Tahdit festival' in Nokia, Finland. [21] Hietala later in an interview, stated that he has not made contact with the members of Nightwish since his departure from the band in January 2021, and expressed uncertainty that he will be returning to Nightwish. [22] In an interview in October 2023, Hietala expressed doubt that he would ever return to Nightwish. [23] [24]
Hietala performed [25] with his solo band at Z7 Summer Nights Open Air in Pratteln, Switzerland on 8 July 2023, later joining former Nightwish bandmate Tarja Turunen at her solo show later in the evening to sing "The Phantom of the Opera" with her. [26] It was the first time they had sung the song together, after Tarja was fired from Nightwish in 2005. They also performed the song at Olavinlinna in Finland. [27] They toured together in 2024 in both Latin America and Europe on Tarja's "Living The Dream – The Hits Tour". [28] [29] While both Hietala and Turunen released a collaborative single titled "Left on Mars" on 13 March 2024, [30] Hietala stated that he has not ruled out the possibility of him and Turunen starting a new band together. [31]
Hietala has stated that the biggest influence on him as a bassist is Geezer Butler and Bob Daisley, while Ronnie James Dio and Rob Halford are his biggest influence as a vocalist. He has also stated that he listens to wide array of music ranging from "really sensitive stuff to a lot of really hard stuff", saying that he "tend[s] to soak up almost everything" which "somehow ends up being used" when he writes his own music. [32] [33]
How is your musical taste towards metal music / other genres?
— Question on the official Tarot website (2006)
Anything works for me, if it's good enough. I'm mainly a metalhead, but I have this basic respect for any kind of music. Writing and listening to music would become stale if I couldn't draw influences from other styles too.
— Marko's answer
Hietala has two children with his ex-wife Manki, twin boys Antto and Miro. They lived in Kuopio, Finland. When he is not touring, he enjoys reading books, playing video games, and watching movies. He especially likes fantasy, horror and science fiction books. In 2016, a Finnish newspaper reported that Hietala had filed for divorce. [34] In August 2018, he married Camila Cavalcanti. [35] He and his wife have a daughter and live in Spain. [36]
Born Marko, Hietala has been regularly credited throughout his career as Marco. He said he adopted the version with "c" when he was young and trying to sound "cool", but that now it doesn't matter to him anymore. Starting with Mustan Sydämen Rovio , he intends to be credited as Marko in all his future projects. [37] [38] He also referred to the "Marco" spelling as "the last lie I had constructed about myself". [39]
Studio albums:
NightwishStudio albums:
TarotStudio albums:
Northern KingsStudio albums: | SapattivuosiStudio albums:
SinergyStudio albums:
Raskasta jouluaStudio albums:
ConquestStudio albums:
|
1990
1999
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2016
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Amorphis
| Warmath
|
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Nevalainen, and then bassist Sami Vänskä after the release of their debut album, Angels Fall First (1997). In 2001, Vänskä was replaced by Marko Hietala, who also took over the male vocalist role previously filled by Holopainen or guest singers. Although Nightwish have been prominent in their home country since Angels Fall First, they did not achieve wider success until the release of the albums Oceanborn (1998), Wishmaster (2000) and Century Child (2002).
Over the Hills and Far Away is the first EP by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released on 25 June 2001 through Spinefarm Records in Finland, and Drakkar Records in the rest of Europe. It was also released by Toy's Factory in Japan and Century Media Records in the US. Bassist Sami Vänskä left the band after its recording, due to musical differences between him and Tuomas Holopainen. He was replaced by the bassist and male vocalist, Marko Hietala.
Century Child is the fourth studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released in 2002 through Spinefarm Records in Finland, Drakkar Entertainment in the rest of Europe, Century Media Records in the US, and Toy's Factory in Japan. It is the first album which features now-former bassist and male vocalist Marko Hietala, who left the band in December 2020. It is also the first Nightwish album to feature an orchestra.
Tarja Soile Susanna Turunen-Cabuli, known professionally as Tarja Turunen or simply Tarja, is a Finnish heavy metal singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Nightwish.
Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen is a Finnish musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the primary songwriter, keyboardist, and a co-founding member of symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has stated that his songwriting is influenced by harmonic film music.
Tarot is a Finnish heavy metal band. They are most famous for being one of the earliest metal bands in Finland, and for the song "Wings of Darkness" from the 1986 album Spell of Iron. While having enjoyed a broad underground popularity in Finland, the band has never been notable elsewhere until gaining new success in recent years, with their singer and bassist Marko Hietala in the largely successful Nightwish for nearly two decades. With a more global audience, the band re-recorded Spell of Iron for its 25th anniversary.
