Background
Ville Hermanni Valo was born on 22 November 1976 in Helsinki, Finland, to Kari and Anita Valo.
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1997
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2000
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2001
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2003
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2005
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2007
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2010
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2013
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2016
Ville Hermanni Valo was born on 22 November 1976 in Helsinki, Finland, to Kari and Anita Valo.
Ville attended Oulunkylä comprehensive school. While in school Valo formed his first band called B.L.O.O.D., which played its first and only show in front of the music class.
Around the age of ten, Valo began playing bass for the Eloveena Boys, which is where he wrote his first song. In seventh grade, Valo met guitarist Mikko "Linde" Lindström, and the two soon began playing together in Aurora, where Valo took up the drums. Around this time Valo played bass and drums in various other bands as well, and attended the Helsinki Pop & Jazz Conservatory. He also applied to the Sibelius School of Music and Dance, but was rejected, and eventually dropped-out of school altogether to concentrate on his music.
In 1995 Valo enlisted old schoolmates Mikko ("Lilly Lazer") Lindstrom and Mikko ("Migé Amour") Heinrik - augmented by drummer Juhana Rantala and keyboardist Antto Melasniemi - to form His Infernal Majesty, a band that blended a goth-drag presentation with heavy metal, ambiguous mysticism and dark, fatalistic romanticism (a combination that would ultimately earn the media tag of "love metal"). The name was later shortened to HIM when it became apparent that the rather Satanic implications of the full title were attracting the wrong crowd. With the release of their debut EP 666 Ways To Love: Prologue in 1996, the band began to cultivate an dedicated audience in Finland - largely as a result of an interpretation of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game that was featured on the record. This audience expanded to include the other Scandinavian countries the following year, after their first full-length Greatest Love Songs Volume 666 hit the shelves; once again, the album included their popular version of Wicked Game, as well as a cover of Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear The Reaper.
Enlisting the services of British producer John Fryer (known in the 80s for his work for the 4AD label, and later for work with bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Cradle of Filth), HIM released their second album Razorblade Romance in 2000, the track Join Me In Death in particular breaking the band across Europe. The album also gave them their first proper US release, but with a slight hiccup: due to the pre-existence of an American project called "HIM", the record was initially given a limited release under the modified name "HER". The name problem was subsequently settled through the movement of currency, and the album re-issued in its proper form. By their third effort, Deep Shadows And Brilliant Highlights (2001), the band's line-up had settled down to the original trio of Valo, Linde (Lilly), Migé with drummer Mika ("Gas Lipstick") Karppinen and keyboardist Jani ("Emerson Burton") Purttinen; that same year, the original three also shuffled their musical roles and created the side-project Daniel Lioneye, in which Linde assumed the role of frontman. A fourth album Love Metal arrived in 2003, expanding the popularity of HIM even further and providing music journalists with a convenient tag for their approach. For it's 2005 follow-up Dark Light, production duties were assumed by veteran Andy Wallace, but after unsatisfactory results the band turned to U2, Robert Plant, Tears for Fears, (etc.) producer Tim Palmer.
In 2006, Valo performed bass and backing vocals on Welcome to Carcass Cuntry by Jeff Walker und Die Fluffers, as well as sang on Cradle of Filth's album Thornography ("The Byronic Man") and Isabelle's Gift's American Idle ("If I Die Tonight"). Also in 2006, Valo performed the songs "Kun minä kotoani läksin" and "Täällä Pohjantähden alla" on the Finnish collaboration album Synkkien laulujen maa, the latter of which was a duet with Kari Tapio. In August 2006, Valo joined Anathema's Daniel Cavanagh on stage twice, for a performance of "Inner Silence". In 2007, Valo performed a duet of "Summer Wine", with Polish-German actress and singer Natalia Avelon for the film Eight Miles High.The single went platinum in Germany and a music video was also filmed for the collaboration. Also in 2007, Valo guested on Manna's album Sister, on the song "Just for Tonight". In 2008, Valo sang back-up on Save Nuta's cover of "Rock 'n' Roll High School" by the Ramones, which was recorded in collaboration with members of several different Finnish bands in order to save youth centers across Finland. In 2010, Valo sang back-up vocals on Anathema's "Angels Walk Among Us", off their We're Here Because We're Here - album, and remixed the tracks "Acoustic Funeral", "Like St. Valentine", and "Katherine Wheel", with his brother Jesse Valo, on the HIM-album SWRMXS, under the moniker "öö". Also in 2010, Valo mixed HIM-bassist Mige's album Cimmerica, which was released under the pseudonym MZ. In 2014, Ville Valo was featured on Lullacry's Legacy 1998-2014, on the track "Whisper in the Chaos '97". On 29 December 2014, Ville Valo performed solo under the pseudonym "Rambo Rimbaud" at the Helldone festival in Helsinki. On 30 December 2014, he rejoined Daniel Lioneye on drums for a performance at Helldone.
In 2016, Ville Valo performed the song "Lusifer" on Teho Majamäki's album Travelogue, as well as MGT's cover of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" by ABBA, for which a music video was also made, directed by Ville Juurikkala. On 4 July 2016, Ville Valo released his first solo single; a cover of "Olet mun kaikuluotain" by Freeman, a Finnish translation of "Annie's Song" by John Denver. The official music video was released on 11 July 2016. "Olet mun kaikuluotain" eventually reached number 1 in Finland. Also in 2016, Valo performed on the songs "Met-amor-phosis" by The Mission and "Xmas Song" by Andy McCoy, which were released on 2 September and 6 December respectively. A music video for "Xmas Song" was also released. In February 2017, "Olet mun kaikuluotain" was awarded "Video of the Year" at the Emma Awards. On 31 March 2017, it was announced that Valo would be composing and producing the soundtrack to the VR game Downward Spiral: Prologue by 3rd Eye Studios.
HIM became one of the most commercially successful Finnish bands of all time, and the first to receive a gold record in the United States. Much of HIM's success has been attributed to Valo's songwriting ability, as well as his image and charisma. Valo was also ranked number 80 in Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time. Loudwire ranked Valo as the fourteenth greatest metal frontman of the 21st century.
Valo has been a regular alcohol user much of his life. He got drunk for the first time at age 13, and on more than one occasion, Valo has also been reported to have performed intoxicated.
Physical Characteristics: Valo is known to have several tattoos. He has a total of five heartagram tattoos; one on the back of his neck, one on his lower stomach, one around his left nipple, one on his lower back, made to resemble a hexagram, and one on his right leg, as the topper on a scepter of a pope with an astronaut's head, called the "Cosmic Pope". The heartagram around Valo's left nipple was done by Kat Von D to cover up the initial of a former girlfriend. Valo's left arm is covered with a full sleeve-tattoo, while his right arm has portraits of Timo K. Mukka, Charles Baudelaire and Charles Bukowski. On his right wrist Valo has a heart surrounded by lettering, including the acronym "DILLIGAF" ("Do I look like I give a fuck?"), which he got together with then-fiancée Jonna Nygrén. On his bicep Valo has a monogram of Venus Doom, as well as an hourglass and an eye with a skull inside the pupil.
Ville Valo never married or had children.