Toni Kristian "Tony" Kakko is a Finnish musician, composer and vocalist. He is known as the vocalist, primary songwriter, and creative lead of the band Sonata Arctica since 1996.
"Sleeping Sun" is a power ballad and the fourth single by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released as a maxi single with three other songs on 2 August 1999 to coincide with the total solar eclipse that would occur on 11 August.
"Wish I Had An Angel" is the ninth single by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, the second from their fifth album Once. The song features vocals by then-vocalist Tarja Turunen and bassist Marko Hietala. The song was still performed live after Turunen's departure with Anette Olzon, before her departure, and current vocalist Floor Jansen afterwards. Featured on the soundtrack of the film Alone in the Dark, it became the group's most popular single in Europe and in the United States, next to "Nemo". It made it onto two U.S. film soundtracks. It reached #60 in the UK Singles Chart, the highest of any of the band's singles in the UK.
"Bless the Child" is the seventh single by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released as the second single from their album Century Child. It is one of two songs which were filmed from the Century Child album, with other one being "End of All Hope". It was also the first song bassist/vocalist Marko Hietala worked on after he joined the band replacing Sami Vänskä.
Crows Fly Black is the seventh album by Finnish heavy metal band Tarot, released on 27 October 2006. This album is accompanied by the single "You", and the music video "Ashes to the Stars". This is the first album to officially acknowledge Tommi 'Tumple' Salmela as a member of the band, referred to as an 'old-new' member; until then, Tommi's role was limited to sampling and backing vocals, while in this album, Tommi takes role of fully fledged vocalist.
"Eva" is the fourth promotional single by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Lifted from their sixth studio album Dark Passion Play, this was the first release to feature Anette Olzon, following Tarja Turunen's departure in 2005.
Dark Passion Play is the sixth studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released on 26 September 2007 by Spinefarm Records in Finland, 28 September by Nuclear Blast in Europe and 2 October 2007 by Roadrunner Records in the US. It is the first album without original vocalist Tarja Turunen, who was dismissed in 2005, as well as the first album involving future member Troy Donockley on uilleann pipes and tin whistle. It is the first of only two albums with vocalist Anette Olzon, who was eventually dismissed in 2012 after the release of the band's subsequent album, Imaginaerum. Tuomas Holopainen has referred to this album as the "album that saved his life".
"While Your Lips Are Still Red" is a 2007 song written by Tuomas Holopainen and Marko Hietala of the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was performed by Holopainen, Hietala, and Jukka Nevalainen for the Finnish film The Matriarch, which was written and directed by renowned Finnish director Markku Pölönen; the film premiered in Finland in September 2007. The song is included on Nightwish's "Amaranth" single, which was released on 22 August 2007 as the second single of their sixth studio album, Dark Passion Play. It was also released on their live / compilation EP Made in Hong Kong in 2009.
"Bye Bye Beautiful" is the second track on Nightwish's Dark Passion Play album. The song was confirmed to be the second single from Dark Passion Play by Tuomas Holopainen in an interview, but it was changed to the third single after the announcement of "Erämaan viimeinen"'s release as the second.
Once Upon a Tour was a concert tour by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, in 2004 and 2005, to promote the release of their fifth album, Once, released June 7, 2004. A new greatest hits compilation, Highest Hopes, was also released to tie in with the tour. The albums combined with the band's most expansive merchandise campaign by Nuclear Blast Records meant this tour was heralded as the band's most important in many years. Many of the band's songs had not been played in a long time.
The Dark Passion Play World Tour was a concert tour by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, taking place from 2007 to 2009 in support of their sixth studio album, Dark Passion Play, released by Nuclear Blast on September 26, 2007; it was the first tour with former frontwoman Anette Olzon, who joined the band in 2006, after Tarja Turunen's dismissal on October 21, 2005. During this tour, the band played for the first time in Israel, China, Hong Kong, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of Ireland, Serbia and Croatia.
Highest Hopes: The Best of Nightwish is the fourth compilation album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Their first, Tales from the Elvenpath, was considered incomplete by many fans as it contains only tracks from Oceanborn, Over the Hills and Far Away, Wishmaster and Century Child, leaving out Angels Fall First. This compilation, though, contains songs from all previously released Nightwish albums, plus a live cover of Pink Floyd's "High Hopes".
Decades is the seventh compilation album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, and contains remastered versions of the original material. It was released on March 9, 2018, which is the same day that they began touring for the Decades: World Tour. The track listing is presented in reverse chronological order.